Vancouver Stock Exchange New results boost Eskay Creek players

Despite a pull-back in gold from the US$405-level to below US$400 per oz., the Vancouver Stock Exchange managed to gain about six points to the 738-level. The bullion market appears to be mirroring international exchange rates, its recent drop an inverse relationship to the U.S. dollar’s rise to a 3-year high of about 153 yen. Gold has remained essentially flat over the past few months in terms of Japanese yen at the 60,000 yen-level.

Shorter-term, market watchers expect the gold-exchange rate relationship to continue but point to other factors influencing the longer-term fortunes of the metal such as rising inflation and a positive supply-demand relationship.

Players in the Eskay Creek property received a good boost from drilling results over the period. Calpine Resources was the most active of the group, jumping to $6 3/8 per share from $5 on an impressive 2.2 million shares. Joint venture partner Stikine Resources added on $2.50 per share to close at $42 while Prime Resources Group, a majority holder of Calpine, rose 70 cents per share to $5.25. Predominantly infill drilling, the results — 32.8 ft. grading 5.09 oz. gold per ton and 181.96 oz. silver, 32.8 ft. grading 1.466 oz. gold and 28.96 oz. silver — were among a number of excellent holes. The drilling also included some stepout holes which resulted in two very good intersections, 137.7 ft. grading 0.447 oz. gold and 24.08 oz. silver and 26.2 ft. grading 0.877 oz. gold and 42.29 oz. silver.

Interest in the Eskay Creek region is expected to increase as companies gear up for work programs this coming season. Ongoing claim disputes will also be closely watched as the Gold Commissioner will likely make more rulings this summer on Section 35 complaints involving a number of properties in the region. Ken McKenzie, believed acting on the behalf of Tagish Resources, has filed a large number of these complaints and restaked considerable ground in the process, including that tenuously held by Adrian Resources. The Northern Miner did make several attempts to speak with McKenzie, only to be informed by his lawyer that he had “no comment” for the press.

Kokanee Explorations remained steady at the $3.25-level on 185,000 shares after releasing results for hole KV-90-29 on its Vine property. The best intersection was 35.1 ft. grading 0.10 oz. gold, 0.29 oz. silver, 0.14% copper, 0.86% lead, and 0.21% zinc at a depth of about 800 ft. The issue continues to have the highest short position among the resource stocks at almost 300,000 shares, a 6,000-share increase from the previous week.

Companies with property in the Stikine Arch area remained active during the week. Kenrich Mining added 48 cents to its share price to finish the period at $2.38 on more than 180,000 shares. Kestral Resources was also active, closing up 27 cents at $1.52 per share on almost 400,000 shares.