USA Today features Mine:
Here is a typed in version of the story: Golden Eagle Trading Resumes At Frantic Pace:
USA Today (It appears on the front page of the money section-very top.)
Gold fever gripped investors and speculators Tuesday in a trading frenzy that sharply
boosted Golden Eagle International following a 10-day suspension.
The stock opened at 32 cents and quickly zoomed to $1.75 before closing at 70 cents,
up 119% for the day. Trading volume in the tiny Denver mine developer mushroomed to
3.7 million shares, five times normal trading volume..
Cam Birge was among those unloading stock. He sold several thousand shares at
$1.50. He still holds about 100,000. "I've got my money back, and what I've got left is
just gravy," says Birge, a partner in an Alberta, Canada, Honda dealership.
The Securities and Exchange Commission halted trading of Golden Eagle on June 23,
suspicious of the company's May 22 report of a huge gold find in bolivia worth upt to
$46.5 billion. Two weeks earlier, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Golden Eagle and
some of its former principals, alleging they profited by fraudulently hyping the stock
between 1994 and 1996.
Terry Turner, a lawyer who became CEO in February 1997, said Tuesday in an SEC
filing that regulators may amend the lawsuit to include more fraud charges based on the
report of the gold find. The SEC wouldn't comment.
A Thursday USA TODAY story about Golden Eagle and the SEC's actions has
generated 3,500 "hits" on Golden Eagle'es Web site(www.goldeneagle-mine.com) and
about 650 email exchanges on a Silicon Investor bulletin board.
Additional information in Golden Eagles new SEC filing could dampen enthusiasm,
howerver, Guido Paravicini, the Bolivian geologist who previously reported the site had
6.4 million ounces in proven reserves, overestimated reserves by 29,000 ounces, the
company says. Golden Eagle still is trying tohire a U.S. mining consultant to confirm the
gold find. The filing also said mining operations had to be suspended for lack of funds
and that a secondary stock offering to raise more capital is likely.
Deveer geologist Earl Detra, who has reviewed Paravicini's report, remains skeptical.. I
hope hes right, but I don't see the documentation of his results, he says.
In an interview late Tuesday, Turner said he hopes intense investor enthusiasm will die
down. We are essentially an underfunded company with no experience to take this on.
We advise investors to be extremely cautious.
Some shareholders plan more intensive due diligence. About 25 are contributing money
for Birge to travel to Bovivia for a firsthand look. |
