Surging gold energizes Venture Exchange

Vancouver — With a little help from gold, Canada’s junior exchange closed the week ended Feb. 4 on an uptick. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index added 15.6 points, or 1.4% of its value, and closed at 1,130.02.

American Bonanza Gold Mining was the volume leader with 9.5 million shares changing hands. The junior closed at 37, up 6. Toronto-listed Goldcorp has taken a 10.4% stake in the junior, being the largest buyer of an 18.3-million-unit private placement priced at 22 per unit. A unit holds one share and half a warrant, which is exercisable at 28 for a year.

Northern Empire Minerals jumped 46 and closed at 85 on a volume of 8.9 million shares, and partner Stornoway Ventures added 57 to its value and closed at 92 on 7 million shares. News that diamonds have been recovered from two kimberlite showings on the partners’ Melville Peninsula project in Nunavut sent shares soaring. Situated 850 km northwest of the territorial capital of Iqaluit, the Aviat project hosts at least two diamond-bearing kimberlites: the AV-1 occurrence, which covers an 8-by-40-metre outcrop where a 186.1-kg sample yielded 228 diamonds (the largest stones measuring 2.2 by 1.86 by 1.32 mm), and a series of angular boulders measuring up to 50 cm in diameter. A 46-kg sample collected from the boulders yielded 92 diamonds, with the largest stone measuring 1.02 by 0.62 by 0.52 mm.

Inca Pacific Resources lost a penny and closed at 17, with just over 3.5 million shares changing hands. The company holds several properties in Peru, including a 49% stake in the Magistral property, which hosts a total mineral resource of 105 million tonnes grading 0.74% copper, 0.052% molybdenum and 3.9 grams silver per tonne.

Marum Resources closed at 16, up 4 on 3.2 million shares. The company has kicked off a 1,200-metre drill program on the B20 property, near Port-Cartier, Que. The drill holes are designed to test a down-hole electromagnetic survey.

Diagem International Resource lost 3 and closed at 24 on 2 million shares. The company holds several projects in the Juina diamond province of Mato Grosso state in Brazil and is processing diamonds from gravel deposits at a pilot plant.

Aquiline Resources closed at 24, up 2 on 1.7 million shares. The company has signed a letter-of-intent with New York-listed Newmont Mining to acquire the Calcatreu gold project in Argentina. The project hosts a low-sulphidation epithermal gold system 200 km northeast of Meridian’s El Desquite property in the province of Rio Negro in north-central Patagonia.

National Gold added 7 and finished the week at 47 on almost 1.6 million shares. The junior is in the midst of merger with Alamos Minerals. The two companies hold the Salamandra gold property in Sonora state, Mexico. Alamos closed at 53, down a penny on 775,000 shares.

Mustang Minerals added 8 to its value and closed at 80 on 1.5 million shares. The company recently raised $344,268 and is exploring its acquired McAra Lake volcanogenic massive sulphide property in the Shining Tree district of Ontario.

Sur American Gold ended the week up 6, to 18, on 1.5 million shares. The junior has picked up several gold and gold-copper projects on the Philippine Island of Mindanao.