Expert: Steven Taylor - 3/30/2009

Question
Hi Steven,
I have very old share certificates that were purchased in the late 1980's for several mining companies.  I have no idea if the shares have value, if the companies exist, or how to sell them if they do exist.  I certainly would appreciate any help and direction with them that you could provide: I feel absolutely at a loss.  They are:
Duration Mines Ltd.
Coxheath Gold Holdings Ltd.
Granduc Mines Ltd.
McFinley Red Lake Mines Ltd.
Northair Mines Ltd
Wealth Resources Ltd.
Newhawk Gold Mines Ltd.
Newfields Minerals Inc.
Augmitto Explorations Ltd.
Jonpol Explorations Ltd.
Moneta Porcupine Mines Inc, formerly Moneta Porcupine Res.
Novagold Resources Inc.
Silver Standard
Ebony Gold Corp
Faith Mines Ltd.
Ezekiel Explorations Ltd.

Answer
Renae, I don't usually search out such a long list of shares as you provided. However, in this case, I know many of these already as either having looked them up for other people before, or having worked with a few of the still existing companies on the list.

From the information I have available, this is what I found:

Duration, Coxheath, McFinely, Wealth, Newfields, and Augmetto were all suspended, delisted, and cease-traded at some point. I don't believe any of them were ever reactivated, so I don't believe there is any current value for any of those.

Granduc went through several name changes and consolidation of shares (at least a 1 for 3 and a 1 for 7) and is currently Central Sun, which trades on the TSX for about 77 cents per share.

Northair dia a 1 for 5 reverse split and became International Northair, which trades on the TSX Venture for about 4 cents per share.

Newhawk was acquired by Silver Standard on the basis of 1 share of Silver Standard for every 6 shares of Newhawk. Silver Standard trades on the TSX and on NASDAQ for about US$16.25 a share.

Jonpol became Eastern Platinum, which trades on the TSX vor about 40 cents per share.

Moneta Porcupine currently trades on the TSX for about 10 cents per share.

Novagold, although well down from its $25 high a couple of years ago, is very much still around. It trades on the TSX and the NYSE Alternext for about $3.35 a share.

Ebony did a 1 for 5 reverse and became Sedex, which trades on the TSX Venture for about 3 cents per share.

Faith did at least 1 reverse split and became Neodym.

Exekiel did at least 2 reverse splits (a 1 for 5, then a 1 for 10) and became Cobra Mining. Cobra was acquired by Phelps Dodge in 1998 for US$3.85 per share.

Assuming the certificates are valid, some of them do have some value, but some will require reorganization by the current transfer agents. You should enlist the help of a broker and take all the certificates in to them for further research. For the ones with value, they can contact the current transfer agents and get them reorganized and then sold, if you desire. For the defunct ones, they can confirm the status and may be able to declare the value as tax losses.