Vancouver Stock Exchange Calpine, Cons Stikine make gains

The Vancouver brokerage community has given a new name to War Eagle Mining which fell out of orbit last week and almost burned up on re-entry. People are now calling it “War Budgie,”a sparrow-sized bird that is certainly no match for the predatory Eagle.

At press time War Eagle’s stock was trading at $1.71, an 11 gain from yesterday but over $6 lower than its closing price Nov 11. Galactic Resources, which earlier this month announced plans to take a share position in War Eagle, is apparently trying to pull out of the deal. Street rumors have suggested that Galactic might have been shorting the stock and using the private placement to cover its position.

War Eagle is still promoting the open pit potential of its Idaho property by averaging out some holes over longer sections. The net effect is that its so-called “orebody” is getting closer to surface. (Not close enough for some people).

The fact the Progressive Conservatives received a mandate for free trade hasn’t done much for the Vancouver market. Indeed, today the VSE market index hit a new low of 816.45 and trading activity was slow.

Murray Pezim’s Calpine Resources was the exception, however. It came on strong, rising 22 to $2.29 on a volume of 861,000 shares by far the heaviest trader. The company has resumed drilling on its Eskay Creek project in northern British Columbia.

Pezim told The Northern Miner that the first in a new series of holes hit 274 ft of of mineralization but it was stopped for technical reasons. Consolidated Stikine, which optioned the property to Calpine, was 43 higher at $5.38. Pezim admitted that he and his cohorts owned about 100,000 shares of Stikine but he downplayed rumors of any potential takeover.

Magenta Development, which recently announced encouraging gold values from a trenching program on its Crest property north of Stewart, climbed 7 to 85 .

Over our report period, United Lincoln shot up 40 to $1.70. The company has started a 20,000 ft drill program on its Mt. Milligan property in central British Columbia. Earlier work outlined a significant copper deposit with interesting gold values that will weigh heavily in the economics of the project. Probably one to watch.

Rich Coast Sulphur ended the week 25 better at $2.50. Last month the company said it had received permits to begin mining its Gongora sulphur property in Costa Rica.