STOCK MARKETS — Gold drops like a brick as western markets stumble — Junior explorers hit hardest, despite good news for some

Gold tumbled to a 12-year low during the report period ended July 8, with western markets following close behind. The Vancouver Stock Exchange composite index lost 60.86 points, or 7.03%, to close at 804.51, while the mining index was off 79.65 points, or 9.99%, to finish at 717.97.

The combined value of the Alberta Stock Exchange edged down 29.14 points to 2,340.51.

Gold exploration companies took it on the chin. Among the most affected were: Sutton Resources, down $1.90 at $9.35; Arizona Star Resource, down $2.20 at $6.65 (despite the announcment of an “economically strong” independent engineering scoping study on its 51% held Cerro Casale gold-Copper porphyry project in northern Chile); Francisco Gold, down $4 at $18; Mar-West Resources, down 47 cents at $1.38 (despite positive results from another six drill holes on the Sinter hot-spring gold zone at its 80% held San Martin concession in Honduras); Conquistador Mines, down 74 cents at $1.31; and Alberta-listed Gitennes Exploration, down $1.15 at $3.95.

International Tournigan lost half of its market capitalization after reporting lower-Than-expected drill results from the first 20 reverse-Circulation holes on the Grid 2B gold zone at its Diangounte West concession in Mali, West Africa. The issue dropped $1.57 to $1.50.

Pacific Rim Mining shed $1.10 to close at $2.50. Toronto-listed Barrick Gold made a final payment of US$3.7 million to the vendor of the Diablillos gold-silver property in Argentina. An 11,000-Metre stepout drill program is under way on the property.

El Misti Gold closed at 96 cents, down 83 cents, after reporting further infill drilling and underground sampling results from the San Nicolas gold-silver sulphide mine in northern Peru. San Nicolas was previously estimated to contain 6.2 million tonnes grading 3.4 grams gold and 185 grams silver per tonne.

Diamond explorer Winspear Resources was active in heavy trading, climbing as high as $2.07 before retreating to remain unchanged at $1.75. Results are pending for caustic fusion analysis of two holes that returned two intervals of complex kimberlite breccia 98.5 metres and 107 metres thick from anomaly CL 186 at Snap Lake, N.W.T.

Several pyrope garnets and a 0.9-Mm diamond were observed during a preliminary field examination of the core. Winspear holds a 57.3% interest in the Camsell Lake joint venture. Toronto-listed Aber Resources holds 42.7%.

Consolidated Silver Tusk Mines dropped to 90 cents for a loss of $2.55 after its shares were reinstated on the VSE. Trading was suspended in March following the release of conflicting trench results from the past-producing Karya Bukit Utama gold-silver property in Indonesia. Tests were unable to duplicate high-grade values first reported in several of the trenches. The company says a supergene-enriched lateritic horizon was sampled in error by unsupervised field crews.

First Quantum Minerals was unsuccessful in its bid to acquire the Luanshya Mining Division in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The issue fell to $3.15, down $1.65.

Rupert Resources was up 11 cents to 50 cents. The company is in the midst of an underground drill program at the former-producing Surf Inlet gold property in British Columbia.

Having encountered minor sulphide intervals in the first eight holes on the Lake zone, Columbia Gold Mines is focusing on expanding the Kona volcanogenic massive sulphide copper-gold-Cobalt deposit at the Fyre Lake project in southeastern Yukon. Columbia Gold slipped 9 cents to 90 cents.