TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE JULY 29-AUG. 1

Although the S&P-TSX Composite Index climbed 1.4% over the holiday-shortened July 29-Aug 1 trading period, closing at 13,496.53 points, the gain wasn’t enough to make up for its 6% loss over the month of July.

A few major deals in the mining sector contributed to the rise — the Capped Metals and Mining Index rallied 4.8% to close at 750.35 points.

Fording Canadian Coal Trust was the biggest gainer by value over the period, followed by Teck Cominco. Fording shares were up $6.10 to $89.90 after Teck made a friendly offer to buy Fording for $14.1 billion. The deal will leave Teck with full ownership of the Elk Valley Coal Partnership, which includes six mines in British Columbia and Alberta, doubling its exposure to metallurgical coal. Teck shares added $4.59 each to $45 apiece.

A few days after that deal was announced, Goldcorp made a friendly $1.5-billion offer for Gold Eagle Mines, pumping up its shares by 22%. Gold Eagle closed the period at $12.19 apiece, while Goldcorp stock was down $4.54 to $37.43.

Goldcorp wasn’t alone in its loss — gold stocks fell across the board, sending the Global Gold Index 6.5% lower over the period to 303.27 points. Agnico-Eagle Mines was the top loser, falling $5.68 per share to $54.58, while Barrick Gold dropped $3.87 to $41.57 after announcing its second-quarter earnings were up 22% to US$485 million compared with the same period last year, and Newmont Mining fell $2.96 to $48.35.

HudBay Minerals was the most actively traded stock over the period with more than 49 million shares traded. The zinc producer’s shares were up 89 to $9.99 apiece, despite announcing second-quarter profits of $33.2 million — a 52% drop from last year’s second quarter. Lower zinc prices, higher copper production costs and a production slowdown intended reduce its sulphur dioxide emissions were to blame.

Another zinc producer, Breakwater Resources, had the second most actively traded stock with 35.8 million shares changing hands. The shares rose 7 to close at 35 apiece after the company reported second-quarter net earnings of $8.1 million, compared with $38.7 million in the same period of 2007.

News that High River Gold Mines had entered a $16-million arms-length deal to buy the remainder of its 50%-owned Prognoz silver project, in Russia, pushed its shares as high as $1.62 apiece before settling at $1.40 a day later. The project has an indicated re-source of 4.49 million tonnes grading 704 grams silver per tonne for 102 million oz. silver, plus an inferred resource totalling 103 million oz. silver.

Cline Mining shares climbed 34.4% to $1.17 apiece after the company completed its US$15.4-million acquisition of the New Elk Coal Co. Cline expects to spend US$100 million to refurbish the Colarado coal operation, with the goal of eventually producing 3 million tons of coal per year.

TSX most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
HudBay Minls	HBM 49169	10.50	9.16	9.99	+ 0.83
Breakwater Res	BWR 35839	0.38	0.25	0.35	+ 0.07
Gold Eagle Mns	GEA 32218	12.60	9.89	12.19	+ 2.20
Eastern Platin	ELR 27717	1.99	1.73	1.74	-0.18
FordingCCT	FDG_U27015	91.60	87.00	89.90	+ 6.10
TeckCominB	TCKB 26124	49.24	38.11	45.00	+ 4.59
Yamana Gold	YRI 21040	13.40	11.96	12.75	-0.28
Goldcorp	G 19326	41.75	37.00	37.43	-4.54
Kinross Gold	K 17113	19.65	17.84	18.32	-1.08
Barrick Gold	ABX 16091	45.44	40.28	41.57	-3.87

TSX greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
South Am Silvr	SAC	307	0.33	0.25	0.33	+ 65.0
Tiomin Res	TIO	9624	0.07	0.05	0.06	+ 50.0
Cline Mng	CMK	4154	1.28	0.87	1.17	+ 34.4
Ontex Res	ONT	1506	0.45	0.31	0.43	+ 30.3
New Dawn Mng	ND	55	0.80	0.61	0.75	+ 25.0
Nuinsco Res	NWI	728	0.25	0.19	0.25	+ 25.0
Breakwater Res	BWR	35839	0.38	0.25	0.35	+ 25.0
Canadn Zinc	CZN	333	0.65	0.47	0.60	+ 22.4
Gold Eagle Mns	GEA	32218	12.60	9.89	12.19	+ 22.0
Crystallex Int	KRY	4075	0.93	0.65	0.85	+ 21.4
Zincore Mtls	ZNC	1019	0.17	0.12	0.12	-33.3
Colombia Goldf	GOL	36	0.60	0.50	0.50	-23.0
Arehada Mining	AHD	35	0.24	0.19	0.19	-20.8
Rockwell Diam	RDI	238	0.26	0.22	0.23	-20.6
Silver Whtn wt	SLW_T	207	2.23	1.85	1.85	-17.0
Aurora Energy	AXU	946	3.33	2.66	2.74	-16.9
Silver Wtn wtA	SLW_TA	71	1.91	1.64	1.64	-16.7
Carpathian Gld	CPN	703	0.30	0.26	0.26	-16.1
Birch Mountn	BMD	135	0.30	0.26	0.26	-16.1
Grandview Gld	GVX	16	0.23	0.22	0.22	-15.3

TSX greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Fording C C T	FDG_U	27015452	89.90	+ 6.10
Teck Comin B	TCKB	26123879	45.00	+ 4.59
Potash Cp Sask	POT	5117096	206.99	+ 4.57
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF_U	700008	51.42	+ 3.79
Agrium	AGU	5101407	89.77	+ 2.97
Gold Eagle Mns	GEA	32218116	12.19	+ 2.20
Katanga Mng	KAT	2180309	10.99	+ 1.70
Global Copper	GLQ	275116	14.63	+ 1.52
Russell Metals	RUS	672380	28.50	+ 1.31
GrandeCacheC	GCE	8991560	7.89	+ 1.28
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	4506148	54.58	-5.68
Goldcorp	G	19325894	37.43	-4.54
Barrick Gold	ABX	16091493	41.57	-3.87
Horizns G Bull	HGU	4586223	20.61	-2.78
Newmont Mng	NMC	85474	48.35	-2.06
Major Drilling	MDI	580561	39.62	-2.03
IShCOMEXGTr	IGT	15907	92.06	-1.88
Silver Wheaton	SLW	9466694	13.00	-1.81
First Quantum	FM	1252838	69.65	-1.56
Franco-Nevada	FNV	508321	21.29	-1.19