Vancouver Stock Exchange Metal stocks in the limelight

There are some positive signs that 1988 could be a good year for metals stocks. Indeed, the stronger Canadian dollar is probably reflecting higher commodity prices, especially copper and nickel. The irony, of course, is that our stronger dollar could offset some of these gains.

In general, the market reaction to these events has been fairly upbeat and people are wondering if it could be metals turn at bat. With almost 12 full innings left to play, the consensus appears to be yes — and this could have a major impact on resource stocks.

The situation in Vancouver looks much more positive but liquidity is still a problem. Yesterday’s eight point gain was matched today with the index rising slightly past the 1,176 mark.

Among the heavier traders at presstime was Tenajon Silver which was 3 cents better at $1 on a volume of 369,000 shares. The company recently secured a flow-through financing to advance the audit on its S.B. project located 25 miles north of Stewart, B.C. Marshall Energy, which at last report was planning to acquire one third of the assets of Abaterra Energy, climbed 8 cents to 30 cents . Sun Valley Gold resumed trading today and jumped 6 cents to 52 cents . The company has a gold property in the Slocan mining division of British Columbia.

Also fairly active was Central Crude which tumbled 39 cents to $2.91 and United Gunn which lost 7 cents to $1.05. The former has claims in the Mishibishu Lake area which are being drilled by Noranda Exploration. United Gunn owns 30% of Cuisson Lake Mines whose copper property is being mined by Gibraltar, a Placer Dome subsidiary.

Over our report period Golden Nevada recovered some of its previous losses and gained 80 cents to $2.80 (see front page story) while Nexus Resource Corp shot up 54 cents to $3. Westmin, the operator, has reported some encouraging results from their Debbie property on Vancouver Island. Homestead Resources, which has been exploring its Gunnar property in the Rice Lake area of Manitoba, ended the week 40 cents higher at $1.75. It also has property near the old San Antonio gold mine at Bissett.