Toronto Stock Exchange December 21-29

The TSX climbed 190.22 over the holiday shortened Dec. 21-29 period as all industry groups rose for the week, with materials and health care leading the way.

While the Canadian dollar was falling against the greenback, the yellow metal was rising. It finished the period up US$15.95 at US$635.70 taking the Global Gold Index along for the ride. The gold miners were up 3.6% to 325.39.

The Capped Metals & Mining Index was up 17.28 points to 643.03 as silver, zinc, lead and especially tin, all made gains.

Paladin Resources continued its tear up the market on the back of strong uranium prices. The metal is trading at US$72 per lb., helping to make Paladin the most actively traded of the miners with 15 million shares of volume; the company added 62 to its share price, bringing it to $7.97. Paladin also announced that its Langer Heinrich uranium project in Namibia went into production on time and on budget.

Another uranium play in Namibia fared well, as Forsys Metals climbed nearly 30% to $5.69. In late December the company announced new prospecting licences for potential uranium properties in Namibia, and the discovery of outcropping high-grade uranium-bearing alaskite granite near the Main zone at its Valencia project.

Falling copper prices resulted in the four biggest losers by percentage being predominantly copper miners. Northern Peru Copper was off 11.2%, Mercator Minerals was off 10%, Zaruma Resources fell 9.3% and Western Copper dropped 9%. The spot price for copper hit a 6-month low on Dec. 29, trading for US$2.85 per lb.

The biggest gainer by percentage for the period was South Africa-based Energem Resources. The company, with oil and diamond interests, gained over 85.7% to 65 after a year-long slide, but at presstime, had fallen back 15 to 55. On Dec. 21, the company issued a release acknowledging its poor market performance for the year, chalking it up to delays in issuing financial performance, the failure to secure an upstream oil transaction with the Chinese and its diversified approach to African assets.

Northgate Minerals continued to climb after announcing on Dec. 18 that it had increased its total measured and indicated resources underground to 5.2 million tonnes grading 3.6 grams gold per tonne. The Vancouver-based company was up 15 to $4.08 for the period.

News that the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) had rejected a long-term energy purchase agreement with B.C. Hydro had Alcan’s shares down 86 to $56.29 at presstime. Alcan had been one of the period’s biggest gainers, as it was up $1.83 before the news was announced. The company said BCUC approval was one of three conditions it had set for final go-ahead of the Kitimat Works Modernization Project in B.C.

TSX most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Paladin Res	PDN	15195	8.29	7.19	7.97	+0.62
Breakwater Res	BWR	14822	1.88	1.75	1.84	-0.08
Bema Gold	BGO	13312	6.15	5.71	6.10	+0.21
Northgate Mnls	NGX	11420	4.18	3.74	4.08	+0.15
Kinross Gold	K	11075	14.00	13.00	13.82	+0.34
Tiomin Res	TIO	10883	0.18	0.165	0.17	-0.01
Goldcorp	G	9922	33.47	30.95	33.11	+1.27
Coalcorp Mng	CCJ	9913	0.62	0.55	0.61	+0.01
Campbell Res	CCH	8979	0.11	0.095	0.105	-0.005
Chariot Res	CHD	8822	0.64	0.58	0.62	-0.02

TSX greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Energem Res	ENM	641	0.65	0.37	0.65	+85.7
Cline Mng	CMK	5659	0.55	0.30	0.495	+67.8
Eurasia Gold	EGX	394	1.70	0.95	1.70	+60.3
Forsys Metals	FSY	2998	5.75	4.06	5.69	+29.3
Mega Uranium	MGA	6085	7.18	5.40	7.15	+28.6
Baffinland Irn	BIM	158	3.21	2.50	3.05	+24.4
Moneta Porcpn	ME	441	0.14	0.105	0.14	+21.7
Northgate M wt	NGX.WT	2348	1.15	0.70	1.10	+20.8
Northgate wtA	NGX.WT.A	3934	1.13	0.78	1.09	+19.7
Eastern Pla wt	ELR.WT	34	0.73	0.50	0.73	+19.6
HMZ Metals wt	HMZ.WT	2072	0.02	0.01	0.01	-33.3
Golden Str wtA	GSC.WT.A	525	0.13	0.09	0.09	-30.7
Chariot Res wt	CHD.WT	1693	0.28	0.23	0.24	-14.2
Northern Peru	NOC	402	6.65	5.68	5.93	-11.2
Mercator Mnls	ML	214	3.04	2.56	2.70	-10.0
Zaruma Res	ZMR	408	0.155	0.14	0.145	-9.3
Western Copper	WRN	841	1.32	1.11	1.20	-9.0
Pac NW Cap	PFN	266	0.42	0.37	0.385	-8.3
North Atlc Res	NAC	100	1.75	1.54	1.70	-8.1
Candente Res	DNT	230	1.34	1.16	1.25	-8.0

TSX greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Potash Cp Sask	POT	579481	167.00	+5.14
ISh COMEX G Tr	IGT	50590	73.40	+2.43
Aber Diamond	ABZ	406741	43.00	+2.01
Alcan	AL	3046422	56.78	+1.83
Mega Uranium	MGA	6084586	7.15	+1.59
Forsys Metals	FSY	2997556	5.69	+1.29
Goldcorp	G	9922270	33.11	+1.27
Minefinders	MFL	628525	10.39	+1.24
Central Gold-T	GTU.UN	17678	29.63	+1.13
Barrick Gold	ABX	6449365	35.85	+1.10
First Quantum	FM	2374419	62.75	-2.25
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF.UN	234938	24.80	-1.73
Fording C C T	FDG.UN	1568305	24.05	-1.28
Agnico-Eag wt*	AEM.WT.U	47000	23.70	-0.86
Northern Peru	NOC	402373	5.93	-0.75
Major Drilling	MDI	172006	26.08	-0.67
Anvil Mining	AVM	261219	11.17	-0.55
Imperial Metal	III	124312	11.56	-0.46
Kirkland Lk Gd	KGI	239397	8.93	-0.41
New Gold	NGD< /td>	116890	8.68	-0.32