Vancouver Stock Exchange Prime to spend $24 m. in Arch

With gold prices still hunkered down well below the US$400 threshold, trading activity in Vancouver remained at modest levels with most of action generated by Murray Pezim’s Prime group of companies. At noon today, May 16, the VSE Index was down 2.02 points at 755.86, up only marginally from a week ago. Speculation is heating up that Corona’s plan to acquire 44.6% of the new company formed from the merger of Prime Resources Group and Stikine Resources isn’t necessarily “a done deal.” Talk on the street is that other majors — ones with more cash to lay on the table than Corona — could very likely emerge from the woodwork with a counter offer for Stikine shareholders. But no one has surfaced to date, and Corona’s offer will be presented to Stikine/Prime shareholders in July.

The rumor mill has also been working overtime that a possible breakthrough may be close at hand for a road into the Iskut River-Eskay Creek camps. Several sources say the government may be ready to move now that it is convinced by recent developments at Eskay Creek that the region’s mining potential is no flash in the pan.

This year Prime group companies alone will be spending $24 million in British Columbia’s Stikine Arch, excluding development costs at the Snip gold project being brought to production by Cominco. But Prime Explorations will be managing work programs worth a cool $42 million, after factoring in costs to be contributed by joint venture partners.

The new area for Prime this season will be the Galore Creek camp well north of the Iskut River, a region considered to be highly prospective for both precious metals and base metals.

Prime’s Gigi Resources (VSE) will be active in the area this summer further exploring the Trophy project optioned from Continental Gold. Gigi gained a nickel to 77 cents in active trading for the week ended May 15. The company also has claims in the Eskay Creek camp, but these are under dispute because of a section 35 complaint filed by — you guessed it — Ken McKenzie.

Consolidated Goldwest Resources, another Prime company active in the Galore Creek camp, moved up 7 cents to reach 67 cents.

The discovery of a new zone at Eskay Creek, the 21C, gave Prime Resources Group a boost of 50 cents to $8. Prime has six rigs still working at Eskay Creek, two of which are currently testing the new precious metals zone.

Outside of the Prime group, Sutton Resources gained 80 cents to $2.90. Interest in this company is the result of Sutton’s ambitious plans to take on some new projects in the international arena. Sutton is associated by way of common management to Redfern Resources.

White Knight Resources announced that a drill rig is being mobilized to the Bar/Lookout property, southwest of Cranbrook, B.C., where it can earn a 40% interest from Goldpac Investments. The partners plan to drill a 5,000-ft. deep hole to test a new “Sullivan- type” exploration target.

Barkhor Resources and Kokanee Explorations are also active in this region, and plan drilling to test a “Sullivan-bedded- type” base metals zone identified by geophysics and geochemistry on the Star property. Barkhor gained 7 cents to reach 67 cents while Kokanee moved up 20 cents to reach $3.60.