Montreal Exchange: Syngold makes big gain

Wednesday close, Nov 5

A good example of the success of Quebec’s flow-through offerings to raise money for exploration is found in Syngold Exploration. It might also be an argument against flow-through financings.

The company has nine drills working on three separate properties after having raised $3.9 million by selling flow-through shares. That’s a lot of exploration work, and good for the industry, but skeptics might question the value of such an extensive drilling program. Flow-through critics often say the money is spent for the sake of tax credits, not for mineral exploration.

This company, however, seems to be in the hands of solid mineral explorers. President Barry Simmons was involved with the Winston Lake zinc discovery when he was with Corp. Falconbridge Copper while Chairman Jim Gill is president of Aur Resources.

Whatever the case, Syngold may be having some some exploration success if market action is any indication. It rose 18 cents on the week to close at $1.10 on 116,500 shares.

The most active issue on the Montreal Exchange this week was Noranda. It was up 62 cents to close at its week high of $20.88 after trading 305,100 shares. It reported its third straight quarterly profit and appears to be heading for its first profitable year since 1981.

Investors seem to be happy with Denison Mines’ efforts to reduce its debt. The stock moved up 62 cents to $6.25 on 134,100. The sale of its subsidiary, Lake Ontario Cement, in order to improve its balance sheet and strength ening oil prices combined to ease the suffering of Denison shareholders.

Massval Mining remained active although it slipped somewhat this week. It lost a nickel to close at 34 cents on 127,700 shares. Readers of this column will be well aware of its plans to reorganize and raise money to earn a 49% interest in a prime Quebec gold prospect now held by Placer Development.

Eider Resources, was unchanged at 70 cents on 41,900 shares, despite news that it had intersected a wide, strongly altered zone with 5-15% sulphides on its Casa Berardi property. Eider has the option to earn a 100% interest in the property from Golden Briar Mines by spending $1.5 million over five years.