Twenty Five Years Ago / February 1980

Gold has support at US$600

Technically speaking, the price of gold has pretty solid support at around US$600 per oz. On several occasions now, the price has drifted toward this area, only to be followed by a quick rebound.

This is not all that surprising in light of the current compendium of crises that is fuelling a further flight to gold.

It appears every time there is a proposed “solution” to the Iranian hostage drama, another roadblock is encountered.

The Russians appear to be settling into Afghanistan for an extended stay, and the resultant Olympic and economic boycotts are still unresolved.

The U.S. administration’s preoccupation with getting re-elected has pushed the good intentions of a balanced budget on to the back burner.

All of these current events have virtually overshadowed the U.S. inflation rate, which is now running at 18% per year. Naturally, this cannot help the U.S. dollar, and its weakness will continue to be reflected in a buoyant gold price.

Dome gets new shaft

After almost 70 years of virtually continuous production, the Porcupine area’s venerable Dome mine is to undergo a 4-year, $50-million expansion, which will involve sinking a new shaft and increasing mill capacity by 50% to some 3,000 tons per day.

The company is still negotiating with the Ontario government to get the expansion classified as a new mine for tax purposes.

President Macolm Taschereau estimates that the expansion will create 200 additional jobs, most of them underground.

Roman sticks with prediction

Stephen Roman, chairman and president of Denison Mines, is sticking to last year’s forecast of a three-fold increase in earnings by 1985, while almost apologizing for the fact that 1979 results were a shade off those of 1978.

Much of this growth, he told a packed annual meeting, will be based on the record 1979 capital expenditure program of $261 million.

Roman said he was saddened by the company’s failure to consummate the purchase of Reserve Oil & Gas, but those negotiations led to deal with Getty Oil Co. to drill off the shore of Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman.

SoCreds kill uranium mining in BC

The Social Credit government of British Columbia, under William Bennett, has dealt a severe blow to mining in the province by declaring a 7-year moratorium on the exploration and mining of uranium.

The declaration was “clearly political” in the view of most mining analysts, which is to say it was designed to win public support for a government noted for ineptness and just plain bungling in the past.

The first casualty was the Bates Royal Commission into uranium mining, which has been holding hearings for more than a year. The commission was set up to study the safety and health aspects of uranium mining in the province.