MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS — WESTERN MARKETS –VSE stagnant as Winspear takes nosedive

The Vancouver Stock Exchange composite index lost 4.97 points, or 1.2%, to close the week ended July 27 at 418.77. The mining index dropped 5.69 points, or 2%, to close at 273.74.

Meanwhile, the combined value of the Alberta Stock Exchange fell 31.21 points, or 1.2%, to finished the week at 2,568.77.

Winspear Resources nosedived 74 cents to close at $2.93 after newsletter writer John Kaiser reported that the company’s stock price could be headed south following lower-than-expected results from the Camsell Lake diamond project in the Northwest Territories. The 3,000-tonne bulk sample returned 5,165.81 carats valued at US$111.98 each.

AGC Americas Gold rocketed $1.15 to close at $2.85. The company will regain title to all of the Toodoggone mineral properties in north-central British Columbia now that Toronto-listed joint-venture partner Antares Mining & Exploration has announced it is backing out. AGC will pay $150,000 to Antares to gain the latter’s 47% interest. AGC is developing an e-commerce web site to sell brand-name watches and jewelry through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Timebeat.com.

Contiki Resources tacked on 12 cents to close at 41 cents. The junior is jumping ship and getting into e-commerce by acquiring British-based Alternative Card Co., which will conduct pooled betting on English Premier league soccer matches through its web site, GoldenGoals.com.

Polymet Mining tumbled 38 cents to close at $1.40. The junior has filed a brokered private placement of 1.6 million special warrants at $1.50 each. Proceeds will be put towards the company’s NorthMet polymetallic project in Minnesota.

Alberta-listed Starfield Resources closed at 85 cents, down a nickel. Results from an ore microscopy study on samples from the company’s Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-cobalt-PGM project in Nunavut, indicate that metals are contained in four discrete minerals: moncheite, pentlandite, gersdorfite and chalcopyrite. The company believes that this mineralogy could be easily separated metallurgically.

Maracote International Resources closed at 30 cents, up 4 cents. The vendors of the Halley gold-silver property in south-central Peru have agreed to extend the date of Maracote’s next option payment. The US$240,000 is now due by the end of September. Drilling is ongoing, with hole HA-17 in progress.

Victory Ventures jumped 19 cents to close at 65 cents. The company is changing its name to Global Investment.com as a result of its alliance with Stock House Media to develop an internet investment site.

Excellon Resources closed at 64 cents, up 4 cents. The market is anticipating drill results from the Platosa polymetallic property in Mexico. Joint-venture partner Apex Silver Mines of Denver, Colo., is the operator and stands to earn a 65% interest in the property.