Toronto Stock Exchange Metals help push composite to record high

The 5-year anniversary of the current bull market is fast approaching this August. And in celebratory fashion, the tse composite index blew through the 4,000-pt mark to set a new high — 4,000.77 pts to be exact. The mining sector provided a welcome boost to the over-all market performance. In fact, a bona fide rally appears to be taking place in the base and precious metals sector of the tse. The best gains during our review week came from the golds, which have seen a 5-day rally move the gold and silver index to 9,292.94 pts — up 310 pts for the day and 509 pts for the week. The metals and minerals index also showed strength, hitting a new high of 3,294.91 pts.

Following a downward correction which took the wind out of most golds during June, July is witnessing a return to strength as many issues creep towards new highs. Gold was steady at $456(US) today, bolstered by fears of war in the Persian Gulf. Coming as no surprise to any one then, is the fact that of 286 mining issues which traded this week 169 advanced whereas only 60 declined.

American Barrick Resources closed at $26.88. Battle Mountain Gold reported earnings for the first half of 22 cents per share, up 51% from 14 cents per share realized in the first half of last year. The issue closed at $50.75. Additional drill results from Getty Resources and Noranda Exploration continue to enhance an already attractive gold deposit in the N.W.T. Latest holes include a superb 82 ft grading 0.25 oz gold per ton. True width however, is nearer to 26 ft. Getty was steady at $15.75.

Belmoral Mines reported poor second-quarter results. For the period the company had a loss of $656,000 due to lower than expected grades. The issue traded at $6.75. D’Or Val Mines, which is officially opening its gold mine in Quebec this fall, was also sideways at $4.25.

Base metals producers displayed excellent performances this week. Boosted by improving prices for nickel, copper and zinc, they’re showing a little more splash. Falconbridge Ltd. traded a whopping 663,070 shares at a market value of $18.4 million. Closing price was $27.88 — a new high. Inco Ltd., which edged back into the black during the second quarter, was also a big mover trading at $27.88 — also a new high. Noranda Inc. posted a winning day as it traded to a new high of $35 on volume of 420,757 shares.

The exploration story of the week comes from Golden Terrace Resources. A quiet trader for the past two years, Terrace pulled several good holes from a property east of Red Lake, Ont., and took off. Closing price was 95 cents after hitting a high of $1.10 on volume of 1.6 million shares. Last week the issue was 30 cents . One hole was 25 ft grading 0.25 oz gold per ton.

HSK Minerals was also active, churning through 80,000 shares to close at $1.75. Almost all the buying came from two firms, Andras Research and Richardson Greenshields. Pioneer Metals’ effort to take over Silbak Premier Mines, is being greeted positively by the market. Pioneer added $1.50 to $15. Silbak plans to develop with Westmin Resources a large open pit gold mine. Many are talking another Mascot here.

Hope Brook Gold plans to pour gold this month from its new mine in Newfoundland (see front page story). Heap leaching is in progress on what will become a 126,000-oz- per-year producer. The issue advanced to $9.63. Watch for an acquisition from Western Goldfields sooner than later. The gold producer with one heap leach mine in Nevada, has a war chest of $15 million collecting interest. Western was stronger at $11.