Vancouver Stock Exchange The Grinch who stole Murray’s trading

With the Vancouver Stock Market already scraping bottom, the announcement of a year-long trading ban on Murray Pezim didn’t seem to have much of an effect. The Vancouver Composite Index remained virtually unchanged at the 506 level while the Resources Index managed a 11.35-point rally over the week ended Dec. 18 to finish at 548.12.

The most important factor in the commission’s decision is that Pezim can continue as an officer of a public company. This will allow Pezim to manage Prime Equities, which will hold under its corporate umbrella investments in some 50 junior companies.

As part of the transaction, shareholders of Prime Resources Group (VSE) are to receive as a dividend 1.5 shares of Prime Equities for every five shares of Prime Resources Group held. The prospect of receiving a stake in Prime Equities sometime in the new year did not seem to spur Prime Resources shareholders; the issue losing 20 cents over the period to close at $4.10 on Dec. 18.

Chase Resources was on its way back to earth over the week after rocketing to a high of $8 because of a short squeeze. The issue finished the period at $2.70, well off last week’s close of $5.37. The reported short position on the stock as at Dec. 14 was 235,200, down by 65,200 shares.

Grizzly Creek Resources couldn’t sustain interest in its Philippine property, dropping back to 30 cents from a high of 80 cents on over 1.3 million shares.

Silver Butte Resources was active over the week ended Dec. 18, trading over 650,000 shares to finish up 16 cents at $1.24. American Fibre, the company’s partner on the SIB project south of the Eskay Creek property in northwestern British Columbia, added a nickel to close at $1.25.

Players pushed Trimin Resources down 21 cents to $2.03 on 625,000 shares as the fate of the company and its large cash balance is pondered. Both Eurus Resources and Adrian Resources recently shelved plans to acquire shares in the company.

The addition of some ex- Continental Gold management as major shareholders of Taseko Mines gave the issue a boost to a high of $1.40 before closing up 25 cents at $1.05. Taseko is attempting to regain control of the Fish Lake copper-gold deposit in British Columbia from Cominco which has an option to earn an 80% interest.

Drilling results from the Kemess copper-gold property in northern British Columbia seemed to help El Condor Resources which added 27 cents to finish at $1.55. El Condor owns 60% of a joint venture which is earning a 60% interest in the property from St. Phillips Resources and a private company. St. Phillips Resources was up 23 cents to finish the week at 72 cents.

Cumberland Resources added 9 cents to finish at 50 cents for the period. The company is drilling on a massive sulphide prospect in Newfoundland and plans a drilling program on its Victoria Lake property in Ontario for the new year.