Toronto Stock Exchange Metals index depress composite below 4.000

The price of Inco Ltd. also retreated to $42.13, principally due to weaker nickel prices and also as a result of the Falconbridge bidding situatio n. Following the initial Amax offer for Falconbridge, Inco added several dollars on heated investor enthusiasm for senior nickel mining companies.

With lawsuits flying all over the Louvicourt copper-zinc find in Quebec, the share prices of all three players in the camp backed off. Aur Resources , which is being sued for damages and its interest in the property by Louvem, took a beati ng to close at $8.13. Cominco and Teck bought shares in the company at $10.75 la st month.

Louvem and parent company St Genevieve Resources, were also easier trading at $1.96 and $5.25 respectively. Aur has filed an action against both companies als o. The sell-off comes as no surprise as many investors loath playing lawsuits — especially after the LAC- Corona affair which saw many investors lose their shirts on LAC after the initial court decision awarded the Page-William s mine to Co rona.

A statement from the management of Windarra Minerals that no major gold discovery has been made on its property in Saskatchewan, appears to hav e put a lid on rumours saying quite the opposite. In fact trades for almost 350,000 shares were cancelled by the exchange. The company has a 20% interest in the Contach Lake project which is operated by Cameco.

Gold remained sluggish at $360.20(US) per oz on the second London fix. For the past several weeks the price has flirted with $360 taking the occasional dip to $358. Gold’s inability to breakout of this pattern is reflected in the gold sec tor which has generated a lacklustre performance this year.

American Barrick Resources suffered a minor loss in court over a motion made by Gold Standard. Standard is suing the company for the Mercur mine. Sw iss Oils b ased in Calgary, was also taking Barrick on over the latter company’s rich Golds trike deposit in Nevada. Both parties settled out of court with Barrick offering to pay Swiss Oils legal costs.

Placer Dome, which is on the verge of becoming a one-million- oz-per-year gold producer, slipped to $18.75. Corona Corp.’s A shares were unchanged at $8.75. L AC Minerals, which lost Canada’s largest gold mine, the Williams, was stronger a t $11.38.

Granges Inc. added a nickel on light volume to $3.05. The two names which were synonymous with the company, Doug McCrae and Mike Muzylowski, are leaving. MIM, the big Australian mining firm, has a control position in Granges and will be t aking over the company’s reins. Both Granges officers will stay on as consultants.

Hillsborough Resources which has a 20% interest in the promising Mt Hundere zinc-lead deposit in the Yukon, was firm at $3.60. Curragh Resources, a private co mpany holds the remaining interest and is planning to place Hundere in productio n.

Black Hawk Mining is tackling a nickel deposit in Manitoba. Known as the Minag o, the deposit was purchased from Granges and Canamax in June. Black Hawk is als o looking at the Minago as a future nickel mine. The shares were strong at $2.80.

Just before signing the deal in June, Black Hawk was trading around 45 cents .

A new issue, Timmins Nickel, traded to a new high of $2. The issue came out late last month at $1.75. The company operates a small but high grade n ickel mine near Timmins, Ont. Deep drilling has returned encouraging results.

Cassiar Mining was also steady at $5.88. Another three years of life have been added to the company’s asbestos mine. Cassiar also operates an extremely profit able open pit copper mine in B.C.

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