Toronto Stock Exchange Placer, Arimetco active as gold takes a dive

Profit takers sent share prices downward for much of the period ended April 23. Today, April 24, however, Toronto’s composite 300 index closed up 1.71 points at 3541.1 as 21.5 million shares worth $246.3 million changed hands.

.TWhile a US$5.10 drop in the gold price sparked a 64.31 point decrease in the gold and silver index, shares of Placer Dome, Canada’s biggest gold miner, were among the most active stocks this week.

Other Active stocks included Arimetco International which reached a new high for the year of $4.50 before dropping back today to $3.90. Having established a copper sales agreement with Billiton Metals of New York, Arimetco is planning to expand production at its 20,000 lb.-per-day Yerington copper mine in Nevada. However, the Arimetco board, according to director Jim Anthony, is kicking itself for not granting any directors’ options.

Shares of Inco continued to reach new heights as analysts look forward to higher nickel prices and an overall recovery in the base metals sector. After peaking at $40.63, the issue had slipped to $40.38 by week’s end.

Evidence that Falconbridge supports Inco’s enthusiasm was evident this week as Falconbridge announced its decision to go underground at the Raglan nickel project in Ungava, Que.

Regarded as one of the world’s finest undeveloped nickel plays, Raglan could be in production by 1995, according to project director Thomas Pugsley. That will come as no surprise to shareholders of New Quebec Raglan Mines, who are still holding out for a better offer than the one tabled by Falconbridge when it got full control of Raglan. The case is still before the courts.

Falconbridge’s part owner Noranda increased its stake in Freewest Resources to 9.71% this week. Shares of Freewest closed up 10 cents today.

Shares of Hemlo Gold, which owns about 1.7% of Freewest, hit a new low of $7.88 as gold dropped to US$355.8 in London. Hemlo slipped still further today to $7.75. The plummeting gold price also hit American Barrick Resources which gave up 25 cents. Shares of LAC Minerals moved down 13 cents to $8.63 as the debate continued over its plan to acquire the remaining 35% stake in Bond International Gold that it doesn’t already hold.

Analysts who visited Bond’s El Indio gold-copper mine in Chile recently were impressed by what they saw and some feel that LAC’s offer of 0.53 of its own shares for each remaining share of Bond is too low.

Agnico-Eagle Mines fell 25 cents amid reports that CSA Management and wholly owned Goldcorp Investments have purchased a 5% stake in Agnico and are preparing a takeover bid for the Toronto-based gold producer.

A spokesman at Agnico says President Paul Penna, who was charged with violating Ontario’s insider-trading laws recently, is “on the road to recovery” after being diagnosed as having cancer.

Meanwhile, Rob McEwen, who controls the Dickenson Mines and Wharf Resources group through holding company CSA Management, is having his own problems.

A plan to merge Dickenson with Wharf and United Coin Mines was hatched this week by institutional shareholders concerned about the group’s weak financial performance.

The group, led by former Noranda treasurer Kendall Cork, has issued a direct challenge to McEwen by calling for the eventual amalgamation of the merged company with CSA and Goldcorp. In a press release, McEwen said the proposal does not contain enough information for management to respond.

Meanwhile, Dickenson A shares were on the active list this week. They closed today at $2.75, just above their 52-week low point. Dickenson’s B shares also ended the week at $2.75.

Dayton Developments was up 5 cents today after the company paid Chevron Resources $1.1 million for half of a 4% net smelter royalty on its Andacollo gold project in Chile. The purchase makes Dayton sole owner of Andacollo, subject to a 2% net smelter royalty.