Vancouver Stock Exchange Gold takes an “ugly” dive

Gold’s recent dip below $400 was described as “ugly” by one VSE broker, “because it’s gold that drives our market.”

Although current thinking is that the market has bottomed out, there is no shortage of speculation that gold may dip even further in the short term to the $380-$385 range, particularly if anti-inflationary news keeps coming. The hope on the horizon is that the U.S. government will set aside its inflation worries and drop interest rates before the November election.

At press time the VSE Index had slipped a whopping 11.85 points at 890.89, which certainly didn’t make anyone’s day. Only 113 issues advanced, while 268 declined and 429 issues were unchanged. Asitka Resource Corp. was up 9 cents to 49 cents after reporting good silver and gold values from the Grace claims in the Toodoggone area of B.C. War Eagle Mining, which also reported good values from its gold-silver property located in Idaho, gained 4 cents to 64 cents . The company recently increased its land position in the area.

Destiny Resources was among the most active issues over our report period, dropping 21 cents to 80 cents . Vanwin Resources also lost ground, sliding 12 cents to 25 cents .

McConnell-Peel Resources, which has a joint venture with Homestake Mining on a gold property in Idaho, moved ahead 62 cents to $1.57. Star One Resources is still picking up ground surrounding its holdings in the area of the Premier Gold Project near Stewart, B.C. The company reported some respectable silver-lead-zinc values from recent sampling, however, the issue dropped 12 cents to 93 cents . Thompson Gold, which a claim group near the Zeballos area on Vancouver Island, gained 5 cents to 78 cents while Aurizon Mines slipped a nickel to 45 cents . The Hughes-Lang company is still hurting from the D’Or Val mine closure, however it reported 3,000 ozs of gold production in August at the Sleeping Giant mine near Amos, P.Q., with the grade now averaging 0.207 oz and recoveries at 91%.

Another gainer over our report period was Noront Resources, which moved ahead 39 cents to 79 cents . The company has just agreed to acquire an interest in certain mining properties in the Mishibishu Lake, Swayze and Hemlo regions which have been newly acquired by Central Crude. In fact, Richard Nemis, president of Central Crude, is expected to become CEO of Noront.

Goldpac Investments dropped a dime to 60 cents after news that the deep hole (6,888 ft.) on the Bar property near Cranbrook, B.C. did not cut any ore grade intersections. The company was looking for a major massive sulphide orebody in the magnitude of the nearby Sullivan lead-zinc-silver mine.

WKAY Resources, which is earning a 50% interest in Glen Auden Resources’ Verse Lake gold property in the Timmins-Swayze area of Ontario, moved ahead 20 cents to 40 cents .