TSX Venture eases with gold prices, Sept. 12-16

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index fell 12.92 points to a 799.24-point close as spot gold prices declined for the second week in a row, falling US$17.50 to US$1,310.35 per ounce. A revival of factory activity in recent Chinese data drove Comex copper prices up 7¢ to US$2.16 per lb., for its biggest weekly gain in two months.

Shares of explorer Rock Tech Lithium surged 63¢ to $1.33, two days after the appointment of Brad Barnett as the company’s chief financial officer. On Aug. 29, Rock Tech increased its land holdings to 92.8 sq. km at its Georgia Lake lithium property, 145 km northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The claims cover spodumene-bearing pegmatites, including the Nama Creek Main Zone North deposit, which hosts 3.2 million inferred tonnes of 1.1% lithium oxide and 6.3 million tonnes of 1% lithium oxide.

Orla Mining rose 42¢ to $1.32 per share after a proposed merger with aspiring miner Pershimco Resources. The new company would focus on continued exploration and development of Pershimco’s Cerro Quema gold-oxide project, southwestern Panama, which is in the last stages of permitting. The arrangement would entitle each Orla shareholder to receive 1 share of the new company, whereas each Pershimco shareholder would receive 0.19 share, plus 0.04 of a “Class-A” share. Each Class-A share is transferrable for one new share, if Panama’s Ministry of Environment accepts Cerro Quema’s environmental and social impact study by Jan. 31 next year. If a resolution is not received, the right for the new shares will end. Orla also intends to raise up to $50 million via a private placement of subscription receipts at $1.75 per subscription receipt, with Pierre Lassonde, and other insiders of Orla, having voiced intentions to participate up to $30 million.

Novo Resources intercepted 74.2 grams gold per tonne over 3.1 metres and 5 grams gold over 3.1 metres at its Tuscarora gold project, 81 km north of Elko, Nevada. The junior explorer said that true widths of the epithermal-vein intercepts are estimated at half of the reported interval lengths. The news lifted shares of the company up 26¢ to $1.79. The eight-hole program, totalling 1,500 metres, aims to test a 1 km long, sediment-covered vein target located south–southeast of the Navajo vein, the most prolific past-producing vein in the Tuscarora mining district. Historical production within Tuscarora produced 204,000 oz. gold, 7.5 million oz. silver and 300,000 oz. placer gold.

Project generator Mirasol Resources fell 32¢ to $2.53 per share after news of expanding its land holdings at its Virginia project — in southern Argentina — to 597 square kilometres. Prospecting over the new land holdings identified quartz and breccia float along a 2 km trend.