STOCK MARKETS — Foreign plays keep VSE active

The Vancouver Stock Exchange composite index was up 13.92 points over the report period ended Aug. 27 to close at 1,211.95, while the resource index slipped 9.85 points to 2,420.11.

Partners Oro Belle Resources and IMA Resource completed an initial 7-hole, 685-metre drill program on the Salamanca gold prospect in Argentina’s La Rioja province. Results were reported for the first four holes, three of which intersected gold mineralization over a distance of 100 metres, including 16.5 metres of 2.9 grams gold per tonne in hole 1, 62.2 metres of 1.01 grams in hole 2, and 36.4 metres of 2.15 grams in hole 4. Oro Belle closed up 26 cents at $1.01, while IMA tacked on 29 cents to finish at $1.60.

Arizona Star Resource was off 65 cents at $13.50. The company has negotiated a $14-million private placement financing that will be used for further deep drilling on the Cerro Casale gold-copper deposit at its 51%-owned Aldebaran property in Chile. Toronto-listed Bema Gold, which owns a 30% share of Arizona Star and the other 49% interest in the Aldebaran property, will purchase 1 million of Arizona’s shares at $14 each.

Further trenching results from the 80%-held Pt. Karya Bukit Utama gold-silver property on the Indonesian island of Sumatra boosted Consolidated Silver Tusk Mines to $3.80, up 40 cents.

Trading of Mansfield Minerals was temporarily halted after closing down $2.40, to $8.10, on news that Toronto-listed Corriente Resources had acquired ground in Argentina, adjacent to the Cerro Samenta copper porphyry property held by Mansfield and Toronto-listed Teck. Corriente is organizing a survey crew to define the boundaries of the claims in relation to Mansfield’s property. Teck and Mansfield countered allegations that their property had not been correctly surveyed.

Anticipation of drill results from the Diablillos gold-silver property in Argentina propelled Pacific Rim Mining to $2.50, a gain of $1.06. A progress report on drilling is expected shortly from Toronto-listed Barrick Gold, which can buy a 70% interest in a subsidiary of Pacific Rim, whose sole asset is an option to buy the Diablillos property.

Pacific Amber Resources was up $2.20 at $8.70 on exploration news from the 112,000-ha Putussibau property in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. At present, the company is focusing on two gold prospects, the Sapit-Setul, which hosts at least six mineralized zones, and the Semulubuk, where auger soil sampling continues. Pacific Amber can acquire up to an 80% interest in the property.

With four holes complete to date on the Sewell Brook property in north-central New Brunswick, Chapleau Resources reported it had intersected significant widths of massive and semi-massive sulphides. Chapleau can earn a half interest in the property from Toronto-listed NovaGold Resources by spending $2 million over three years. The property was drilled in the early 1990s. Chapleau jumped 61 cents to close at $1.86.

Drilling by Columbia Gold Mines on the Kona zone at the Fyre Lake massive sulphide project in the Yukon has resulted in encouraging copper and gold values. Columbia, which can earn an 80% from Welcome Opportunities, closed down 8 cents to 97 cents.

Drilling is scheduled to begin in the next few weeks at Jersey Goldfields’ La Envidia gold project in Ecuador’s Cotopaxi province. The issue added 12 cents to close at 95 cents.

GMD Resource closed up 65 cents to $4.95 on the announcement that its fully owned Discovery gold project, 100 km north of Yellowknife, N.W.T., contains probable geological reserves estimated at 10 million tons grading 0.17 oz.

within the Ormsby zone.