Bears maul bulls on junior exchange

Vancouver — Canada’s venture exchange succumbed to downward market pressure over the week ended July 16. The S&P TSX Venture Exchange composite index tumbled 52.03 points, or 4.5%, and closed at 1,105.37.

American Bonanza Gold Mining continues to be the junior market’s volume leader. The company closed down 3 to 18 with 4.6 million shares crossing the floor. The company has $2 million set aside for advancing the Copperstone project in Arizona, which hosts an estimated total resource of 2.1 million tons grading 0.58 oz. gold per ton.

Donner Minerals lost 8 and closed at 39 on 1.8 million shares. The Harvey Keats-led company is gearing up for a 3,500-metre drill program of 12 to 20 shallow holes on the South Voisey Bay project in Labrador. Initial drilling will focus on electromagnetic anomalies outlined by a ground electromagnetic survey in 2001.

TNR Resources slid 2 and closed at 16 on 1.7 million shares. The company is awaiting final approval for its deal involving Toronto-listed NovaGold Resources’ Rock Creek gold property in Alaska. Under the terms of the agreement TNR can earn a 49.9% interest in the property by spending US$10 million over three years. The Rock Creek deposit lies on the Seward Peninsula, near Nome.

International Wayside Gold Mines found a penny and closed at 19 with just under 1.6 million shares traded. The company holds the Cariboo project in central British Columbia. The property encompasses the past-producing Cariboo Quartz, Island Mountain and Mosquito gold mines. In early spring of 2000, International Wayside discovered the Bonanza Ledge zone and is currently exploring the zone to define its perimeters.

Diagem International Resource closed at 23, down 2 on 1.5 million shares. The company recently recovered 112 diamonds from surface gravels and kimberlitic material on its 1000 property in Brazil. Thirty-five diamonds, including one stone weighing 4.2 carats, were recovered from a 25-cubic-metre sample from surface gravels immediately overlying the ARP-1 kimberlite. The 1000 property is held 51% by Diagem and 49% by its partner Juina Mining.

East West Resources tacked on 6 and closed the week at 23 with 1.4 million shares changing hands. The company has tabled assay results from its drill program at the Norton copper/nickel/cobalt/platinum-group-metal property near Thunder Bay, Ont. Highlights included 1.07% nickel, 0.57% copper, 0.129 gram platinum and 0.703 gram palladium over 9.05 metres in hole C-25.

Gallery Resources lost a nickel and closed at 15 on 1.3 million shares. The company has defined three new drill targets on its Black Bart Katie volcanogenic massive sulphide property in central Newfoundland. A 2-phase gravity survey in May and June recorded positive gravity anomalies in three separate areas.

Spider Resources closed at 5, down a penny, on 1.2 million shares. Spider and partner KWG Resources hold the Wawa and Spider #1 diamond properties in northern Ontario. They are also involved in a multi-year joint venture with De Beers Canada.