Montreal Exchange Seniors active, lower

It was a big week for senior issues on the Montreal Exchange, but probably not one they would like to remember. Most suffered price declines ranging from marginal to major.

Placer Dome was the most active issue trading 939,200 shares and slipping $1 to close at $14.38. Other major golds fared similarly: Echo Bay was off 88 cents to close at $22.62 on 314,400 shares, American Barrick was off $1.12 to close at $22.62 on 332,100 shares and Hemlo Gold was off $1.12 to close at $14.62 on 324,200 shares.

Other metal mining companies didn’t do much better. Inco traded 454,000 shares and closed down 12 cents at $22.75 while Falconbridge was off 75 cents , closing at $18.12 on 109,200 shares.

Most of the junior issues were down, as well.

Audrey Resources reported third quarter earnings of $614,000 although that included $711,000 in depletion, depreciation and government assistance that was applied to revenue. Earnings for the 9-month period ended Dec 31 came to $962,000. Audrey was down 19 cents on the week to close at $2.80 on 42,100 shares.

St. Genevieve was down 79 cents to close at $2.20 on 222,100 shares. It recently announced a novel idea for a junior company — a share- purchase plan. Under the plan, eligible shareholders can purchase shares directly from the company without paying commissions.

Abitibi Metals managed to hold steady at 18 cents on 371,900 shares. Results from its Jolin property in northwestern Quebec have been quite encouraging. Two drill rigs are working on the property now.

One of the few gainers this week with any substantial volume among the juniors was Bruneau Mining, a Canamax-controlled company with a good gold prospect in German and Stock twps. just east of Timmins, Ont. It picked up 2 cents to close at 22 cents on 394,000 shares. Two cents doesn’t sound like much, but that’s a 10% gain on the week.

Belmoral Mines was down 30 cents to close at $2.10 on 25,300 shares. It has reached an agreement to buy up to a 51% interest in Roddy Resources, a Toronto-listed company with a heap leach gold mine in Arizona that can produce up to 1,000 oz a month.