STOCK MARKETS — Small gains for Tenajon, Prime Res. in slow

Gold’s slow climb to US$350 per oz. is providing a small measure of encouragement to juniors seeking to interest investors in exploration programs for the yellow metal.

It wasn’t enough, however, to start the phones ringing en masse on Howe Street, or to keep brokers in the kind of lifestyle to which most would love to become accustomed. At presstime, the Vancouver Stock Exchange’s resource index was at 548.2, which represents a loss of 12.5 points from a week ago. The composite index, at 591.4, represents a loss of 15 points from last week. The most active resource issues at presstime were Tenajon Resources, up 4 cents to 21 cents, and Prime Resources Group, which gained 8 cents to $2.38. Prime owns 50% of the Eskay Creek gold deposit, while Tenajon is actively seeking new projects now that its small but successful SB mine deposit was mined out near Stewart, B.C., by partner Westmin Resources.

With the annual stampede drawing Albertans, trading activity on the Alberta Stock Exchange was busy but slightly below normal, although sources say interest in juniors active in diamond exploration is continuing. The ASE’s combined value index reached 823.43 points by presstime from the 816 level a week ago.

The most active issue on the VSE during our report period was United Pacific Gold, which gained 7 cents to reach 16 cents. The company is negotiating with two juniors that may become involved in helping finance and develop United Pacific’s Dipore gold-silver property in the Philippines.

The juniors involved in these discussions also got a boost. Consolidated Acorn Resources gained 6 cents to 13 cents, while Magenta Development was up 3 cents to 10 cents. Dia Met Minerals is holding its own even though it isn’t likely more information will be released soon about the company’s diamond exploration program, a joint venture, in the Northwest Territories. (The two main tenets of the diamond business seem to be secrecy and more secrecy.) The issue lost 50 cents to $13.87.

An active drilling program is under way on the Polaris-Taku gold property in northwestern British Columbia, which will be owned 100% by Canarc Resource once it merges with two juniors. Assays are being awaited from a recent hole which Canarc predicts may have intersected a new gold zone on this past-producing property. The issue was up 27 cents to $1.30. Coral Gold gained 25 cents to 67 cents after announcing results from a drill program by Amax Gold on its Nevada gold property near Placer Dome’s Pipeline discovery. Two juniors controlled by Richard Hughes were also active after announcing a deal is imminent with a major company on the Galena Giant project on the Idaho-Montana border. This project is described as a “Sullivan-style,” stratiform lead-zinc-silver target. Arbor Resources gained 2 cents to 20 cents on the news, while Wealth Resources was up a dime to 34 cents.

The encouraging results of a recent bulk sample provided Fairfield Minerals with a boost to its share price, up 36 cents to $1.51. The company, managed by a respected mining engineer with a track record of discoveries, has a small but high-grade gold deposit in southern British Columbia. This is the type of project where reserves could be easily trucked to one of several nearby mills for processing.

Investors also appear to be keeping a close eye on Gold Giant Minerals, which has two polymetallic projects in the Eskay Creek camp of northern British Columbia. Both are joint ventures. The Nizi property will be drilled by Gold Fields Canadian Mining this summer, while work on the Snoball property, a 50-50 joint venture with Hemlo Gold Mines, will begin shortly. Gold Giant gained 30 cents to settle at $1.75.