Thomson Reuters






Nov 22 (Reuters) - Shares of Pretium Resources Inc
nearly doubled after the Canadian miner said gold output
from its 10,000-tonne bulk sample program at Brucejack in
British Columbia topped its target of 4,000 ounces.


The company said it has processed 8,090 tonnes of bulk
sample from the program, dubbed "Valley of the Kings", and
produced 4,215 ounces of gold.


Pretium said processing of the remaining bulk sample would
be completed by the first week of December.


Independent consultant Strathcona Mineral Services Ltd quit
Pretium's "Valley of the Kings" program last month and said
there were "no valid gold mineral resources" there.


Strathcona is best known for its role in exposing problems
at miner Bre-X in the late 1990s, where investors lost billions
after a massive gold find was found to be fake.


Pretium shares were up about 83 percent at C$5.63 on Friday
on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock rose as much as 97
percent earlier.

(Reporting by Sneha Banerjee in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti
Pandey)