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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

New York spot gold fell $4.30 to $1,294.50 Wednesday, following a strong United States GDP report that boosted the U.S. dollar. American GDP rose by 4 per cent in the second quarter, 1 per cent higher than analysts had been forecasting. Here in Canada, the TSX Venture Exchange lost 5.40 points to 1,011.10 and the TSX Gold Index slipped 1.26 points to 200.44.

Canadian gold miners ended the day down, after many had big second-quarter losses. Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) slipped three cents to $20.14 after losing $269-million, Detour Gold Corp. (DGC) dropped 85 cents to $12.45 after losing $35-million and Centerra Gold Inc. (CG) dropped 54 cents to $5.78 after losing $31-million. Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM) earned money last quarter, $38-million, but those results did not stop it from ending the day down 46 cents to $44.42.

Peter Chodos's Portex Minerals Inc. (PAX) rose one-half cent to one cent on 457,000 shares and some big news. The company is the first of 41 juniors to receive proceeds from the sale of Global Resources Investment Trust (GRIT) shares. Earlier this year, several companies entered into financings with GRIT that were essentially share exchanges. The companies would get shares of GRIT and be able to sell them when GRIT listed on the London Stock Exchange. Portex's sale can only mean that GRIT's manager, David Hutchins, has found some institutional buyers, because Portex was not allowed to sell the stock on the market for six months. None of the 41 companies that participated in GRIT's share-exchange financings this year are allowed to sell their GRIT until Sept. 7. Mr. Hutchins discussed the lock-up several times around GRIT's March 7 listing, making a big fuss over the large number of institutional buyers he had lined up to purchase the junior-held GRIT shares. All would be sold, he said, over the next four to six weeks. When the April 25 deadline came and went not a single GRIT share had been sold. That pattern continued to June 30, at which time Mr. Hutchins tried to explain the lack of activity; "Investor interest in the natural resource sector remained subdued with many of its portfolio also affected by very wide bid/offer spreads that have exacerbated volatility and restricted liquidity." GRIT's shares have dropped significantly in value since their first day of trading, closing at 35 pence Wednesday.

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