Venture closes down in April 25-29 period

Vancouver – The S&P TSX Venture Exchange had a mixed week but ultimately ended down 29.5 points at 2,252.14 points in the April 25 to 29 period. Volume was down significantly from the period before, dropping 60 million trades a day to an average of 149 million shares traded daily. The bears continued to pull past the bulls, with 90 Venture-listed companies hitting 52-week lows while only 40 Venture-listed companies hit 52-week highs.

Western Potash had a surge in activity after releasing an updated resource for its Milestone potash project in Saskatchewan. The company saw 9 million shares traded in the period as it climbed 12¢ to $1.30. The Resource now stands at 637 million measured tonnes grading 30.47% potassium chloride, 1.86 billion indicated tonnes grading 30.35% potassium chloride, and an inferred resource of 8.91 billion tonnes grading 30.31% potassium chloride, for increases of 55%, 34% and 25% respectively.

Colombia-focused Galway Resources surged to a 52-week trading high of $1.52 before settling somewhat and ending the period up 13¢ at $1.32 on 7.9 million shares traded. The company reported drill results from its California property that included 36 metres grading 8.9 grams gold per tonne in a wider interval of 125 metres carrying 3.8 grams gold and 11.9 grams silver per tonne starting at 14 metres depth with only the first 140 metres have been assayed. Another hole in the same zone hit several shorter high-grade intercepts including 1 metre carrying 151.5 grams gold and 73.1 grams silver and 5 metres averaging 5.9 grams gold.

Fox Resources was the biggest percentage gainer of the period, up 34¢ or 94.4% to 70¢ on a total of 140,000 shares traded. The company announced it had closed a $936,000 non-brokered private placement at 30¢. The financing issued 3.1 million units, with each unit containing a share and a half warrant with full warrants exercisable at 45¢. The company’s issuing of the shares nearly doubled its total shares outstanding, now at 6.3 million shares. The exploration stage company currently has no exploration properties but is in the process of finding some. The company is unrelated to the Australia-based Fox Resources.

Rare-element stocks continue to lead the value-gainers on the Venture. Quest Rare Minerals saw the biggest value gain of 71¢ to end at $8.15, Tasman Metals was close behind with a gain of 68¢ to end at $5.55, and Rare Element Resources climbed 48¢ to $13.62. However, none of the companies released news nor ended the period at recent highs. All three companies continue to trade near their all-time highs though, exempting Rare Element’s brief spike to almost $18 in early January.

Soltoro shot up 28¢ to $1.22 a week after hitting strong silver intercepts at its El Rayo project in Jalisco, Mexico. In the period, the company announced it had finalized the option of its Victoria and Coyote silver-gold projects to recently-listed Argentum Silver. The two-year deal is worth $$255,000 in cash, 5 million shares and $1.1 million in exploration spending. On April 20 the company reported drill results including 7 metres carrying 1,010 grams silver per tonne and 6.9 metres averaging 527 grams silver, both uncut.