STOCK MARKETS — Western market unfazed by latest diamond

Another disappointment on the diamond front appeared to have little effect on the overall market during the report period ended Aug. 30. An optimist might say the market was at or near its bottom, while a pessimist would likely shrug it off as a numb-from-the-pain situation.

Whatever the case, the Vancouver Stock Exchange resource index managed to gain almost 13 points to 1,361.46, while the composite index slipped just over 2 points to the 860 level.

Mill City Gold and Alberta-listed Tanqueray Resources were hammered by selling after De Beers Consolidated Mines released poor results from bulk sampling at the companies’ Yamba Lake property in the Northwest Territories. A 24.5-ton bulk sample from the Torrie pipe contained only 19 diamonds weighing a total of 0.635 carats, prompting De Beers to cancel plans to buy shares in the two companies. Mill City plummeted 47 cents on more than 7.5 million shares to close at 45 cents, while Tanqueray crashed $1 to finish at 65 cents.

On a more positive note, De Beers will undertake general exploration of the entire property under a deal whereby it can earn 60% interest by funding up to $500 million for the first mine.

Joint-venture partners Dentonia Resources, Kettle River Resources and Alberta-listed Horseshoe Gold Mining all finished at new lows as investors continue to digest disappointing bulk-sampling results from the WO claims, also in the Territories, under exploration by Kennecott. Dentonia closed down 9 cents at 79 cents, Kettle River slipped 22 cents to $1.50 and Horseshoe notched down a nickel at 70 cents.

Kennecott continues to explore elsewhere on the companies’ holdings and is about halfway through its $1.6-million 1994 exploration program. St. Philips Resources staged a delayed recovery, jumping 58 cents to $2.60. The last time shareholders saw that price was prior to Pegasus Gold’s announcement, earlier this summer, that the company would not proceed with the acquisition of El Condor Resources.

St. Philips and El Condor hold 40% and 60% interests, respectively, in the South Kemess copper-gold property in north-central British Columbia. El Condor closed down 25 cents at $5.13.

Anticipation of a stock split may have helped Argentina Gold add $2.50 to close at $10.50. The company received approval for a 3-for-1 split which became effective Aug. 31.

Guyana Gold added 30 cents to close at $2.25 following the announcement of a brokered private placement to raise $5 million at $1.75 per unit. A reverse takeover of the company was recently completed and Guyana Gold now has interests in eight properties totaling 150,000 acres in Guyana. Drilling and road building equipment are being mobilized to the company’s Tamberlin gold property, and sampling is expected to get under way in late fall. The acquisition of an option to earn a half interest in four gold properties and one alluvial diamond property in Brazil helped Highgrade Ventures gain 25 cents to finish at $1.70. Broker Canacord Capital is arranging a private placement of 1 million units at $1.50 each to fund work on the properties. Cash Resources did well, adding 26 cents to finish at $1.07. The company reports that the Yukon government has initiated cost studies for the construction

of coal-fired generation plants. The study will include a 20-MW facility designed specifically to use coal from Cash’s Division Mountain deposit. Shareholders of Athena Gold appear to be gaining confidence in a proposed takeover by Toronto-listed Miramar Mining. The latter is offering one treasury share for each 2.8 shares of Athena, or about $2 per share based on the issue’s recent trading level. Athena added 23 cents to close at $1.78.