MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS — WESTERN MARKETS — Western markets slide along with bigger brothers

The merging of the Vancouver and Alberta Stock Exchanges into the Canadian Venture Exchange (CDNX) is set for Nov. 29 and will include nearly 2,500 listings from the ASE and VSE. Listings from the Montreal and Winnipeg Exchanges are expected to be phased in between November and March. The Canadian Dealing Network’s quotations will be included in January.

Western markets stumbled along with their bigger brothers, the TSE and the NYSE, during the Oct. 13 report period. The Vancouver Stock Exchange composite index lost 16.81 points, or 4%, to close at 403.81. The mining index was off 13.07 points, or 4.3%, wrapping the week at 288.35. The combined value of the Alberta Stock Exchange slipped 42.75 points to 2,811.31, a loss of 1.5%.

Alberta-listed Valdez Gold was up 39 cents, closing at $1.08. The company has started a 2,000-metre first-phase program on the Los Jarros gold prospect at its Gaby property in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Soil sampling has identified anomalous gold in an area measuring 1,500 by 600 metres. A total of 276 1-metre long, saw-cut channel samples yielded values ranging from 0.1 to 12.8 grams gold per tonne, for an average of 0.9 gram.

Valerie Gold Resources has begun an 8-hole, 1,500-metre drilling program on a gold-copper soil anomaly at its Santa Barbara property in Ecuador. A 650-metre-long trench cut across the anomaly’s intensely leached rock returned 466 metres averaging 0.85 gram gold and 0.14% copper. Valerie is earning a half-interest in the property from TVX-Normandy Americas. The issue closed down 13 cents at 90 cents.

Santa Catalina Mining finished up 7 cents at 63 cents. The company announced a month ago it was in talks to buy an oil and gas project in northern Africa.

Hunter-Dickinson led Anooraq Resources made a deal with Pinnacle Resources to acquire up to 100% of a portfolio of platinum group properties on the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. Anooraq fell 7 cents to 85 cents.

Great Basin Gold dropped 42 cents to $2.03 on the release of assay results from deep drilling on its Ivanhoe gold project along Nevada’s South Carlin trend. Seven of the 13 holes intersected narrow values of high-grade mineralization, including 15 ft. of 0.4 oz., 2.2 ft. of 0.96 oz. and 2 ft. of 1.86 oz.

Nevada Pacific Gold is set to begin follow-up drilling at its South Carlin gold project in Nevada. The program calls for at least 2,500 ft. over four holes. The issue was down 4 cents at 40 cents.

Vital Pacific Resources, Bell Coast Capital and Nikos Explorations each acquired the right to earn a 6.25% in the Solana California gas exploration syndicate, formed to explore a 40-acre tract near Bakersfield in Kern Cty., Calif. Vital Pacific lost 3 cents to finish at 10 cents, Bell Coast slipped a penny to 22 cents and Nikos tacked on 2 cents at 37 cents.

Randy Turner’s Winspear Resources was off 12 cents at $2.40. The issue slid after an announcement that a $14-million special warrant financing had been negotiated at $2.55 per unit. Sister company Diamondex Resources closed down 12 cents at 66 cents.

An oversubscribed private placement of IMA Exploration was boosted to 2.2 million units at a price of 60 cents each, for proceeds of up to $1.3 million. One unit will consist of one share and one warrant enabling the purchase of an additional share at 75 cents in the first year. The cash will be used to fund exploration in Argentina. IMA finished up 8 cents at 77 cents.

Altoro Gold picked up 3 cents to close at 36 cents. The company released preliminary trenching and rock-chip sampling results from the Pedra Branca platinum-palladium project in Brazil’s Ceara state. Trenching on the Trapia 1 West zone yielded 84 metres of 2.8 grams platinum and palladium, including 51 metres of 4.4 grams. The trench crosscuts, and is perpendicular to, previous trench results of 83.9 metres of 2.1 grams. The company is earning a 70% interest from Eldorado Gold.

Alberta-listed Navigator Exploration dropped 19 cents to 51 cents on news that it will spend $500,000 to buy a 50% interest in Irish-based Ulster Minerals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nickelodeon Minerals. Ulster holds two exploration licenses covering 250 sq. km of ground prospective for gold and base metal, including the Curraghinalt gold deposit. Nickelodeon slipped 3 cents to 19 cents.