Calpine’s latest drilling fuels market surge

The bulk of recent trading involves companies active on or near the Eskay Creek property where Calpine Resources (VSE) recently intersected 682.2 ft., averaging 0.875 oz gold, 0.97 oz silver, 1.12% lead and 2.26% zinc in hole 109. Calpine and Consolidated Stikine Silver (VSE) each owns 50% of Eskay Creek project.

Calpine recently released additional assay results from drilling on the 21 zone at Eskay Creek. Hole 102 returned 45.9 ft (from 223 to 268.9 ft) grading 1.787 oz gold, 55.96 oz silver, 1.49% lead and 3.58% zinc, which includes 23 ft of 3.474 oz gold, 111.34 oz silver, 2.97% lead and 7.09% zinc.

Other results are: 82 ft grading 0.152 oz gold and 1.71 oz silver; 78.7 ft of 0.739 oz gold and 31.64 oz silver; and 39.3 ft of 0.040 oz gold and 0.05 oz silver.

Although results are not yet available, hole 89-126 (now the most northerly drill hole completed on the 21 zone) is reported to have encountered disseminated to semi- massive and massive sulphide mineralization over a 445-ft interval at 311-756 ft.

Calpine said this interval includes a 30-ft section and a 26-ft section of pyrite-galena-chalcopyrite-sphalerite massive sulphide mineralization, with the latter section noticeably more enriched in galena (lead sulphide) and sphalerite (zinc sulphide).

Hole 126 is giving rise to speculation that Calpine may be working its way into what could be a gold- rich volcanogenic massive sulphide lens off the 21 zone; something Chet Idziszek, president of Prime Explorations, said is a possibility.

Whatever the case, most expect that the unique Eskay Creek project will continue to dominate exploration interest in northwestern B.C., an area conspicuously absent of major companies (with one or two exceptions).

Calpine President Murray Pezim — who also heads up Prime Resources (VSE) and a stable of juniors under its umbrella — told The Northern Miner he now intends to raise between $50 to $100 million “as soon as possible” for a work program on a variety of projects held by Prime companies.

And although talk of renaming the VSE the Murray Pezim Stock Exchange is expected to come to naught, Canada’s best-known promoter and mine financier is being lavished with praise for having sparked widespread interest in yet another promising gold camp.

The ultimate risk-taker and a workaholic before the term was coined, Pezim’s forte is seen as developing new gold camps where none exist and where others often fear to tread. The Hemlo camp in Ontario is his most notable success, but Pezim is also credited with having sparked an exploration boom in the La Ronge district of Saskatchewan and most recently in relatively unexplored parts of northwestern British Columbia.

“The word tenacity in the dictionary should have Murray’s picture under it,” quipped Graeme Currie, an analyst with Canarim Investment Corp. Like many others, Currie sees long-term benefits from the recent upsurge of trading activity in Vancouver.

“It has generated a tremendous pool of capital that is likely to be re-invested in a number of promising projects in northwestern B.C. or elsewhere,” he said.

Don McLeod, president of Newhawk Gold Mines (which has an advanced gold project north of Stewart), agrees that northwestern B.C. will likely attract most of the money raised on the VSE, particularly if road access into the Iskut River camp becomes a reality. (Several reliable sources told The Northern Miner that the British Columbia government is expected to announce a decision on road access into the Iskut River area sometime this fall.)

“It’s a huge area with considerable mineral potential that hasn’t been scratched,” McLeod said. “We expect to be making discoveries for years and years to come.”

But McLeod also said Calpine’s discovery confirms the importance of the VSE as a venture capital market, despite widely read reports to the contrary by Forbes Magazine and Barron’s.

“You can’t raise funds for this kind of drilling anywhere else in the world,” McLeod added. “The neighborhood banker won’t even talk to you.”

Easily eclipsing listless eastern markets, the VSE’s trading explosion peaked on Monday, Aug 28 when a record 53.5 million shares worth $59.4 million changed hands to surpass the previous Friday’s record of 40.9 million shares.

Although brought into check by a round of profit-taking, the expectation is that this upsurge of trading signals the start of a long- awaited turnaround for the Vancouver Stock Exchange.

“It’s a dramatic change by any measure,” said VSE President Don Hudson. “Where you get exciting activity like this it makes people look again at the important role of the VSE in financing new discoveries.”

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