Vancouver Stock Exchange Eskay provides new excitement

A new gold discovery in the Eskay Creek camp of northwestern British Columbia provided a flurry of excitement, albeit an extremely modest one, on the Vancouver Stock Exchange for the week ended Oct. 16. Even though the general mood here is still somber because of the recent drop in gold and silver prices and an “unwinding economy” (the latest euphemism for the “R- word”), several junior mining issues did manage to post modest gains after reporting positive development from exploration projects. Despite this, the VSE composite index continued to slump downward. At noon today, Oct. 17, the index was down 3.5 points to an all-time low of 541.79. Small wonder Murray Pezim is still basking in the Arizona sun. It has been said equity markets operate on either greed or fear, and the latter appears to be the case for most North American exchanges these days. Institutional and retail investors alike appear to be bowled under by an unrelenting diet of economic worries and woes. In the meantime, analysts point out, the really smart money is busy hunting for undervalued assets on the premise that it’s always darkest just before the dawn.

The volume leaders this week were Silver Butte Resources and American Fibre. The two juniors each hold a 50% interest in the SIB claims where a recent drill hole returned a total of 46.9 ft. grading 0.42 oz. gold and 30.91 oz. silver per ton, including 16.7 ft. of 0.86 oz. gold and 50.24 oz. gold. Analysts are viewing the discovery as “potentially major” because the geological setting is believed to be similar to that of the Eskay Creek deposit.

The SIB claims are located to the south of and immediately adjacent to the Eskay Creek property owned by Prime Resources Group and Stikine Resources. The hole was drilled in a previously untested area to test coincident IP, VLF and soil geochemical anomalies. Silver Butte gained 29 cents to 70 cents, while American Fibre posted a gain of 11 cents to 78 cents.

Prime Resources Group is continuing to hold its ground in the slumping market, although it did lose 46 cents to $4.90. Adrian Resources didn’t fare as well; it slipped a further 82 cents to $1.69. The company’s key asset is the Ski property to the north of Eskay Creek.

Consolidated Rhodes lost 57 cents to $1.15 after reporting more drilling results from the Copper Canyon property in the Galore Creek region of northwestern British Columbia. The most recent holes weren’t as impressive as the initial two holes drilled on this copper- silver-gold project, which likely accounts for the drop in the company’s share price. Rhodes is earning a 50% interest in the property from Canamax Resources.

After reporting preliminary results from four properties in the Eskay Creek area, Santa Marina gained a modest 4 cents to settle at 38 cents. The company said early stage work has been positive. Some $200,000 was spent on the properties this season, in addition to about $150,000 spent by Noranda Exploration on joint venture properties.

Fairbanks Gold, which recently expanded its holdings near its 51% owned Fort Knox gold project near Fairbanks, Alaska, lost $2.12 to $6.75. And Southern Cross Gold gained 6 cents to 43 cents after announcing it is going into the seafood business.

Investors appear to taking an interest in Moraga Resources which is actively exploring some interesting copper-gold properties not far from the Island Copper mine near Port Hardy, B.C. The issue remained even at 88 cents.