I didn't buy on Nov 21, but the price was in the high $6 range. I bought on 11/14 and paid 7 13/16. Sorry that I don't know anything about Canarc. Did you see the following?
Echo Bay Outlook: To Seek Investor For Kingking Deposit
Echo Bay Mines Ltd. (ECO) expects to start up two new mines next year: Aquarius in Ontario and Paredones in Mexico. The mines, if final approval is given, would add about 200,000 ounces to Echo Bay's production beginning in 1999.
Echo Bay chairman and acting chief executive Robert Leclerc said after the company's annual meeting that Echo Bay and its joint venture partner at the Kingking copper and gold deposit in the Philippines will this month hire an investment banker to find a partner, or a new owner, for the deposit. He said the currently-projected return on the deposit is inadequate from Echo Bay's point of view, but could make sense for a large copper producer with existing operations in the area.
Echo Bay's weak profit situation and low share price have spurred suggestions that the company is a takeover target. "Every dealer in town has intimated that we are in play," Leclerc said. "I accept that," he said, but so far he hasn't seen evidence of any "substantial accumulation" of Echo Bay shares.
Leclerc said he is willing to remain chief executive until a search is completed. "I am extremely choosy. I want big time direct mining experience." He said the company might first hire a chief operating officer, either from within or externally, and then see if this person also fits in as chief executive.
Leclerc also said the company will maintain its strategy of conducting most of its exploration close to its existing mines. He said the board may choose to dispose of some of the company's exploration properties in Ecuador, Chile and Peru. But Echo Bay plans to retain its Brazil property, he said.
Also, Leclerc said he has no great appetite to make an acquisition, saying these were generally overpriced. However, the situation could change now that many mining companies' stocks have fallen in the wake of the Bre-X Minerals Ltd. (BXMNF) gold scam, he said.
Echo Bay Mines is a gold producer.
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Echo Bay Sees Net Loss Again This Year; Lower Production
TORONTO --Echo Bay Mines Ltd. (ECO) expects another net loss this year, as the company struggles with declining production and rising production costs.
"We are forecasting to lose money," said Robert Leclerc, chairman and acting chief executive. In 1996, Echo Bay had a loss of $69.6 million, or 52 cents a share, before special items. Non-recurring charges brought the loss to $176.7 million, or $1.31 a share.
But Leclerc, who took on the chief executive role after Richard Kraus was asked to leave last month, said he expects to announce several initiatives this year "that are designed to improve our (mineral) reserve portfolio." He said one announcement is expected by the end of June, but declined to elaborate.
"It's the same team (at Echo Bay), and we have essentially the same strategy," Leclerc said in the wake of Kraus' departure. But he added: "I'm very much someone who wishes to get the show on the road."
In the near term, Echo Bay expects production to fall to about 725,000 ounces of gold this year from 769,000 ounces last year, while production costs will rise to between $265 and $275 an ounce, from $254 an ounce last year. <EOF>
Paul |
