TSX Venture eases down, May 29-June 2

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index lost 7.61 points over the report period to an 800.98-point close, as spot gold prices gained US$12.41 to US$1,278.17 per oz., and Comex copper prices remained steady at US$2.57 per pound.

Aurania Resources led the value-added category, with shares gaining 33¢ to $2.63, as Richard Spencer joined the firm as president. On May 29, Aurania finalized the acquisition of its Lost Cities–Cutucu gold project in southeastern Ecuador from EcuaSolidus S.A., an Ecuadorian company helmed by Keith Barron. Barron, whose Aurelian Resources discovered the 4.8 million oz. Fruta del Norte gold deposit in Ecuador, will remain  Aurania’s CEO. The junior explorer believes the 2,080 sq. km property may contain two historical gold-mining centres that operated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The company will explore with an airborne geophysical survey, regional stream silt sampling and reconnaissance geological work.

Reverse-circulation drill results from Arizona Silver Exploration’s Ramsey silver project in Arizona returned little to no silver assays, driving shares down 71¢ to $1.23. On May 11, the company reported that one of the holes intersected 44 metres of massive silica disseminated with magnetite, pyrrhotite and a submetallic, black mineral that could be a silver-bearing sulphide. The hole tested an induced-polarization geophysical anomaly 450 metres north of the historical Ramsey silver mine. Assay results showed the interval is devoid of silver mineralization, while elevated titanium values suggest the black mineral was ilmenite, a titanium-bearing iron oxide. The hole was lost at 207 metres deep, and did not reach the depth of a detachment fault where silver mineralization is typically found at the Ramsey mine.

Emerging zinc explorer Osisko Metals, formerly Bowmore Exploration, gained 28¢ to 31¢ per share after a 3-to-1 share consolidation. The company, which is 21% owned by Osisko Gold Royalties, shifted its focus to zinc in March, after acquiring the Brunswick belt property in new Brunswick’s Bathurst camp. In May, the company added to its project portfolio by staking 420 sq. km of prospective ground in Quebec that covers 12 greenfield zinc properties.

Shares of First Cobalt gained 19¢ to 66¢, after the firm completed a $1.2-million, non-brokered private placement of 2.1 million flow-through shares at 60¢ apiece. First Cobalt is building a portfolio of global assets leveraged to the cobalt market. On June 1, the company entered into a 50% joint-venture with Aussie junior Cobalt One on the Yukon cobalt extraction refinery in northern Ontario. The refinery is near First Cobalt’s Keeley-Frontier property, acquired in March. TNM