Vancouver Stock Exchange Pezim making more waves

Drilling programs are just getting started in northwestern British Columbia, and brokers here are hoping for a major, new discovery to generate some excitement on the VSE. Trading activity is in a lull now, and brokers are finding it difficult to be upbeat, particularly as month after month of cool, wet and dreary weather holds back summer.

Murray Pezim was back in the news this week, promoting his new Metla area exploration play, and slamming his arch-enemy, Wade Nesmith, the province’s superintendent of brokers.

To hear Pezim tell it, Nesmith is casting a shadow of “paranoia and fear” on the street. Notwithstanding the Pez’s well known bias, it’s common knowledge here that another high profile investigation is in progress by Nesmith’s office. And it’s also well known that several high profile venture capitalists have been writing letters to the government complaining about a “growing adversarial relationship” between the province’s securities commission and Nesmith’s office and those involved in the venture capital market.

In any event, the quiet trading week saw the resource index off slightly at 549.6 points at mid-day, June 26, with the composite index also off slightly at 558.43.

Jordex Resources got a big boost after announcing its bid to acquire Moraga Resources. Jordex is best known for its mining interests in Latin and South America, while Moraga has interests in several promising porphyry copper-gold projects near Port Hardy, B.C. A due diligence review is continuing.

Following the announcement, Jordex jumped 65 cents to reach $3.25 while Moraga climbed 22 cents to settle at 90 cents.

Murray Pezim’s Bordeaux Resources took top spot as the most active trader during our report period. The company is exploring the Hard Place property in the Iskut River camp, near the Eurus/Thios Rock & Roll massive sulphide project. Bordeaux gained a modest two cents to reach 40 cents.

Byron Resources was also active, gaining 3 cents to 56 cents. The company has several porphyry copper-gold projects being explored by Westmin Resources in north-central British Columbia.

Another important development this week was news that Cathedral Gold and Pacific Sentinel Gold would be teaming up to finance exploration on 300,000 acres of prospective ground near Anchorage, Alaska.

Cathedral has an agreement with a native corporation that owns the lands, and Pacific Sentinel in turn has the right to participate in all projects which result from the 1991 exploration program. The properties are considered prospective for both Eskay Creek and Mount Milligan-type gold and base metal deposits. Despite this interesting development, Pacific Sentinel was off a nickel at $1.65 during our report period.