COATS (over-the-counter) Southern Ariz. up 12 cents

In an otherwise quiet week of trading on the over-the-counter market, 631,040 shares of Southern Arizona Mining and Smelting changed hands. Reacting to news of an option agreement between Southern and Wydmar Development, a Vancouver-based mining company, Southern shares jumped 12 cents to close at 37 cents. Under the terms of the agreement, Southern will receive a private placement of Wydmar shares in return for $800,000. The financing will be put toward exploration on Wydmar’s properties in Manitoba and in the Eskay Creek area of British Columbia.

A much larger financing agreement is in the works for Atlantic Goldfields. Metallurgie Frontenac, a manufacturing company controlled by Atlantic, has raised $18 million through issuance of 720,000 shares in a private placement. Atlantic shares were 88 cents bid, 93 cents ask at close of trading on April 3.

Another Maritime company, Eastern Goldfields, announces that additional testing of overburden material from their Shamrock property in Newfoundland has revealed free gold in significant amounts. Trenching and drilling on the target area will begin this summer. Eastern shares were 50 cents bid, 60 cents ask.

After announcing new intersections of low-grade copper mineralization on its MacLeod Lake project in Quebec, shares of Windy Mountain Explorations dropped 40 cents to close at $2.50 on a volume of 5,350. The company intends to continue exploration on the property this summer.