Market stats point to summer slump

Canada’s junior exchange lost ground over the week ended April 29 as investors anticipated an annual summertime sell-off. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index shed 16.62 points, or 1.58% of its value, to close at 1,030.69.

Spider Resources continued to dominate the trading floor, ending the week flat at 13 with more than 14.6 million shares changing hands. The company tabled more drill results from the Spider 3 massive sulphide project in the James Bay Lowlands of Ontario. Hole 6 intersected 2.9% copper and 0.45% zinc over 5.6 metres, as well as a deeper, zinc-rich section averaging 5.4% zinc and 0.3% copper over 9.65 metres. Hole 3 cut 5.25% zinc and 0.58% copper over 3.95 metres, whereas hole 4 returned 2.41% zinc and 0.495% copper over 8.7 metres.

Aquiline Resources added 7 and closed at 34 with just over 2.1 million shares traded. The junior has been raising funds for its Argentine gold project known as Calcatreu, which it acquired earlier this year from New York-listed Newmont Mining. Calcatreu is a low-sulphidation epithermal gold system 200 km northeast of Meridian Gold’s El Desquite property in north-central Patagonia.

New Shoshoni Ventures soared 26 and finished the week at 55 on a volume of 1.8 million shares. The junior is awaiting initial results from a recent 3-hole drill program over the DB-2 kimberlite, near the Drybones Bay kimberlite in the Northwest Territories.

Wolfden Resources lost 13 and closed at $1.73 with 1.3 million shares traded. The junior inked a deal to acquire a 50.5% stake in the Follansbee Red Lake property in Ontario’s Red Lake district. To do so, it must participate in a private placement in Interquest to the tune of $50,000, pay $50,000 in cash payments to Interquest, and spend $1 million on exploration over four years, including $200,000 in the first six months.

American Bonanza Gold Mining lost 2 and closed the week at 24 with 1.1 million shares traded. The company is in the midst of an underground program at its Copperstone gold project in Arizona, having so far advanced a drift by 152 metres.

OntZinc closed flat at 15 with 812,000 shares traded. The junior plans to raise up to $5 million through a private placement by selling 5,000 units priced at $1,000 each. A unit consists of 4,500 flow-through shares, 500 common shares and 5,000 common share purchase warrants. Each warrant grants the holder the right to acquire an additional common share priced at 35 for two years.

Diagem International Resource lost a penny and closed at 21 with 777,000 shares traded. The junior is in the midst of a bulk-sampling program to test the grade and extent of diamondiferous gravels and kimberlite throughout the Chicoria Creek area in Brazil.

Samex Mining closed at 30, up 3 with 685,000 shares traded. In Chile, the company has acquired concessions that host numerous small abandoned mines and scattered gold occurrences. It is reviewing and evaluating previous work in the area in order to plan a program aimed at finding bulk-tonnage, open-pittable gold deposits.

Antoro Resources closed at 74, down 5 on 675,000 shares. Antoro and Les Mines JAG, are drilling 50-70 holes at the Ste-Clotilde-de-Chteauguay silica property, southeast of Montreal, Que.