STOCK MARKETS — Windy Craggy gets chop, diamond news sparks

Mining in British Columbia (and by extension the rest of Canada) took it on the chin during the week ended June 22 when the NDP government of Michael Harcourt announced it would not approve the development of the large Windy Craggy copper project of Geddes Resources in the province’s northwest.

Instead, the government has opted for the creation of a provincial park for the Tatshenshini wilderness area, named after a river which is acquiring a reputation for its white-water rafting.

The Canadian Wildlife Federation, a conservation organization, said it was “delighted the British Columbia government listened to the environmental community on the issue.”

Geddes is controlled by Royal Oak Mines, which paid $10 million earlier this year to acquire a 39% interest in the junior. Geddes reports spending $48 million on project exploration. Any compensation for Geddes has yet to be determined. Geddes closed unchanged at $1.25 while Royal Oak slipped 38 cents to $6.88.

On the week, the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite closed ahead by almost 64 points. Today, June 23, the TSE 300 gained almost 16 points to 3951.63. Gold traded in a narrow range during the week; today in London, the afternoon fix was US$367.10 per oz.

A long-awaited report on the latest sampling results from the Lac de Gras area in the Northwest Territories was released by Dia Met Minerals and project partner BHP Minerals Canada. It spurred a share selloff as investors decided to take profits.

Dia Met, whose share price had slowly been creeping ahead during the weeks leading up to the release of the results, slipped $9 to $57 following the announcement.

By most accounts, the preliminary results were positive but somewhat short of comprehensive. Results from four pipes were reported, but the companies said that in two of the pipes, multiple phases were not segregated in the reporting. Planned, they said, is the evaluation of some of these latest samples for commercial worth during the next few months. An on-site pilot diamond recovery plant is on the drawing boards.

The companies said they discovered six more kimberlite pipes this past spring and core samples are being processed. Exploration activities planned for this year’s summer field season will involve delineation and bulk-sample drilling on known pipes.

The share prices of other diamond players in the Northwest Territories reacted in different ways. SouthernEra Resources was unchanged at $8.88, Lytton Minerals was off 50 cents to $4.50 and Westfort Petroleums, among the most active issues of the week, gained $2 to $12.

On Vancouver Island, Orvana Minerals says its joint-venture partner Reynolds Metals Exploration has agreed to fund the next stage of ongoing exploration on Orvana’s Madhat copper-gold property. Orvana moved up 5 cents to $2.10. Drilling is under way at the Jones Hill volcanogenic massive copper-zinc suphide deposit of Aur Resources, Thunderwood Resources and VSE-listed Champion Resources in north-central New Mexico. Planned initially is some 7,000 ft. of drilling in two deep holes. Aur dropped a nickel to $4, while Thunderwood climbed 6 cents to 89 cents.

A summer exploration program has been started up by Treminco Resources on its gold property held by the Yellowknife Greenstone Belt Syndicate (95% Treminco) in the Northwest Territories. Treminco, which moved ahead by 2 cents to 29 cents, says that in light of all of the diamond exploration activity in the Territories, it plans to assess all isolated aeromagnetic anomalies this summer in an attempt to identify potential kimberlite occurrences and collect till samples adjacent to any potential targets. X-Cal Resources, which has reached agreement-in-principle with private investors for a $475,000 placement of units (shares and warrants) and plans to raise an additional $336,000 though a unit placement with company insiders, says drilling is under way at its Crippen Canyon gold claims in the Pipeline area of Nevada. X-Cal shed a nickel to 96 cents.