It was a good five trading days for the venture capital market, as the S&P TSX Venture composite index finished the reporting period March 3-9 with a 25.81-point gain, closing at 1,924.90.
Intrepid Minerals was the volume leader on the Venture exchange, as 14.7 million shares rode the tape and the share price jumped 62 to $1.35. The excitement was over Intrepid’s drill results from the Casposo project in San Juan province, Argentina. Intrepid drilled a hole to intersect the two main mineralized structures at the Kamila deposit, currently proposed for open-pit production. The hole intersected 12.1 metres grading 61 grams gold and 853 grams silver per tonne on the Aztec vein and 9.2 metres grading 13.7 grams gold and 1,517 grams silver per tonne on the Inca vein, about 25 metres further down. The core showed large amounts of a mineral tentatively identified as acanthite (silver sulphide).
Two other holes intersected 6.8 metres grading 9.2 grams gold and 113 grams silver per tonne on the deposit’s B Vein and 2.4 metres grading 2.4 grams gold and 142 grams silver per tonne on the Inca vein. The mineralization is not new but establishes continuity in the known bonanza-grade vein systems at Kamila. Results from four more resource-definition holes are pending.
Another stock juiced by exploration results was uranium explorer JNR Resources, which saw 8.8 million shares changing hands and rose 13 to 64. Two holes drilled at the Moore Lake uranium prospect in northern Saskatchewan tested strike extensions of mineralization discovered in a July 2002 drill hole that ran 0.62% U3O8 over 9.1 metres.
Downhole radiometric analyses in the first hole returned an average grade of 1.3% U3O8 over 7.5 metres. In the second hole, a core assay returned 1.61% U3O8 over 5.5 metres.
Spider Resources added to drill results announced a week previously, releasing news of three new drill holes on the McFaulds Lake base metal prospect. One hole cut a 15.8-metre length of massive sulphide mineralization grading 4.04% zinc and 0.44% copper, while another intersected 7.2 metres running 3.05% zinc and 1.22% copper. The third hole encountered a 2-metre length of lower-grade mineralization, with 0.31% copper. All three intersections had gold and silver credits.
Marc Henderson’s Aquiline Resources brought its battle for the high-grade Navidad silver discovery in Argentina’s Patagonia region to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, claiming IMA Exploration had unlawfully used confidential information owned by Aquiline to identify and acquire Navidad. IMA counters that Aquiline’s allegations are without merit, and it plans to defend itself vigorously. Having wrongly anticipated a more genteel resolution to the problem, IMA shareholders reacted by driving down shares 20% to $2.39. Aquiline stock, meanwhile, advanced 7 to $1.28 and touched a 6-year high of $1.39 along the way.
Banro sank $1 to $8.25 after striking a deal for a private placement of up to 2 million shares priced at $8 apiece, with Kingsdale Capital Markets acting as agent. Most of the proceeds are earmarked for exploration at the company’s Twangiza-Namoya gold property in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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