Vancouver Stock Exchange Eskay heats up market

The Vancouver Stock Exchange’s resource index is ignoring gold’s lacklustre performance with a jump of almost 15 points during the week ended June 19, closing at 858.75. Gold bulls point to bottom fishing opportunities here while the bears view gold’s slide below the much-noted US$350 level as an indication of a further slide to come.

Whatever the intricacies of the gold market, players in the Eskay Creek region, north of Stewart, B.C., don’t seem to be paying attention.

Adrian Resources put in a very impressive performance during the week, leaping $3.63 to close at $8.13. The action appears to be tied to drilling at the northern end of the Eskay Creek property near Adrian’s boundary line. Drilling in the area is said to look very good visually and Adrian is expected to start its own drilling program shortly.

Adrian’s agreement to option 50% of the property to Prime and Stikine in return for property expenditures of $5 million may come under fire at the company’s upcoming annual meeting. One observer noted that the two companies appear to be getting half the property at a steal of a price, given that the market has capitalized Adrian, and therefore the property in question, at more than $50 million.

Shareholders of Stikine Resources, representing 1.25 million shares, seemed to disagree with Peter Steen’s and Ned Goodman’s evaluation which pegged the value of Corona’s offer for Stikine at more than $100 per share, tendering their shares to Placer at $67.50. As a result, Placer now has a 45% interest in Stikine and has extended its offer, at the same price, to July 4.

Prime Resources was not left out of the action this week, jumping 5/8 to $9 3/8 as players wait for further developments in the battle for control of the Eskay Creek property. Some see Prime itself as the next takeover target.

Other players with ground surrounding the Eskay Creek property were active.

Eurus Resources jumped over $1 per share to $3.45 during the week.

Canarc Resources leapt $1.60 to $4.50 while Varitech Resources added 54 cents on more than 1.3 million shares to close at $1.50.

Barkor Resources earned the top volume spot for the second week running, trading more than 4.6 million shares. The issue added 67 cents to close at $2.15. Barkor is exploring a property near Cranbrook with Kokanee Resources in an attempt to locate the next “Sullivan.” Kokanee also did well, jumping 77 cents to $5.37.

However, despite the issues’ stellar performance, no intercepts of the type and grade of bedded massive sulphides found at Cominco’s Sullivan mine have been encountered.