Montreal Exchange Stratmin moves up

Activities of issues look somewhat more modest by comparison. Abitibi Metals, for instance, traded a hefty 249,500 shares, but the value of trading was considerably less than Inco’s. Abitibi was unchanged at a nickel.

Stratmin was another busy issue this week. It picked up 2 cents to close at $1.25 on 197,100 shares. In March the company officially opened its graphite mine north of Montreal and recently raised $2.5 million in a private placement with a Swiss investor by issuing stock at $1.20 per share.

Sphinx Exploration and Mimiska Exploration, two associated companies, were both on the upswing. Sphinx gained 21 cents to close at $1.81 with 101,000 shares changing hands while Mimiska was up 15 cents to $1.75 on 96,300 shares. The two companies are planning rights offerings that will allow holders to buy new shares in either one. The proceeds will go toward underground work on the Goldstack and Fern Elizabeth properties.

Freewest Resources, one of the companies involved from day one in the area surrounding a new nickel discovery near Lac St. Jean, north of Quebec City, was up 22 cents to close at $1.67 on 120,300 shares. Surface dimensions of the massive sulphide showing on the discovery property are impressive by all reports, but no drilling has been done yet. Freewest’s property lies due south of the discovery property.

American Reserve Mining was down 11 cents to close at $1.78 on 66,600 shares. It had to pay a steep price, $1.1 million plus $1 million in an interest free note, for 200 acres of property adjoining its Paymaster property in Timmins. American Reserve needed the property because it believes it hosts extensions to the Paymaster gold zones.

Belmoral slipped 6 cents to $1.16 on 40,400 shares. It recently backed out of a deal to buy the Ketza River gold mine in the Yukon Territory from Canamax Resources. Belmoral hasn’t given any reasons other than to say that production figures weren’t what they were represented to be. Talk is that Belmoral may have other problems that forced it to back out.

Chesbar picked up 4 cents on light trading to close at 45 cents . Chesbar is one of four companies trying to revive the old Jerome gold mine in Ontario’s Swayze area north of Sudbury. Although recent exploration has resulted in reserves increasing to 600,000 tons at an average grade of 0.20 oz gold per ton, exploration has been halted and the property placed on a care and maintenance basis.

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