Institutional Shareholders Continue to Dump Excellon Resources Stock

TORONTO, Aug. 26, 2013 /CNW/ - Some of the largest institutional shareholders of Excellon Resources have continued to sell a large number of the company's shares according to an August 22 report from LionShares, which provides stock ownership information and analysis to a range of clients.

Sprott Asset Management and Goodman Investment Counsel, the two largest institutional shareholders of Excellon Resources, recently sold over one million shares. This follows the decision by the Canada Pension Plan to divest its entire holdings in Excellon.

The selling by Sprott Asset Management is particularly significant, since Sprott had been a booster of Excellon. In 2009 it acquired 15.4 million shares and became Excellon's largest institutional shareholder. Excellon, in turn, invested $5 million in Sprott Silver Physical Trust and recently incurred a $1.2-million loss in the trust due to declining silver prices.

The action by Goodman Investment Counsel, which sold 511,000 or 18% of its Excellon shares, is surprising since Ned Goodman, the company CEO, was recently appointed to the Excellon Board of Directors.

Vertex Management, another investor, sold all of its 474,000 Excellon shares according to the report.

Excellon engaged in a reverse stock split in May 2013 and began buying back shares to boost its stock price. In June and July, the stock declined to 52-week lows.

According to the United Steelworkers, a major reason for the collapse of Excellon's stock price is ongoing problems with small landowners and Los Mineros, one of few democratic unions in Mexico that has sought to represent workers at Excellon's La Platosa mine, the company's main source of revenue. Despite protracted efforts by the small landowners and union members to settle outstanding issues, Excellon management has been unwilling to engage in serious efforts to resolve differences.

SOURCE: United Steelworkers (USW)

Joe Drexler, USW Strategic Campaigns, 416-434-7907, [email protected]
Bob Gallagher, USW Communications, 416-544-5966, 416-434-2221, [email protected],