Far East properties excite Venture punters

The TSX Venture Exchange moved sideways during the reporting period March 24-30, with the composite index up 6.2 points at 1,860.36.

International Kirkland Minerals was one of the big percentage gainers, jumping 13 to 20 on a volume of 431,000 shares. The company concluded an option agreement to acquire a private company, Minen Ltd., which has an agreement to option a 720-sq.-km exploration property and a mining lease in Hunan province, China.

International Kirkland can buy the private company with 1 million shares, plus $610,000 cash, and must incur US$500,000 in exploration expenditures and assume a US$300,000 obligation to the Hunan provincial mining agency to maintain the option on the property. International Kirkland plans an 8-million-share offering at 25 to finance the deal and future work.

The land package includes the Daping mining lease, where small-scale gold mining is going on and seven mineralized vein structures are known. The surrounding exploration licence includes another area, Chang-zi-ping, with some small-scale gold mining.

Another Chinese explorer, SKN Resources, caught some reflected glory from new exploration results released by Toronto-listed neighbour Southwestern Gold. SKN, which holds the 25-sq.-km Tuobuka property on the southern margin of Southwestern’s Boka gold project, said earlier drilling on Tuobuka, the results of which had disappointed the market in mid-March, may have been spotted off the trend of the Boka mineralization. SKN was up 35 at $2.62 on a volume of 807,000 shares.

Mexgold Resources, which acquired the El Cubo gold and silver mine in Guanajuato state, Mexico, earlier in March, was the exchange’s biggest mover, adding 56 to close at $4.75, with 349,000 shares changing hands. There was no news from the company.

Another gainer was Seabridge Resources, which rose 40 to $5.05. Seabridge’s joint-venture partner, Toronto-listed Romarco Minerals, announced results from three drill holes on the Hog Ranch property in northwestern Nevada. One hole intersected a vein system with grades of 28.7 and 17.2 grams per tonne across separate 1.5-metre intervals. The two other drill holes intersected multiple low-grade gold zones.

CastleRock Resources fell 13 to 37 on results from its Dover copper project near Morenci, Ariz. Assays from five holes returned anomalous copper and gold values.

Infill drilling on the Manantial Espejo property in Argentina sent Silver Standard Resources down 55 to $21.24. The drilling confirmed the continuity of a series of veins in the Karina/Union and Maria fault systems. Joint-venture partner Pan American Silver is continuing with feasibility work on the property.

Minera Andes traded 5.2 million shares to rank among the most active stocks. The company closed a financing for $6.5 million on March 15. Spider Resources was another active issue, with 5.5 million shares riding the tape, but was unchanged at 17.