Juniors climb higher on buoyant commodities

TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE

A surging junior market saw the S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index blow through the 2000-level, closing at a new multi-year high of 2018.39 for the period March 2-8, up 1.2%, or 23.58 points, on the week. Average daily trading volumes remained strong at more than 66.4 million shares.

Precious metals were buoyed by a continued flight from the American dollar. The euro also rallied, fuelled by the expectation of an imminent hike in European interest rates. Gold closed the session at a 10-week high of US$440 per oz. on the New York spot market, up US$8.50.

Silver regained ground, closing up US32 and testing a 13-week high at US$7.49 per oz. on the New York spot market; platinum gaining US$13 to close at US$873 per oz.; and palladium surged 13%, adding US$24 to touch a 13-week high of US$208 per oz.

Base metals also stayed strong: copper tested new highs, approaching US$1.55 per lb. before closing at US$1.53, up US3; nickel closed at US$7.38 per lb., up US15; zinc added a penny to close at US63 per lb.; while lead was up US1.5 to close at US46 per lb.

Strength in the market was exemplified by the surge in new highs versus lows. Eighty-five companies touched new 52-week highs, compared with just 33 Venture-Exchange-listed explorers scraping new lows.

With almost 15 million shares traded, Forest Gate Resources led in volume and was one of the top percentage gainers, closing up 52%, or 17, at 50 per share. The company boosted its planned private-placement financing to $6.5 million from $4 million. As well, the company is arranging a $2-million financing for wholly owned subsidiary Blue Note Metals and plans to transfer its entire New Brunswick mineral project portfolio into Blue Note in a corporate reorganization. Forest Gate plans to distribute shares of Blue Note to its shareholders. Blue Note will also hold the letter-of-intent agreement to acquire Breakwater Resources‘ past-producing Caribou and Restigouche base metal mines.

The second most active issue was Kensington Resources, which traded almost 13.5 million shares. The company closed up 71% at $2.98 following the recovery of a 10.5-carat, clear and colourless diamond from a mini-bulk sample at the Fort la Corne project in Saskatchewan. Project operator and partner De Beers recovered the stone at its lab and was evaluating it at presstime. The project is adjacent to, and just northwest of, Shore Gold‘s Star kimberlite.

Uranium-hunter Bell Coast Capital was third-highest in volume. The junior traded 6.4 million shares and closed at 79, up 9. The company is redeveloping the past-producing Sheep Mountain project in Wyoming, in which it recently acquired half-interest.

The top value gainer was Northern Dynasty Minerals, which added $1.30 to close at $6.25 on a volume of 1.8 million shares. The company unveiled a resource estimate for the massive Pebble copper-gold porphyry project in Alaska. The study shows a measured and indicated resource of 1.6 billion tonnes grading 0.35% copper, 0.018% molybdenum, and 0.39 gram gold per tonne, based on a cutoff grade of 0.5% copper-equivalent.