Expert: Steven Taylor - 12/21/2010

Question
Steven:  I have read some threads in which you have helped people determine if old stock certificates have value.  My father passed away several years ago and my mother just gave me a file with stock certificates.  Could you inform me if the following stock have any current value?

- Vega Gold Exploration (500 shares)
- Cymbal Explorations Inc. (2500 shares)
- Goldmac Explorations Inc.  (1000 shares)
- Western D'Eldona Resources (2 shares)

Once again, thank you for any help/guidance.

Answer
Rob, from the information I have available:

Vega Gold did 2 reverse splits (a 1 for 5, then a 1 for 2) and is currently Belo Son, which trades on the TSX Venture for about 80 cents per share. You need to contact the current transfer agent, Equity Transfer (www.equitytransfer.com).

Cymbal did several acquisitions, name changes and reverse splits and became Ronin Resources, which was suspended, cease-traded and delisted. I have no evidence that they ever fixed their problems and returned to trading.

Goldmac is quite complicated. If my research is correct, they did a 1 for 17.5, then had several other name changes, then a 1 for 30 reverse split, and became Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting. Hudson was acquired by Terra Industries, which was recently acquired by CF Industries for $37.15 cash per share plus 0.0953 of a CF share for each Terra share. However, considering the reverses, you would have less than 2 shares of Terra before the acquisition. You need to contact CF's transfer agent, BNY Mellon, to see if they list your father as a shareholder.

Wester D'Eldona was acquired by Paramount Resources in 1992 for $3.25 cash per share. Considering there were only 2 shares, the money may no longer be available. But, you can check missing property offices for each State in which your father lived from the time he acquired the shares until his death. You can search many of them online for free at www.missingmoney.com and www.naupa.org. (search both - they have different info). It is a good idea to search anyway, because you might uncover unknown assets in your father's name as well.