STOCK MARKETS — Dia Met gains on word of second pipe

Further slippage on gold bullion markets provided little help to western markets during the period ended Aug. 11, with the metal losing more than US$6 to finish at US$346.80 per oz.

The Vancouver Stock Exchange composite index finished down 3.56 points to 576, and the resource index followed suit, to post a 2.81-point drop to 549.42.

The Alberta Stock Exchange composite index lost more than five points to close at 829.35.

Dia Met Minerals took on added sparkle during the period, trading as high as $17 on rumors the company has encountered diamonds in drill core from a second kimberlite pipe at its Point Lake joint venture with BHP Minerals Canada in the Northwest Territories. Dia Met finally settled at $15.75 for a gain of $1.

A number of junior companies are gearing up for exploration programs on packages of ground in the area of the BHP/Dia Met claims.

Dentonia Resources, Horseshoe Gold Mining and Kettle River Resources recently started a reconnaissance exploration program on their 208,000-acre block of ground in the Lac de Gras area. The group plans to conduct heavy-mineral and indicator-mineral sampling as well as basic prospecting to locate possible pipe occurrences.

Dentonia closed up a dime to 42 cents, Kettle River finished up 12 cents to 55 cents and Horseshoe added 4 cents to close at 51 cents.

On the adjacent Amad claims to the south, Kennecott agreed to commence an airborne geophysical survey over ground jointly owned by Calico Resources and Teryl Resources. Kennecott can earn a 61% interest in the property by spending $1.25 million. Teryl and Calico remained little changed at the 25 cents and 14 cents levels, respectively.

Kennecott also plans an airborne geophysical survey over ground optioned from Kalahari Resources about 45 miles south of the Dia Met discovery. Kennecott plans to follow up the survey with heavy mineral sampling of selected targets. Kalahari finished up 8 cents at 37 cents.

Island-Arc Resources and Kestrel Resources agreed to exchange 50% working interests in adjoining claim blocks at Black Lake in the Lac de Gras area of the Northwest Territories. Island-Arc finished unchanged at the 40 cents level while Kestrel closed at 10 cents.

Winspear Resources also mobilized field crews to its landholdings in the Lac de Gras area for heavy mineral-sampling programs. The issue slipped a penny to finish at 57 cents.

Interest in these diamond issues was also given a boost by street rumors that De Beers has also made a recent significant diamond discovery somewhere in the Northwest Territories.

After touching a 52-week low of $1, St. Philips Resources managed a bounce to $1.23, for a net loss of 11 cents. El Condor Resources, St. Philips’ 60% partner at its Kemess South property in north-central British Columbia, also lost ground, closing down 35 cents to $3.90.

A change in control of recently re-listed Mt. Grant Mines boosted the issue to $1.60 from its opening level of $1. Robert Friedland of Galactic Resources fame acquired a control position in the company which plans to concentrate on resource projects in South America.

Drilling results from the first hole of this year’s program on the Spectrum property in northern British Columbia left owner Columbia Gold Mines unchanged at 30 cents. The hole intersected 8.5 ft. grading 1 oz. gold per ton, representing what the company believes is a new zone of mineralization about 5,000 ft. to the north of last year’s drilling by Eurus Resource. Eurus decided to drop an option to earn a 50% interest in the property after completing an extensive drilling program last year.

Silverado Mines touched a new high of $1 on anticipation of drilling results from its Ester Dome property near Fairbanks, Alaska. Inco is earning an 80% interest in the property and recently released preliminary results for the first drill hole.

Silverado reports that the hole encountered near surface gold mineralization to a depth of 150 ft., with assays of up to 0.055 oz. gold. The company added that the drilling intercepted quartz veining below the 150-ft. level, returning 0.9 oz. gold over 1.7 ft. and 0.49 oz. gold over 3.8 ft. The assay results are based on geochemical analyses and have not been confirmed by fire assay.