Vancouver Stock Exchange Market pummels “blue chips”

The market correction in Vancouver has pummelled speculative gold stocks and some of the more “blue chip,” issues as well.

Yesterday the VSE index tumbled 44.3 points and today it was down another 8.5 to 1915.2. Short covering is said to be a key factor in the latest strengthening of the U.S. dollar which has pushed gold lower. And, many analysts feel it will probably take a while for the market to adjust to a more stable U.S. currency before we see gold prices rise again.

In active trading today, Night Hawk was 20 cents stronger at $2.35. A few weeks ago the company announced that a group of individuals had purchased 3.3 million shares which probably represented a control change.

The Superintendent of Brokers recently informed Night Hawk it was delinquent in supplying its interim financials.

International Rhodes, a Pezim Group company, which recently rejected a business arrangement that would have seen Galveston Resources become its controlling shareholder, was ahead 8 cents to 55 cents . Tundra Gold resumed trading today but was unchanged at $6.50. In a news release, the company noted that over $3 million has been spent already on its Lamaque mine joint venture with Teck and results have been encouraging.

Cornucopia Resources was also back on the board after announcing that a shallow exploration program on its Ivanhoe property in Nevada had expanded near-surface oxide gold reserves. At presstime the stock was trading at $10.50.

Marco Resources was still suspended because of some rather outrageous statements it’s been making about a gold property in California.

Over our report period, Carben Energy jumped 94 cents to $2.70, probably because of a control change. Carben is entertaining merger opportunities with U.S. companies involved in the medical technology field. Alotta Resources, the volume leader for the week with a turnover of 1.3 million shares, gained 67 cents to $2.27. The company has been drilling its Mineral Zone project in Idaho where gold values have been returned in oxide material.

Skyline, which is exploring and developing its Reg property north of Stewart, B.C., was 63 cents higher at $13.63 and Nor-Quest ended the week at $4 representing a gain of 50 cents . The company is continuing with its takeover bid for Don McLeod’s Northair Mines which should generate more fireworks than our Canada Day celebrations.

Gold producers like Hycroft Resources and Development dropped sharply because of lower metal prices. Stock was down $2.50 to $12.13. Grandview tumbled from $14.50 to $13.38.

New listings for the week included: Seam Res. (formerly Deex Res.), Golden Queen, Destiny Resources, (formerly New Ridge), Continental Pacific, Westron Venture, Kowkash Gold, Merfin Hygienic (formerly Merfin Resources), Glenex Industries (formerly International H.R.S. Industries), Consolidated Amhawk, and Cansorb Industries.