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Diamonds & Specialty Minerals Summary for Jan. 3, 2014
2014-01-03 17:07 ET - Market Summary
by Will Purcell
The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Friday was a cheery 59-49-143. The TSX Venture Exchange gained five points to 944 while polished diamond prices held steady. George Read and Ken MacNeill's beleaguered Saskatchewan diamond promotion, Shore Gold Inc. (SGF) gained 1.5 cents to 16 cents on 258,000 shares. The company had been as low as 11.5 cents in early December as its stock laboured through the high seas of tax-loss selling. The selling has calmed but Shore is no closer to finding the $2-billion needed to build its Star-Orion South mine than it was two years ago. No-news Lomiko Metals Inc. (LMR) continued to trade frantically, gaining one-half cent to 10.5 cents on 4.49 million shares. About 36 million shares have traded since Christmas, nearly 40 per cent of the company's 2013 volume, and Mr. Gill has not said why; he says there are no material changes.
Chuck Fipke's Metalex Ventures Ltd. (MTX) almost doubled by rising 13 cents to 30 cents on 465,000 shares. Metalex has closed a $320,000 private placement, selling 2.56 million shares at 12.5 cents. It is a good deal for the sole participant, Mr. Fipke, Metalex's founder and chairman. The company's stock has been north of 15 cents the past two months, averaging 18 cents during that time. Further, the flow-through placement provides a significant tax incentive to the buyer. Metalex's president, Chad Ulansky, says the cash is for exploring the company's Ontario properties. The company has three of them but each one has problems. The company's Kyle Lake play, where Metalex and Dundee Corp. (DC.A: $18.76) hope to complete a 10,000-tonne bulk sample of the U2 pipe, is bogged down in bureaucratic mud. The company has been waiting nearly two years for permission to build a 60-kilometre-long winter road from the Victor mine to U2. The hold-up is likely the result of objections (often code for demands) made by the local Indians. Metalex has two other diamond plays near Attawapiskat, the Big Red and Dumont joint ventures, which saw drilling in 2010. Samples were sent to Mr. Fipke's private facility for analysis but the story goes cold from there, suggesting he has lost interest in the project. Metalex also has a metals play in the area but its promotion petered out in 2009. |
