Alberta Stock Exchange Jascan big draw

While a drop in gold bullion prices has forced Canadian gold issues to swallow some temporary losses, Alberta investors appear to be betting on the price of silver.

That appears to explain why Jascan Resources has drawn so much investor interest in recent trading sessions. For the second week in succession it was Alberta’s second highest trader. Riding on a volume of 450,700 shares traded, Jascan was up 1 cents to close at $8.38.

The Toronto company is currently earning a 22.5% interest in a Montana copper/silver deposit near Asarco’s Troy mine.

Trading on 42,000 shares, Aurora Gold was up 5 cents to close at 50 cents on news that Belmoral Mines has started the initial stage of a joint venture on Aurora’s Senneville property on the Bourlamaque Batholith.

Under an agreement, Belmoral will spend $100,000 on exploration to earn a 40% interest in the property. Belmoral can also increase its interest to 60% by spending an additional $200,000.

The first stage of the exploration involves a 5,000 ft diamond drill program.

Trio Gold dropped 34 cents despite news that core drilling at the company’s 40% owned Spanish Mtn. property in British Columbia continues to offer some encouraging drill results.

The latest assay results released by Trio and joint-venture-partner Pundata Gold, include 13 ft of 0.315 oz gold per ton, 19 ft of 0.177 oz and 26.5 ft of 0.10.

The Trio issue closed at $1.85 on a volume of 21,600 shares traded.

Nathan Minerals remained steady to close at 75 cents . Nathan recently granted Perrex Resources an option to acquire a 20% interest in the Burwash Creek quartz claims in the Yukon and the Pro claims in the Northwest Territories.

After Perrex has spent $1 million in exploration, the two companies will work as joint venture partners on these gold properties.

Toronto-based Barron Hunter Hargrave Resources also remained steady to close at 10 cents on a volume of 107,400 shares traded. A subsidiary of the company has vended back to Gold Fort Mining Corp. its option to acquire the Golden Rule mine in Arizona.