Replies to post #140 on PHLX Gold/Silver Sector (XAU)

[long-gone]

To:John Barendrecht who wrote (155)
From: John Barendrecht Wednesday, Jun 25, 1997 1:41 PM
Respond to of 79916

Vancouver bourse tells investors look beyond Bre-X
LONDON, June 25 (Reuter) - The Vancouver Stock Exchange told investors on Wednesday not to turn their back on mining exploration projects in the wake of the recent Bre-X (BXM.TO) debacle, saying there are still plenty of good investment opportunities around.

Exchange officials pointed to Latin America, where countries were increasingly opening up to foreign investment. Mexico in the near term and Brazil and Argentina in the more distant future offered very good mining prospects, they said.

``Mexico will become a hot area in the next 18 months,'' John Boddie, vice marketing president of the Vancouver Stock Exchange, told institutional investors in London.

The meeting was organised as part of the exchange's drive to boost confidence among European investors in Vancouver as an international finance centre for new mining projects.

Junior mining companies make up about 65 percent of the total number of firms listed in Vancouver. The exchange saw turnover slump and prices drop to 12-month lows following the Busang gold scandal.

The Busang find in Indonesia had been touted by Canada's Bre-X Minerals Ltd (BXM.TO) as the biggest discovery of the century, but in May an independent audit said it contained no commercially viable gold deposits.

Boddie, keen to dismiss his exchange's lingering reputation as a ``wild west'' market rife with insider trading, was quick to point out that Bre-X had actually not been listed in Vancouver.

Instead, he underlined the exchange's expertise in junior mining operations, which would have made it very hard for Bre-X to 'sell' its Indonesian claims in Vancouver.

In further efforts to boost Vancouver's image, Boddie pointed to several initiatives such as a stringent compliance policy and the building of a company information database to improve the market's transparency.

The exchange had also started an aggressive marketing programme to get the world's most promising mining juniors listed in Vancouver, Boddie said.

``We used to be a market of last resort. We are not any more,'' he said. ``We have to continue our strong compliance activity and attract high quality listings.''