STOCK MARKETS — Composite index remains flat on western markets — Hixon takes plunge as trading resumes; Kalahari rises

The Vancouver Stock Exchange composite index remained flat over the report period ended Aug. 19, closing at 833.59, down 0.71 point. The mining index was off 3.89 points, or 0.5%, at 750.04.

The combined value of the Alberta Stock Exchange was up 51.77 points, or 2.23%, to finish at 2,368.53.

Halted since May 15, shares in Hixon Gold Resources resumed trading after the VSE released an independent consultant’s assessment report which said that “by a process of elimination, based on information reviewed to date, it would seem tampering is the most probable cause of the reported high values.” Hixon and its parent company, Toronto-listed Golden Rule Resources, came under fire when check sample assays failed to duplicate previously reported high soil and trench results from their jointly held Stenpad property in Ghana, West Africa. Hixon’s shares, which last traded at $6.40, plunged to 40 cents, down $6.00.

Kalahari Resources jumped 48 cents to close at 89 cents. Partner Toronto-listed SouthernEra Resources announced it had discovered a diamondiferous kimberlite body while following up on one of six indicator mineral trains identified at the Back Lake project in the Northwest Territories. SouthernEra holds a 70% interest in the project, while Kalahari holds 19.38%. A consortium of juniors holds the remaining 10.62% interest, including Island-Arc Resources with 5.8%. Island-Arc added 7 cents to close at 45 cents.

Mountain Province Mining was up $1.15 at $4.60, Alberta-listed Glenmore Highlands closed up $1.85 at $4.25, and Camphor Ventures finished at $1.87, for a gain of 77 cents. The partners hold respective 50%, 40% and 10% interests in the AK-CJ claims in the Northwest Territories. Monopros has the right to earn up to a 60% interest by taking the project to commercial production. A summer till sampling program is in progress, and further drilling of the recent Tesla discovery is planned. A total of 106 microdiamonds was recovered from a 66-kg drill core sample of the Tesla kimberlite.

First Choice Industries has begun a 21-hole, 2,500-metre drill program to test for gold and copper mineralization at its Knob Hill project on northern Vancouver Island, B.C. The issue closed up 3 cents at 32 cents.

Totem Mining is giving top billing to its Marble copper-nickel project in northern Quebec. Drilling will test several priority electromagnetic conductors. Prospecting has identified highly oxidized mineralized float, with values of up to 0.25% copper, 0.5% nickel and 0.02% cobalt. Totem closed at 81 cents, up 14 cents.

War Eagle Mining was up 8 cents to 63 cents on the acquisition of the Promontorios lead-silver-gold project in Mexico’s Sonora state.

Based on assay results from 107 drill holes and a cutoff grade of 0.015 oz.

gold per ton, the Dolores property held by Minefinders in Chihuahua, Mexico, is estimated to contain a 27.8 million-ton drill indicated and inferred resource grading 0.038 oz. gold and 1.38 oz. silver. This is equivalent to just over 1 million oz. gold and 38.5 million oz. silver. Toronto-listed Echo Bay Mines, which holds an option to buy a 60% interest in the property, has continued drilling since becoming the operator in June. Minefinders slipped 16 cents to $3.64.

Further drill results from the Virgen property in north-central Peru, kick-started Alberta-listed Gitennes Exploration, which rose $1.55 to close at $5.75. A discovery hole into the new Alumbre zone, a deep-seated geophysical anomaly, intersected 14.9 metres of 18.3 grams gold at a depth of 158 metres. Farther downhole at a 235-metre depth, the hole cut 26.8 metres averaging 3.46 grams gold before passing through 21.3 metres of 1.64 grams to bottom in 3.64 grams.