Aber and Tyler active on diamond sample news (May 25, 1992)

Investors caught a dose of diamond fever during the week ended May 19 after BHP-Utah confirmed the existence of gem-quality stones on the Dia Met Minerals property in the Lac de Gras, N.W.T., area.

News that diamonds weighing a total of 90 carats had been recovered from the 160-ton bulk sample extracted from the Dia Met property sent investors rushing in to buy up shares of Aber Resources and Tyler Resources, both of which have property in the immediate vicinity of the discovery. While a spokesman for BHP-Utah said it is far too early to suggest that Dia Met is sitting on a mine, investor reaction sent Aber up 50 cents today, May 20, after 1.1 million shares had changed hands. Tyler Resources, which has claims immediately to the north of the Dia Met discovery, moved up 12 cents to 22 cents on a volume of 194,000 shares. Although it has picked up a big block of ground in the Lac de Gras region, Southernera Resources was unchanged at 73 cents where it trades at just below a high of 85 cents. News from BHP’s Colorado testing plant came as something of a tonic at a time when the mining community is still mourning the recent deaths at Curragh Resources’ Westray coal mine in Nova Scotia.

With the gold price in a virtual holding pattern and little in the way of good news on the economic front, there wasn’t much else this week to draw investors into the market. The yellow metal closed at US$336.05 per oz. in London today, after giving up almost US$4 in the report period. On the broad market, the composite 300 index moved down 4.1 points to 3381.2 points after 26.7 million shares valued at $253 million had changed hands. It was the second successive losing session for the index which is being weighed down by the Olympia & York real estate crisis, soft metal prices and uncertainty about Quebec.

Even Queenston Mining Chairman Hugh Harbinson, who has shifted his emphasis toward copper oxide at the expense of gold, was calling the Dia Met find “the icing on the cake” for his company.

Queenston is in the process of closing its acquisition of a 30% stake in Thermal Exploration, the latest company to pick up ground near Lac de Gras. Queenston was down 4 cents to 71 cents.

Aur Resources, which is looking for diamonds, but won’t say where, was down 14 cents to $2.61 on a volume of 66,600 shares.

In other news, shares of the newly consolidated Golden Star Resources moved up 35 cents to $3.15 on the first day of trading after its merger with South American Goldfields. The two companies have combined forces to raise money for exploration in Guyana; the main asset there is a 35% stake in Cambior’s Omai gold project. Cambior was unchanged at $8.50.

Among other gold stocks, Hemlo Gold Mines was up 13 cents to $9.25. That is just below the $9.38 selling price

of a 167,400 block of shares cross-

ed by RBC Dominion earlier this week. Franco-Nevada and American Barrick Resources each gave up 13 cents while Placer Dome was unchanged at $12.75. With debts totalling $13.2 million, Mentor Exploration says its future depends on financial support from creditors. The company’s chief assets are a 9.5% stake in Agnico-Eagle Mines and a 43.8% interest in Sudbury Contact Mines. Mentor and Agnico were each down 20 cents today.