Vancouver Stock Exchange Gold stampede could break out

Although some gold stocks have firmed up lately, the overall tone of the market here is decidedly neutral. Market confidence was badly shaken by the Oct 19 crash and investors probably have good reason to be nervous.

Despite signs the yellow metal could soon break the $500 (US) mark, there has been no real stampede into gold stocks. But that’s not to say it won’t happen because the fundamentals for such a move are there.

Among the more active issues today was Pola Resources which was unchanged at 21 cents in good volume. The company recently negotiated two claim groups in the Liard mining division of B.C. Goldbrae Developments, the volume leader over our report period with a turnover of 1.9 million shares, was down 6 cents at presstime to 74 cents . The company recently reported two more holes from its Big Island Lake project near Flin Flon, Man. Hole No 87-11 returned 21.3 ft of 0.23 oz gold, 3.5 oz silver, 1.3% copper and 20.8% zinc while No 87-12 assayed 0.15 oz gold, 2.9 oz silver, 1.3% copper and 23.8% zinc over 26.6 ft.

Brigade Resources, soon to be merged with International Wildrose, Consolidated Dakota, and Mac-Am Resources, jumped 13 cents to $1.23 and Nuspar Resources was 6 cents stronger at 30 cents . In a recent news release Nuspar said an open pit mine would probably be developed on its Cowichan Lake property on Vancouver Island.(We’ve heard this type of thing before from Nuspar — the last time a Vancouver-based consulting engineer lost his license over a similar situation Nuspar was promoting).

Over our report period Skyline Explorations posted a $1.25 increase to $9.75. In a somewhat terse statement issued two days ago, the company announced it had “terminated Mr Norman Anderson’s position as chairman of the board ” so he could pursue “other business activities.”

Nexus Resource Corp. and its associated company, Angle Resources moved sharply higher after releasing a high grade gold intercept from their Debbie property on Vancouver Island (see story). In terms of grade, it’s certainly an anomaly. Nexus was ahead $1.05 to $3.05 and Angle shot up $1 to $2.50.

Delaware Resources, which has ground near Skyline in northwestern B.C., tacked on $1 to $8.50. The company has been reporting some high grade r esults from its SNIP property. Cornucopia Resources, which is drilling its Ivanhoe property in Nevada’s Carlin gold belt, was ahead $1 to $4.60.