Montreal Exchange St. Genevieve for sale

Thinking the latest rally may have run its course, investors pulled back during the report period ended Feb. 26. Both the market portfolio and mining and minerals index suffered losses, the former by 49.4 points and latter by 45.6 points. Daily trading volumes, which ranged between 5.1 million and 8.7 million shares, trended lower as the week progressed. St. Genevieve Resources, the Montreal-based junior run by Pierre Gauthier, announced it has retained the services of Merrill Lynch Canada to act as exclusive agent to solicit bids for all of the outstanding common shares of the company. Among St. Genevieve’s assets is a controlling shareholding in Societe Miniere Louvem, which, in partnership with Aur Resources, is developing the Louvicourt Twp. massive sulphide prospect northeast of Val d’Or, Que. Trading 290,900 shares, St. Genevieve slipped 2 cents on th e week to $1.02. Louvem moved 155,700 shares and climbed 20 cents to $4.80, while Aur dropped 19 cents to $4 on a volume of 34,800.

From the Bellechasse project in the Quebec City area, St. Genevieve, which is funding an exploration program, reported the completion of geotechnical surveys. Drilling and the completion of assaying of a large backlog of surface samples are planned next. St. Genevieve is earning an interest in the property from COATS-listed Golden Hope Mines, as is Duverny Exploration, which closed unchanged at 30 cents on 700 shares.

Societe d’Exploration Miniere Mazarin reported signing a deal with Rio Algom which allows the senior to earn a 60% interest in property north of Amos, Que. Trading 190,100 shares, Mazarin dropped 2 cents to 49 cents.

Earnings reports featuring writedowns seem to be in vogue. One such company reporting a fairly large writedown ($39.5 million) and an even larger loss ($49.6 million) for 1990 was gold producer Canamax Resources. Trading 1,700 shares, Canamax closed unchanged at 38 cents.

Newly listed on the ME is Canchrome Mines, which gained 1 cents on the week to 71 cents on 212,400 shares. The company raised more than $1 million in a public offering of flow-through and common shares.