MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS – WESTERN MARKETS — Investors look south as Labrador juniors slide

The Vancouver Stock Exchange composite index was off 10.41 points during the report period ended Dec. 8, closing at 382.67. The mining index followed suit, losing 8.96 points, or 3.1%, to finish at 281.93. The combined value of the Alberta Stock Exchange shed 35.12 points to close at 1,713.96.

Argentina Gold closed the week up 30 cents at $2.96 (hitting a high of $5 at presstime). Its shares will be watched closely in the coming weeks now that Toronto-listed Barrick Gold has stated its intention of staging a $142-million takeover in the form of $4 per outstanding share. The offer, which AG has rejected, is conditional on Barrick’s acquiring at least 50.1% of the junior’s shares. Barrick currently owns a 9.9% interest in AG.

TNR Resources, which holds three mineral properties near the Veladero project of AG in Argentina, climbed 14 cents to 39 cents. TNR is awaiting results of a 3-hole drilling program by Newcrest Resources on the Canada Honda project in the province of San Luis.

Issues of Inlet Resources doubled to 28 cents. The junior has signed a preliminary agreement with Sonoma Resources to acquire up to a 100% interest in a package of Argentine properties, including Cerro Toro, 20 km northeast of Veladero. Diamond explorer Winspear Resources remains one of the most heavily traded issues on the VSE, with 3.7 million shares having changed hands during the report period. The company gained 17 cents to close at $2.96.

Lucero Resource reached as high as 80 cents before falling back to 67 cents, a gain of a quarter. The company is nearly finished a first-phase program on a grassroots porphyry copper prospect, part of the 65,000-ha Macromin property in northern Chile. Work involves geological mapping, geochemical sampling and mechanized trenching in preparation for drilling early in the new year. Lucero can earn a half-interest in the property by spending US$3 million on exploration, paying US$1.1 million in cash and issuing 1 million shares over two years.

Labrador International Mining finished at 8 cents, for a loss of 7 cents. A 200-metre-long hole was drilled on its 50%-owned Adlatok River 2 property in the South Voisey’s Bay area of Labrador. The hole was sunk into a geophysical anomaly, which was then subjected to down-hole geophysics to determine the reason for strong surface readings. The remaining half of the property is split equally between Alberta-listed Pallaum Minerals, which was down 11 cents at 18 cents, and GlobeNet Resources, down 46 cents at 23 cents.

Elsewhere in the South Voisey’s Bay area, Donner Minerals has mobilized a drill rig to the South Gabbro zone in order to test a strong geophysical anomaly that has been traced for 800 metres along strike. Donner, which holds a 62.5% interest in the property, slipped 3 cents to 27 cents, while Cypress Minerals, which holds the remaining interest, closed down a penny at 13 cents.