Toronto Stock Exchange May 15-18

The TSX Composite Index continued its skyward ascent over the holiday-shortened trading period of May 15 to 18. The TSX gained 1.4% and finished 202 points higher at 14,105.

The Global Gold Index travelled in the opposite direction, losing 4.44 points or 1.5%, closing at 284.97. The gold price dropped US$12.20 or 1.9% to US$658 per oz.

The Capped Metals and Mining Index, on the other hand, rose 2% or nearly 16 points over the period to 791 points, while copper lost US17 to end at US$3.35 per lb., nickel rose US$1.40 to $24.20 per lb., and aluminum moved downward half a cent to US$1.28 per lb.

Energy Fuels and Grande Cache Coal saw the highest percentage gains over the period with 34% and 31.6%, respectively, on no news. Queenston Mining’s share price grew by 27% to $2.54 after the company completed a $10-million financing to further develop its gold projects in Kirkland Lake, Ont. Queenston is currently working on a National Instrument 43-101 resource definition program on its Upper Beaver gold-copper project, as well as some exploration drilling.

On the other side, Cusac Gold Mines shares dropped about 24% to 17.5. The company reported a net loss of $1.9 million for the first quarter due to lower than expected gold production from the Rory vein at the Table Mountain property in the Cassiar gold camp, in north-central British Columbia. The company processed 3,503 tons grading 0.109 oz. gold per tonne for a total of 319 oz. gold.

Australian base metal producer Moly Mines saw its stock tumble 19% to $3.60 and shares of Caledonia Mining, which has properties in southern Africa and Canada, fell almost 18% to 14 apiece.

LionOre Mining International got the most action over the period with 37 million shares traded, bumping its share price up $3.94 to $27.64. Xstrata’s most recent bid for LionOre was $25.00 per share, topping Norilsk Nickel’s competing offer of $21.50. Norilsk has until May 25 to outbid Xstrata.

Equinox Minerals, which began mining at its Lumwana copper project in Zambia in April, was next with trading volume of 30.4 million shares. However, the company saw only a 4 gain to $2.77 in its share price.

Eastern Platinum shares dropped 10 to $2.45 on trading volume of 24.5 million. The company released assay results from its infill drilling program at the Spitzkop platinum group metals (PGM) project in South Africa. The recent results confirm high PGM grades within the UG2 Reef, as well as work done by previous mining companies.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan was the biggest gainer for the period, rising $8.07 to $74.85, followed by LionOre with its $3.94 gain, and Fording Canadian Coal Trust with a $2.67 increase to $31.18.

Newmont Mining experienced the biggest loss, dropping $2.07 to $42.70 and Pan American Silver dropped $1.17 to $28.98.

TSX most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
LionOre Mng In	LIM	37162	28.15	26.53	27.64	+	3.94
Equinox Minls	EQN	30385	2.79	2.56	2.77	+	0.04
Eastern Platin	ELR	24502	2.64	2.35	2.45	–	0.10
Breakwater Res	BWR	22964	2.47	2.21	2.41	+	0.05
SXR Uranm One	SXR	17922	16.93	15.25	16.58	+	0.18
First Nickel	FNI	17214	1.69	1.38	1.57	–	0.05
Goldcorp	G	16536	26.44	25.19	25.90	–	0.18
Kinross Gold	K	13776	14.85	13.97	14.27	–	0.45
Teck Comin B	TCKB	12094	45.88	43.38	45.00	–	0.13
Paladin Res	PDN	11945	8.08	7.61	7.93	–	0.16

TSX greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Energy Fuels	EFR	7020	3.64	2.67	3.62	+	34.0
Grande Cache C	GCE	9147	1.31	0.80	1.04	+	31.6
Queenston Mng	QMI	821	2.54	1.98	2.54	+	27.0
South Am Gld&C	SAG	6607	0.05	0.04	0.05	+	25.0
LionOre Mng In	LIM	37162	28.15	26.53	27.64	+	16.6
Stornoway Diam	SWY	5053	1.12	0.94	1.11	+	15.6
Zincore Mtls	ZNC	674	1.05	0.81	1.05	+	14.1
Hillsborough	HLB	1362	0.60	0.49	0.57	+	14.0
Peregrine Diam	PGD	63	1.68	1.55	1.68	+	12.0
Potash Cp Sask	POT	1887	222.97	73.06	74.85	+	12.0
Cusac Gold	CQC	846	0.23	0.175	0.175	–	23.9
Moly Mines	MOL	3586	4.39	3.36	3.60	–	19.1
Caledonia Mng	CAL	1420	0.175	0.135	0.14	–	17.6
Brazilian Diam	BDY	203	0.21	0.17	0.17	–	17.0
Coalcorp wt	CCJ_T	4422	0.26	0.22	0.22	–	15.3
Teal Expl & Mg	TL	637	4.40	3.65	3.75	–	14.7
HMZ Metals	HMZ	96	0.065	0.06	0.06	–	14.2
Linear Gold	LRR	1294	5.09	4.20	4.35	–	13.5
Armistice Res	AZ	198	1.04	0.82	0.90	–	13.4
Cardero Res	CDU	488	2.59	2.02	2.19	–	13.1

TSX greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Potash Cp Sask	POT	1887285	74.85	+	8.07
LionOre Mng In	LIM	37161605	27.64	+	3.94
Fording C C T	FDG_U	1697476	31.18	+	2.67
Inmet Mining	IMN	1152124	73.10	+	1.90
Aur Res	AUR	5033969	29.00	+	1.70
Major Drilling	MDI	398186	38.12	+	1.57
Energy Metals	EMC	6018924	16.65	+	1.55
Skye Res	SKR	3054527	17.14	+	1.54
Energy Fuels	EFR	7019829	3.62	+	0.92
Gammon Lk Res	GAM	5341665	15.65	+	0.90
Newmont Mng	NMC	146881	42.70	–	2.07
ISh COMEX G Tr	IGT	11914	71.32	–	1.95
Pan Am Silver	PAA	802618	28.98	–	1.17
Cameco Corp	CCO	4770501	54.46	–	1.09
Russell Metals	RUS	2473815	32.09	–	1.08
Forsys Metals	FSY	3181743	7.61	–	1.07
Minefinders	MFL	1117374	12.60	–	0.95
First Quantum	FM	5588183	84.94	–	0.91
Moly Mines	MOL	3586243	3.60	–	0.85
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	2463799	38.18	–	0.79