MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS — QUERY — New Golden Sceptre under suspension

I own shares in New Golden Sceptre Minerals but have not been able to learn about that company. In fact, it has been over three years since I received any communication from them. The last address I had for the company was 150 York St., Toronto; I have written to this address, but received no response. I note that New Golden Sceptre is still listed in your Mining Stock Tables but that it has shown no trade for several months. If you can supply any information about New Golden Sceptre, or direct me to someone for proper enquiry, I will certainly be grateful.

Clyde Carter,

Locust Grove, Va.

New Golden Sceptre Minerals (NGD-V) is under a cease-trade order from the Ontario Securities Commission and is suspended from trading on the Vancouver Stock Exchange.

New Golden Sceptre started life in 1987 when Golden Sceptre Resources and Goliath Gold Mines were taken over by Noranda (NOR-T) and amalgamated with Noranda’s gold-mining interests to form Hemlo Gold Mines. Shares in New Golden Sceptre were distributed as part of the deal.

The company was part of the Vancouver-based Hughes-Lang group until 1989-1990, when it was taken over by the Sheridan interests of Toronto. As part of that group, it took on properties west of Voisey’s Bay, Nfld., in early 1995, and added an interest in another property in the Coppermine River area of the Northwest Territories in 1997. It was also “examining exploration and mining projects” in the former Soviet Union, and drilled two holes on a property in northwestern Ontario in 1996.

The VSE halted and then suspended trading in New Golden Sceptre in May 1998, while the company was making arrangements for a share-transfer agent.

When the company also failed to file routine financial statements in Ontario, securities regulators there stepped in and handed down a cease-trading order, which was also observed by their counterparts in British Columbia. New Golden Sceptre’s last trade (on May 8) was at 25 cents.

The company’s last public filing was a British Columbia Form 61 (the province’s required quarterly report from publicly-traded companies) covering the three months ending Sept. 30, 1997.

Curiously enough, the two Form 61 reports covering the second and third quarters of 1997 have an identical Management Discussion section (the form’s Schedule C). More curious still, the discussion describes activities in the third quarter of 1996, not 1997.

It is odd that your letters have not been answered, because you have the right address. The company’s address is Suite 1614, 150 York St., Toronto, Ont. M5H 3S5. Its phone number is (416) 363-4477 and its fax number is (416) 363-1902.