CDNX slides in wake of terrorist attacks

Vancouver — Canada’s junior exchange continued its downward slump over the week ended Sept. 18. The Canadian Venture Exchange composite index plunged 101.34 points, or 3.45%, to finish the week at 2,837.27. The mining index nosedived 289.71 points, or 3.9%, to close at 7,114.97.

Goldnev Resources was the week’s volume leader with just over 4.1 million shares traded. The junior tacked on 3 and closed at 7. The company has no active properties in its portfolio and the market appears to be reacting to the news that Medbroadcast Corp. has been negotiating the sale of 3.5 million shares of Goldnev to a group of individual investors.

Shares in Poplar Resources ended the week down 1, to 29, on a volume of 1.7 million. The company’s 65%-owned subsidiary is working the Sundsvall diamond project and the Bottenbacken polymetallic project, both of which are in Sweden.

Ventures Resource lost a penny and closed at 1 on a volume of 1.5 million shares. In early June, the company launched an US$800,000 exploration program to evaluate 13 gold targets on its Veta property in east-central Alaska.

Eurasia Mining closed flat at 2 with just over 1 million shares changing hands. The cash-strapped junior owns the Central Mukur and Myaly heap-leach gold mines in northeast Kazakstan.

GGL Diamond lost 3 and finished at 15 on 711,000 shares. The junior’s joint-venture partner, De Beers Canada Exploration, is exploring the Doyle Lake diamond property in the Northwest Territories.

Seabridge Resources lost 7 and closed at 53 on a volume of 606,000 shares. The junior has several advanced gold projects and is highly leveraged to an increase in the price of the yellow metal. Most recently, Seabridge picked up Placer Dome’s Kerr-Sulphside gold project, some 20 km southeast of the Eskay Creek gold-rich massive-sulphide mine in British Columbia.

Radius Exploration touched yet another 52-week low following the release of the latest assay results from the Bridge zone on its Tambor gold property in Guatemala. Stock in the Simon Ridgway-led junior lost 18 and closed at 31 on a volume of 601,000 shares.

Montello Resources lost 3 and finished the week at 16 on 587,000 shares. The company plans to kick off a geochemical program on the Lempriere and Pipeline properties in southeastern British Columbia. The program will be used to define the potential for tantalum-rich carbonatites on two properties.

Starfield Resources drifted lower, losing 3 to close at 43 with 493,000 shares traded. The company has three rigs turning on the Ferguson Lake copper-nickel-cobalt-platinum-palladium project in Nunavut.

Quaterra Resources traded 460,000 shares but remained steady at 24 on news that the drill rig is turning on its Union Bay platinum-palladium property in Alaska.

A big percentage mover, Gold Canyon Resources jumped 66 to end the week at $2.15 on 545,000 shares. The junior is in the midst of a 2,300-metre drill program on its Cordero gallium project in Nevada’s Humboldt Cty.

Leader Mining was another big percentage mover, jumping 16 to close at $1.36, on a volume of 492,000 shares. The company recently completed lake-and stream-sediment sampling at the Bright Lake tantalum property, northeast of Lake Athabaska in Saskatchewan. In addition, geological reconnaissance, prospecting and mapping have identified two large pegmatite bodies.

Please note that due to the World Trade Center bombing in New York, trading on the Canadian markets was halted mid-morning on Sept. 11 and resumed Sept. 13. Trading in the U.S. was halted before opening on Sept. 11 and resumed Sept. 17.