Junior exchange sings summertime blues (August 26, 2002)

Vancouver — Canada’s junior exchange continued to slide into bear territory over the week ended Aug 20. The TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 23.55 points, or 2.3% of its value, to close at 1025.43.

Morgain Minerals was the week’s leading resource trader, with just over 2 million shares changing hands. The junior lost 4 and closed at 30. Morgain recently re-activated the El Arca flotation mill in Zacatecas state, Mexico. The El Arca mill is treating 2,200 tonnes of silver-bearing dump material that grades 175 grams silver and 0.45 gram gold per tonne.

Spider Resources was not far behind the leader, with 2 million shares traded. Despite the trading action, the junior remained steady at 4. At the end of July, the junior and its joint-venture partner, KWG Resources, announced they had recovered 167 diamonds from 12 samples weighing 15 kg each from their diamond property in Wawa, Ont. One of these samples yielded 59 diamonds, including 22 macros.

ECU Silver Mining lost a penny and closed the week at 4 with 1.7 million shares traded. The company recently inked a deal with Trustyard Capital for a private placement of $300,000. ECU Silver owns the Velardena silver mine in central Mexico, which has a resource of 2.4 million tonnes grading 269 grams silver and 2.8 grams gold per tonne.

IBI traded 892,000 shares but remained flat at 6. IBI owns and operates a vermiculite mine in the Mbale region of southeastern Uganda, near the Kenyan border. IBI recently inked a deal to sell $2.6 million worth of its medium-grade Vermiculite. Weekly shipments are to begin this month.

Diagem International Resources lost 3 and closed at 17 with 788,000 shares traded. Diagem’s bulk-testing program on its 108 property in Brazil on test pit 7 yielded 888 diamonds weighing 75.45 carats, with sizes of up to 2.05 carats. Results from test pits 8 and 9 are awaited.

American Bonanza Gold Mines closed at 13, down 1 with 766,000 shares traded. Late last month, the junior made an agreement with Mask Resources whereby Mask can acquire up to 49% of American Bonanza’s wholly owned Gold Bar and Pamlico projects in Nevada. In return, Mask would be required to pay $100,000 in cash, issue 800,000 Mask shares, and fund exploration to the tune of $3.6 million over three years.

Mill City International rocketed 9 and closed at 10, with 747,000 shares traded. Joint-venture partner SouthernEra Resources’ first drill hole into the Sue kimberlite pipe on the Yamba Lake project in the Northwest Territories generated 77 micros and 18 macros from a 226.7-kg sample. SouthernEra stands to earn a 60% interest in the project by completing a bankable feasibility study by the end of 2006. Upon doing so, the remaining interests will be shared among Tanqueray Resources, with 16%, Mill City, also with 16%, and Techsite Strategies, with 8%.

Starfield Resources lost 3 and closed at 40 with 672,000 shares traded. The junior has intersected two mineralized horizons in an 800-metre stepout hole drilled on the western margin of the West zone at the Ferguson Lake project in Nunavut. The best interval averaged 11.38 metres grading 1.86% copper, 0.86% nickel and 0.102% cobalt, plus 2.45 grams palladium and 0.27 gram platinum per tonne.