INVESTMENT COMMENTARY — Pacific Comox seen as speculative

The potential of the Adansi-Asaasi gold concession in Ghana and a recent deal with Anglo American render Pacific Comox (VSE) a good buy at 29 cents a share.

The recommendation was made by Will Dawes in a report issued by Credit Lyonnais Laing. In it, the analyst outlines the six projects that make up Pacific Comox’s property portfolio, drawing particular attention to three prospecting licences in Ghana.

The Adansi-Asaasi concession lies 19 km east of the Ashanti mine, within the Ashanti trend. Comprising 76 sq. km, the property hosts the past-producing Cherebroso gold mine which operated in the early 1900s.

Comox can earn a 66% interest by paying US$75,000 and issuing 125,000 shares by September 1996.

The property was recently subjected to underground mapping, surveying and sampling along the mineralized contact between Birimian volcanics and Tarkwaian sediments.

Values from underground run as high as 13.9 grams per tonne, while surface samples from quartz veins yield up to 122 grams.

The report says the potential for finding a gold deposit on the property is significant. It notes, however, that sampling results should be viewed with caution, as the coarse nature of gold in the surface samples could give rise to the “nugget effect.”

Comox holds a 75% interest in two other Ghanaian concessions, Sadjafi (97 sq. km) and Tantra (26 sq. km), both of which are in the northern end of the Winneba-Kibi gold belt.

The little-explored Sadjafi hosts numerous underground workings and has potential for both lode and alluvial gold deposits, as well as alluvial diamonds. It is currently undergoing stream sediment- and soil-sampling. Here at home, the junior holds options on three properties, the most significant being Harrison Lake, in which it can earn a 76% interest. The project, situated east of Vancouver, has a drill-indicated resource of 500,000 oz., and tests suggest the concentrate would be amenable to processing at Cominco’s (TSE) smelter in Trail, B.C.

In his recommendation, Dawes also cites the company’s participation in an 80,000-line-km survey with Mutual Resources (VSE). The survey covered 16,000 sq. km of Ghana’s most prospective ground and early analysis is described as extremely positive.

In addition, Pacific Comox has granted Anglo American the right to earn between 51% and 60% in any new project identified by the former. In return, Anglo American must pay all acquisition and development costs through to the prefeasibility stage; Pacific Comox would retain a 30% stake, as would the Ghanaian government.