STOCK MARKETS — Gold price stalls; TSE 300 index in slide

Gold, which seems to be having trouble cracking the US$400-per-oz. mark, pulled back this week. Entering our report period at better than US$390, the yellow metal was sitting at US$381 in London at presstime.

Not helping the price was the story that the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand

Marcos may have been the person who stashed more than a few recently discovered bricks of the precious metal in a Swiss warehouse. While the market for the metal is clearly volatile, analysts point out that the supply-demand fundamentals for gold are positive.

Also slipping during the week ended Jan. 25 was the TSE 300 composite index, which, after setting a record on Jan. 19 of 4,562.9 points, closed the period off by more than 100 points, at 4,456.2.

Experiencing a roller-coaster price ride on fantastic volume was International Platinum, a junior which has been active in Canada and South Africa. Currently, the company is enthused about a gold prospect in Arizona where sampling of 36 tons of material has returned an unusually high grade of 0.39 oz. gold per ton. Trading more than 37 million shares during the week, International Platinum sold for as high as 48 cents and closed at 33 cents for a gain of 20 cents on the week. Today (Jan. 26), the share price closed at 30 cents on about 4 million shares.

Caledonia Mining watched its price rise to $1.77 (a 52-week high) on respectable volume before closing at $1.66, off 9 cents on the week. The Mississauga, Ont.-based junior has its fingers in projects around the world, including in Spain where an affiliated gold producer is set to release positive quarterly financial results. Caledonia’s 48%-owned Reunion Mining is going public in Luxembourg, which will enable it to proceed with a financing for project development in Zimbabwe. From the Northwest Territories, an announcement is expected in mid-March regarding Caledonia exploration results from coastal and river diamond properties.

Toronto-based Conwest Exploration has acquired, for investment purposes, an 18.1% (two million shares) interest in Granduc Mining, with associated company Jascan Resources having bought an additional 815,300 shares. Granduc, which climbed 3 cents to close at $1.63, owns half of the producing Keystone open-pit gold project in Manitoba, where plans call for an upgrading of the current 1,200-ton-per-day milling capacity. Granduc’s Keystone partner is Black Hawk Mining, which rose a dime to $1. Conwest was off 25 cents to $22.75.

Another producer in Manitoba, Granges, may be about to lose its major shareholder. M.I.M. Holdings of Australia intends to sell its approximate 37% interest in Granges at a price of not less than $4 per share. Granges has a 29% interest in the Trout Lake copper-silver-gold-zinc mine at Flin Flon. Granges slipped 50 cents to $3.85.

Active of late on the Montreal Exchange, Armistice Resources has reached an agreement with creditor Dynatec Mining that will allow the junior to resume exploring and developing its gold property at Virginiatown, Ont., adjacent to the old Kerr Addison mine. Armistice, down 5 cents to 18 cents, is planning a rights offering in Quebec.

Noranda subsidiary Novicourt, 45% owner of the developing Louvicourt copper-zinc-gold project near Val d’Or, Que., dropped 38 cents to $5. The operator of the project, Aur Resources, was off 13 cents to $6.63. Argentine explorer International Musto Explorations says it has received offers to joint-venture and/or sell its interest in the Bajo de la Alumbrera gold-copper deposit. The Vancouver-based junior, which jumped $1 to $11.63, says it may take 10 days to choose among the bidders.

On the diamond beat, Redaurum Red Lake Mines and its diamond-production partners in Zimbabwe have acquired a fifth “exclusive prospecting order” and have applied for an additional nine exploration areas. Redaurum, which climbed 41 cents to $1.44, has a half interest in the River Ranch diamond mine there.

Up 2 cents to 18 cents on 3.8 million shares was Breakwater Resources, which is undergoing a restructuring. The company says one condition of the restructuring (involving the sale by Westpac Banking of an interest in a loan) has been met.