MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS — EASTERN MARKETS — Royal Oak Mines slides into receivership

The bell finally tolled for Royal Oak Mines, as the civil court in Ontario withdrew the company’s protection from creditors and placed the company’s assets in the hands of a receiver. The receiver will put the Kemess mine in British Columbia up for sale, and will shop around both the Pamour operation in northern Ontario and the Giant mine in Yellowknife. In the meantime, production is to continue from all three complexes. Royal Oak fell a final 5 cents to close at 6 cents on April 16.

While gold prices rose a nickel to US$283.90 per oz. on the London morning fix of April 21, Canada’s major producers showed some strength during the April 14-20 report period: Barrick Gold was up $2.35 to $28.20; Placer Dome rose $2.55 to $19.05; and Kinross Gold was up 2 cents to $3 as the major announced smaller-than-expected losses for the first quarter.

Cambior announced it had been engaged in private talks with TVX Gold regarding a possible merger. However, Cambior stated that TVX’s board had rebuffed its advances and that discussions have ended. Over the week, Cambior jumped 40 cents to $5.80, while TVX rebounded from a 5-year low, climbing 28 cents to $1.75.

Though nickel prices were up only 3 cents to US$2.31 per lb., Canada’s nickel majors all posted strong gains: Inco shot up $3.55 to hit $24.30; Falconbridge rose 50 cents to $17.25; and Sherritt International climbed 35 cents to $2.75.

The other base metal prices also advanced marginally. Copper was up 3 cents to US68 cents per lb.; zinc rose 1 cents to US46 cents; and lead eased up 1 cents to US24 cents. The base metal majors almost all benefited in turn: Noranda jumped $2.05 to $17.90; Rio Algom soared $2.45 to $18.05; Cominco rose $1.85 to $22.50; and Teck’s B shares were up $1.65 to $12.25 as that company sold $125-million worth of convertible debentures and announced it would buy up to 1.5 million Cominco shares. Only Boliden was off, slipping 8 cents to $2.45.

SouthernEra Resources ended the period 30 cents higher at $5.40 as the diamond miner made two announcements: first, a US$10.5-million acquisition of a 54% interest in Johannesburg-listed Messina Holdings, owner of a major platinum property near SouthernEra’s Klipspringer project in South Africa; and second, the completion of a 51% acquisition of the Camafuca diamond pipe in Angola, with a final US$6.5 million payment.

Vancouver-based Redfern Resources rocketed 29 cents to 64 cents as the Alaska House of Representatives passed a Senate resolution in support of the “responsible development” of the company’s Tulsequah Chief mine and urged the Alaskan governor to withdraw his request for a project review by the International Joint Commission.