INTRODUCTION

This is not the whole story but sort of a sequence of events and how they were reported through the media, mostly by The Northern Miner. Mrs Cramer gathered all this info and passed it over for me to edit and post it here. Keep in mind the similarities to SLI as we progress. The price of gold should be noted as well as the TSX , remember, there are more traders today than then and the TSX volume has risen. Also note that Bre-x is mentioned here a couple of times.

THE SAGA BEGINS

TABLE OF CONTENTS Jan 15 - 21, 1996 Volume 81 Number 46 - 0 comments

Arequipa Resources reports gold discovery at Pierina prospect in northwestern Peru

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Exploration of the Pierina gold property in the Ancash province of northern Peru is returning solid gold values for Arequipa Resources (TSE). Subsurface sampling is testing a zone of disseminated gold mineralization, previously identified on the 4,000-hectare property. To date, 14 pits have tested an area measuring 500 by 150 metres, to a depth averaging just over 3 metres.
Eleven pits were completed in bedrock, and these returned an average grade of 6.84 grams gold and 31.7 grams silver per tonne for 21 samples. The three other test pits were completed in the overlying surface material and yielded an average of 15.4 grams gold and 47 grams silver for eight samples.
Only one pit encountered mineralization grading less than 1 gram gold, while values as high as 43 grams gold and 155 grams silver were noted. Mineralization is described as disseminated, with little or no sulphides. No vein structures are reported.
The host rock is a highly silicified and leached, volcanic tuff and ash-flow tuff of the Calipuy formation, underlain by limestones, quartzites and shales of the Mesozoic age. The setting is believed to be similar to that of Newmont Gold's Yanacocha gold mine.
Several additional test pits are planned, as is a 50-metre tunnel for testing mineralization at depth. Drilling is expected to begin in April, following construction of a 5-km access road.
The Pierina is just one of several gold prospects Arequipa has identified on ground it holds along an 80-km-long, structurally controlled belt of rocks in northern Peru.
Arequipa has 28.5 million shares outstanding and $3 million in working capital.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Jan 15 - 21, 1996 Volume 81 Number 46 - 0 comments

STOCK MARKETS -- Golds keep lifting TSE higher and higher

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Gold and energy stocks drew the Toronto Stock Exchange upward through the first four days of the report period ended Jan. 9, culminating with a record high on Jan 8. But weakness in technology stocks and in the New York market brought the market down 42.91 points on Jan. 9, as a near-record number of shares changed hands. In the end, the TSE 300 composite index was 44.63 points (or 0.9% higher) than a week before, closing Jan. 9 at 4,812.45. The Canadian dollar was lower against the major foreign currencies and, by noon on Jan. 10, was trading at US73.28 cents. The Central Bank rate, set at 5.73% on Jan. 3, was bumped to 5.78% at the Bank of Canada auction on Tuesday. The prime rate remained at 7.5%.
Gold touched the US$400-per-oz. mark on London bullion markets, reaching US$396.75 per oz. on the morning of Jan. 10 -- an increase of $6.25 from the week before, and US$400 in the afternoon.
Peruvian explorer Arequipa Resources posted the largest gain in the junior sector this week, more than doubling and adding $3.38 to close at $5.63. The company is exploring the Pierina gold property in northern Peru. More than 20 samples taken from pits yielded an average value of 0.2 oz. gold and 0.9 oz. silver per ton.