Bre-X shares resume trading in Canada, U.S.

Bre-X shares resume trading in Canada, U.S.

TORONTO (Agencies): Stock in beleaguered Bre-X Minerals Ltd.
rose on Canadian and U.S. exchanges Tuesday in the first trading
since a frenzied selloff last week sparked by doubts about the
company's claims of a huge gold find in Indonesia.

Trading in Bre-X lasted only 24 minutes on the Toronto Stock
Exchange before the heavy volume swamped the market's computer
system.

Trading in other stocks resumed after 50 minutes, but Bre-X
trading was halted for the rest of the day after rising C$1.35 to
C$3.85 on volume of 7.8 million shares.

Trading in Bre-X proceeded on the Montreal and Alberta
exchanges and on NASDAQ in the United States. In Montreal, the
stock rose 81 cents to $3.50 on volume of 9.3 million shares.

On NASDAQ, the issue jumped 3/4 to 2 1/2, with 10.8 million
shares trading hands.

Bre-X had pleaded unsuccessfully with the Toronto Stock
Exchange to suspend trading in its shares until completion of an
independent audit of tests conducted on samples by Bre-X and by
its prospective partner, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. Bre-X
has cited its tests as the basis for estimating a find of 71
million ounces at its Busang site, while Freeport last week said
its tests showed virtually no gold.

The audit is expected to take several weeks, leaving investors
in limbo. However, some bargain hunters have been willing to buy
up Bre-X shares following the loss of more than 80 percent last
week.

Bre-X had promised to provide information that could have shed
some light on why Freeport-McMoRan can't duplicate the positive
drilling tests. But Bre-X said Tuesday it couldn't yet release a
report from the engineering firm hired to assess drilling and
testing at the deposit.

"This report is an extensive document which requires a more
thorough review by Bre-X's technical team than initially
anticipated," company president David Walsh said in a release.

Meanwhile, Two more purported class action lawsuits have been
filed against Bre-X Minerals Ltd related to its Busang project in
Indonesia, plaintiffs' lawyers said in New York.

One of the suits was filed in New York and the other was filed
in California, the lawyers said. Both allege Bre-X and certain of
its officers and directors violated U.S. securities law.

The New York suit was filed by the law firm Wolf Haldenstein
Alder Freeman & Herz LLP in New York. The California suit was
filed by Schubert & Reed LLP.

Earlier on Monday, the news agency Canadian Press said Bre-X
had been named in another class action suit filed in New York,
and a Houston law firm said the company had also been sued in
Texas.