Toronto Stock Market Golds drop after a wild ride on a

It was a turbulent week for gold shares as the price of the yellow metal on commodity markets swung wildly as hope for more stability in the U.S. dollar took hold. On Monday, the price of gold shot up past $478(US) an oz on the Commodity Exchange at mid-day but plummeted to finish the day at $443.50(US). Today gold closed on the Montreal spot markt at $451(US) bid $452(US) ask.

The gold and silver index took a similar rollercoaster ride but finished the week down 169.74 pts to 8,881.50. Metals and minerals dropped 63.57 pts to 2,688.78. The widely followed composite 300 started to pull itself out of the doldrums yesterday and today but still ended the week off 84.27 pts to close at 3.704.22.

It’s been said in this column before and we’ll say it again. Mining lawyers are staying very busy these days and from the looks of it there seems to be no let up in sight. And many are working on lawsuits centered on the famous Hemlo gold mining camp of Ontario. Around press-time we received word that Scintilore Explorations has filed a statement of claim with the Supreme Court of Ontario against prospectors John Larche and Don McKinnon. Also named in the claim as defendants are Teck Corp., Hemlo Gold Mines and International Corona.(See front page box for further details.)

Meanwhile, Corona and Lac Minerals are still awaiting a decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal on the ownership of the Hemlo Page Williams mine.

However, one courtroom battle has been resolved. Murray Pezim and his flagship company Galveston Resources have called off their legal action against Corona. It also seems that Mr Pezim has settled his differences with Ned Goodman, chairman of Royex Gold Mining and Peter Steen, president of Corona and Royex.

Looking at the movement in the above stocks, Scintilore moved up 68 cents over the week to a new high of $1.30 before trading was halted today at noon on news of its statement of claim. Trading was still halted at press-time.

Teck sees its B shares closed unchanged at $35.50, while Hemlo Gold dropped $1.50 to $26.63. Lac closed the week at $42.88 after a 13 cents drop. Royex closed at $6.38 after a 12 cents dip.

In production news, the first bar of gold has been poured at Mascot Gold Mines’ Nickel Plate project near Hedley B.C. The project is ahead of schedule by some three months. Mascot closed the week at $21.75 after a win of $1.38. Lacana Mining which controls Mascot closed at $18.75 with a 38 cents jump.

Golden Knight Resources closed the week at $15 after a drop of $4. Its partner in the Golden Pond East project in the Casa Berardi area, Inco Ltd. lost $1.38 to close at $21.25. The two have given the green light for production with the first pour scheduled at Golden Pond East for August 1988.

With over five million shares trading hands, Wharf Resources comes out as this week’s most active trader. A 50% increase in gold project is projected this year at its Annie Creek gold mine near Lead, S.D. Last year, production totalled about 26,000 oz of the yellow metal. Wharf closed unchanged at $5.75.

Newly listed on the tse, Rouyn- based Audrey Resources’ principal property is the Mobrun project located in Durfresnoy Twp., Que., on which a production decision is expected this July. The Mobrun is a polymetallic (copper, zinc, gold and silver) deposit of 3.3 million tonnes. Of this 1.3 million are classifed as probable undiluted reserves. Minnova Inc. (formerly Corporation Falconbridge Copper) has a 30% non-participating carried interest in the project.

Audrey closed at $3.70 after a drop of a dime, while Minnova/ Falco Copper moved up $1.13 to close the week at $25.75.