STOCK MARKETS — Winter blahs continue to plague western

Western markets continue to suffer the winter doldrums as the Vancouver Stock Exchange resource index fell 35.88 points to a 52-week low of 1,112.52 for the report period ended Feb. 14.

The composite index remained relatively unchanged, up 1.19 points to close at 711.67.

Quebec’s Barry Twp. remains a hot play for the market. Murgor Resources hit a new high of $2.73 on heavy trading before closing at $2.40 for a gain of 10 cents. Drilling was expected to have commenced by the time this newspaper hits the stands. Six holes totalling at least 3,300 ft. will test the downdip and strike extensions of a gold-bearing shear zone. Surface trenching across the zone returned values of 0.33 oz. per ton over 31.4 ft., 0.42 oz. over 5.25 ft and 0.21 oz. over 19.1 ft. Geophysical work in the area indicates an anomaly coincident with the showing, with a strike length of about 1,500 ft. Winspear Resources added 14 cents to close at $1.22. The company has entered options with various juniors holding property in the vicinity of Murgor’s discovery. Winspear can acquire interests ranging from 50% to 60% and will act as operator. Geophysical and trenching programs are to begin shortly. In related news, Winspear, along with a private exploration company, acquired 260,000 acres under six prospecting permits in the Highland Lake area of the Northwest Territories. Geochemical sampling in this area indicates the potential for kimberlites. Airborne geophysics and followup drilling are planned for this year.

The rise in molybdenum prices has led Cactus West Explorations to reacquire the CUMO property in south-central Idaho. Exploration between 1968 and 1982 identified a large, low-grade moly deposit with a drill-indicated geologic reserve of 444 million tons grading 0.135% at a cutoff of 0.1%. A larger resource is calculated at 1.4 billion tons grading 0.093%, using a cut-off grade of 0.05%. The company says further drilling is required to identify high-grade zones. Cactus West lost 1 cents to close at 20 cents. Liquid Gold slid 25 cents to close down at 41 cents. The company was involved in the preliminary development of Huntington Resources’ Brett gold property near Vernon, B.C. Conditions of an agreement with Huntington called for the production of 1,200 tons of ore by Feb. 12 of this year, which would have enabled Liquid Gold to earn a 50% net profits interest. The latter recently announced it had met all conditions and had fully earned said interest. Huntington, meanwhile, has advised Liquid Gold that the property never achieved commercial production and that the material piled on site is not ore. For its part, Liquid Gold has indicated that samples of the material are being assayed by an independent lab, to be released when available. Huntington, on weak trading, lost 2 cents to close at 66 cents. A diamond drill program by Carson Gold is set to begin on the Marion property in the Philippines. Two rigs will test 10 targets for porphyritic-style, copper-gold mineralization, including the Marian zone which has an estimated resource of 11.6 million tonnes grading 0.52% copper and 0.62 grams gold per tonne. The company holds an option to acquire a 60% interest. Carson finished up 15 cents on moderate trading, closing at $1.30.

Farallon Resources closed at 70 cents, down 10 cents. The company received notice from Randsburg Gold that its option to earn a 70% interest in the Cobre Gigante concession in Baja California, Mexico, was terminated because of Farallon’s failure to issue shares as required under the agreement. Farallon completed three weeks of trenching and geochemical work on the property. Randsburg finished down 3 cents at 43 cents.

Cumberland Resources hit a high of $1.95 before falling back to $1.57, a gain of 27 cents. News of a diamond discovery on the Parker Lake joint-venture property, 100 miles west of Rankin Inlet in the Northwest Territories, sparked the rally. Cumberland holds a half interest, while Toronto-listed Comaplex Minerals and Manson Creek Resources each hold 25%. A 22-kg surface sample of an ultrapotassic dyke yielded 1,511 microdiamonds as well as 2 macros.