Bre-X Shares Fall 22%
As Concern Continues
About Gold in Busang
TORONTO -- Bre-X Minerals Ltd.'s shares fell 22% in heavy trading amid continued concerns about the amount of gold at
the company's Busang property in Indonesia.
Investors were largely focused on an article published Friday in a mining-industry newspaper, the Northern Miner, which
raised doubts about Bre-X's rock-sampling methods and the company's descriptions of the gold at Busang, said John Ing, a
mining analyst with Maison Placements Inc. in Toronto. The Toronto newspaper is written largely by geologists.
Bre-X's partner at Busang, New Orleans mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., will in a few weeks
announce further results from continuing drill tests at the property. Bre-X shares plunged 83% in one day last month when
Freeport said its first seven drill holes at Busang turned up "insignificant" amounts of gold, compared with Bre-X's claim
that Busang contains at least 71 million ounces of gold. In the absence of news from further drilling, "nobody likes a
vacuum," Mr. Ing said, explaining Bre-X's stock-price drop yesterday.
Shares of Bre-X, which is based in Calgary, Alberta, sank 53 cents to $1.84 on the Nasdaq Stock Market yesterday. On the
Toronto Stock Exchange, Bre-X shares fell 66 Canadian cents (47 U.S. cents), or 21%, to C$2.52. Nearly 20 million shares
changed hands on both markets.
The Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday completed a second consecutive full day of trading in Bre-X stock without an
interruption, having identified a computer glitch that caused four trading halts in the stock in eight days. Technicians last
week identified the problem in the computer system's three million lines of software code, spokeswoman Jane Wong said. |
