Canada’s junior exchange chases bull

Vancouver — The TSX Venture Exchange continued its bull run over the week ended Jan. 15. The S&P composite index closed up 15.2 points, or 1.38% of its value, to 1,110.57.

Oasis Diamond Exploration traded heavily during the period but ended up where it started, at 12, with 11 million shares changing hands. The company, together with Arctic Star Diamond, has outlined two targets on the Enigma property near Wawa, Ont. Drilling is to begin this winter. Arctic Star closed at 45, down a penny on 294,000 shares.

Quaterra Resources tacked on 4 and closed at 14 on a volume of 4.8 million shares. The junior has been trying to advance the Duke Island copper-nickel-platinum-palladium property in Alaska.

ECU Silver Mining remained flat at 11 with 4.2 million shares traded. Among its assets is the Valardena property in Mexico, which has a total resource of 2.5 million tonnes grading 2.8 grams gold and 269 grams silver per tonne. The first two levels of the La Esperanza vein have been mined. If the mill grades prove economic, the company will proceed with further development, provided Hecla Mining gives its consent.

Alamos Minerals found a nickel and closed at 46 with 2.7 million shares traded. The junior is in the process of merging with joint-venture partner National Gold. The two companies hold the Salamandra gold property in Sonora state, Mexico. National Gold closed at 35, down 1, on 1.8 million shares.

Coral Gold tumbled 15 and closed at 47 while 2.4 million shares crossed the floor. Coral started a rig spinning late in November 2002 on a property that adjoins the Pipeline gold mine in Nevada.

Chapleau Resources jumped 25 and closed at 87 on a volume of 2 million shares. It recently picked up 330 sq. km of real estate which hosts several known gold prospects west and northeast of Cranbrook in southeastern British Columbia.

Radius Explorations tacked on 30 and finished the week at 98 with 1.8 million shares traded. Exploration results obtained late in 2002 confirm the presence of high-grade gold values associated with quartz-arsenopyrite bodies at the La Laguna North and Guapinol South target areas in Guatemala. The property is part of the Tambor joint venture.

Diagem International Resource added 7 to its value and closed at 23 with 1.7 million shares traded. The diamond explorer tabled results from its pilot plant in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state. Since December 2002, an additional 1,121 diamonds weighing 308 carats have been recovered during bulk-testing on the Donna Maria portion of Property 213. This brings the total for this area to more than 2,000 diamonds weighing about than 560 carats.

American Bonanza Gold Mining closed the week at 23, down 3 on 1.68 million shares. The company has mobilized personnel and equipment to its Copperstone gold project in Arizona. A geological resource for the C and D zones is pegged at 2 million tons at an average uncut grade of 0.58 oz. gold per ton. Meanwhile, at the company’s Pamlico project in Nevada, crews have completed an 8-hole drilling program. Assays are pending.

Goldminco tacked on 2 and closed the week at 13 with 1.5 million shares traded. The Ian Finch-led junior hopes to start drilling its Balabag gold-silver property in the Philippines.