Mining only bright spot as CDNX index slides

Six months ago dot-coms were the darlings of western markets, and mining stocks were sickly wallflowers. That didn’t seem to be case for the week ended Aug. 1, when Canada’s junior exchange posted losses across all sub-indexes, except mining. The Canadian Venture Exchange lost 64.67 points, or 1.96%, to finish the week at 3,296.10. The Mining Index tacked on 19.02 points, or 0.4%, and closed at 4,295.61.

This week’s volume leader was NDT Ventures, with 2.4 million shares changing hands. The junior posted a 6 gain to reach 32 after announcing it had secured an option to earn an 80% operating interest in the Antana gold project. It covers a large, intrusive-related gold system in the province of Azangaro.

In the absence of new drill results, shares of International Wayside Gold Mines were up a nickel at 88, with 1.8 million shares crossing the floor. The Frank Callaghan-led junior recently acquired a 75% interest in the Monster claim group, bringing its land position in the Cariboo mining district to 152.7 sq. km. Meanwhile, exploration is continuing at the Bonanza Ledge discovery at the company’s Cariboo gold project, near Wells, B.C.

International Bravo Resources dropped a penny to close at 18, with just under 1 million shares traded. The company is about to kick off a diamond drilling program at its East Divide property in the Pogo district of Alaska. The junior says recent mapping and outcrop chip-sampling have identified numerous sub-parallel, gold-bearing sheeted quartz vein systems, three of which have yielded impressive gold results. One assayed 9.63 grams gold per tonne over 10 metres, while another assayed 1.71 grams over 10 metres.

Chapleau Resources gained 8 to reach 93 on trading of 881,000 shares. The junior now has permits to begin drilling its PAK beryllium property and plans to start work this week. Pure beryllium metal sells for US$530 per 100 grams. Its main use is for copper alloys used for springs, connectors and switches in automobiles, aerospace and computers.

Going the other way was Starfield Resources, which lost 9 to settle at 93 as 886,000 shares changed hands. The company recently completed its third phase of exploration at the Ferguson Lake PGE-nickel-copper-cobalt property in Ontario. The junior tabled an increased resource estimate for the West zone, which now stands at 14.5 million tonnes grading 0.86% copper, 0.67% nickel and 1.49 grams platinum and palladium per tonne. In addition, Starfield has traced the horizon hosting the West Zone resource for a further 2.3 km to the west through an electromagnetic survey. The company has started a 10,000-metre diamond drill campaign to delineate mineralization further.

Gallery Resources lost 6 to close at 29 with 785,000 shares traded. The junior recently increased its holdings in Newfoundland. The newly acquired ground covers mafic to felsic volcanic rocks containing base metal mineralization.

Pan Asia Mining ended the week flat at 13, with 709,000 shares traded. The junior announced a $3-million financing aimed at boosting production to more than 250,000 carats at the 701 diamond mine in China. The operation currently produces 100,000-150,000 carats, the company reports.