In the last trading week before the Christmas holiday, the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index saw one day in the red eliminate four days of small gains, and as a result the index finished the trading session down 5.91 points at 1.177.71. Volumes remained strong until the last day of the week, when it seems many investors turned their attention from their computer screens to their Christmas trees.
The biggest gainer of the week by far was Orko Silver, which shot up 52% to $2.40 on news of a takeover by First Majestic Silver. Orko shareholders are being offered 0.1202 First Majestic shares and 0.01¢ cash for each of their Orko shares, which values Orko at $2.72 per share and represents a 69% premium to Orko’s 30-day, volume-weighted average share price. First Majestic outbid another unnamed company to secure the deal, which will add Orko’s La Preciosa project to its portfolio. La Preciosa is one of the largest undeveloped silver deposits in the world, and is conveniently located 50 km from First Majestic’s Mexican head office in Durango.
Afferro Mining’s week was a good reminder of the market’s unpredictability. On Dec. 17 Afferro announced encouraging results from metallurgical testing for its direct-shipping iron ore Nkout project in Cameroon, and on Dec. 18 the company received $50 million from Severstal as payment for its stake in Severstal Liberia Iron Ore. Despite the good news, Afferro’s share price slid for several days until shooting up 24¢, or 19%, to reach $1.50 at the end of the week.
Probe Mines had an up-and-down week after releasing its latest drill results from the Borden Lake project in Ontario. Results from 25 holes expanded the deposit at depth, identified new mineralization on the hangingwall side and confirmed continuity of known mineralization. Highlights included 29 metres grading 1.7 grams gold per tonne from 118 metres down infill hole 272, and 4 metres of 9.1 grams gold from 74 metres down hangingwall hole 288. Probe ended the week down 19¢ at $1.89.
Investors were not pleased with Avala Resources’ decision to raise $10 million in a private placement. News of the 20¢ offering pushed Avala’s share price from 27¢ to just 16¢ over the week. The company plans to use the funds to continue exploring the Timok gold project in Serbia.
Avino Silver & Gold Mines also announced access to new money over the week, and got the opposite response. Instead of a dilutive, below-market-value financing to fund exploration, Avino entered into a $5-million credit facility with Caterpillar that enables the junior to lease the equipment it needs to advance operations at one mine and reopen another. Avino’s share price gained 5% on the news to reach $1.77.
TSX-V most active issues
| Volume | |||||||
| Company | Symbol | (000s) | High | Low | Close | Change | |
| Orko Silver | OK | 20230 | 2.55 | 2.28 | 2.4 | + | 0.82 |
| Pac Coal Res | PAK | 10088 | 0.15 | 0.11 | 0.14 | + | 0.02 |
| Canaco Res | CAN | 9692 | 0.4 | 0.34 | 0.4 | + | 0.04 |
| Anglo Aluminum | ALU | 8601 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.04 | + | 0.01 |
| RPT Uranium | RPT | 6806 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | – | 0.01 |
| Great Western | GWG | 5886 | 0.27 | 0.21 | 0.22 | – | 0.06 |
| Castillian Res | CT | 5196 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.02 | – | 0.01 |
| Sandspring Res | SSP | 4491 | 0.4 | 0.35 | 0.4 | + | 0.02 |
| Rockridge Cap | RRC | 4341 | 0.1 | 0.08 | 0.09 | – | 0.01 |
| Cerro Res | CJO | 4204 | 0.15 | 0.13 | 0.14 | – | 0.01 |
TSX-V greatest percentage change
| Volume | |||||||
| Company | Symbol | (000s) | High | Low | Close | Change | |
| Secova Mtls | SEK | 35 | 0.1 | 0.06 | 0.09 | + | 750 |
| Trijet Mining | TJT | 436 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.02 | + | 300 |
| Nevada Geo Pow | NGP | 1201 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | + | 100 |
| Arco Res | ARR | 1687 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | + | 100 |
| Soldi Vent | SOV | 1388 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.03 | + | 100 |
| Silver Fields | SF | 780 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | + | 100 |
| Manicouagan Ml | MAM | 2636 | 0.08 | 0.03 | 0.07 | + | 100 |
| Infinito Gold | IG | 1037 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.02 | + | 100 |
| Mukuba Res | MKU | 854 | 0.09 | 0.02 | 0.03 | + | 100 |
| Slater Mng | SLM | 103 | 0.35 | 0.19 | 0.35 | + | 75 |
| Claim Post Res | CPS | 222 | 0.06 | 0.02 | 0.03 | – | 64.2 |
| Remington Res | RGM | 26 | 0.06 | 0.02 | 0.02 | – | 63.6 |
| Driven Capital | DVV | 252 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | – | 50 |
| August Mtl | AGP | 320 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | – | 50 |
| Kirrin Res | KYM | 27 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | – | 50 |
| BE Res | BER | 1328 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | – | 50 |
| Dawson Gold | DYU | 182 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | – | 50 |
| Duncan Park H | DPH | 166 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | – | 50 |
| Goldstar Mnls | GDM | 235 | 0.05 | 0.03 | 0.04 | – | 50 |
| Atocha Res | ATT | 55 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | – | 50 |
TSX-V greatest value change
| Company | Symbol | Change | Close | Change | |
| Lumina Copper | LCC | 302448 | 8.99 | + | 0.99 |
| Orko Silver | OK | 20229882 | 2.4 | + | 0.82 |
| Northern Graph | NGC | 2404695 | 1.02 | + | 0.42 |
| Comet Inds | CMU | 30000 | 3.5 | + | 0.25 |
| Bralorne Gold | BPM | 10650 | 0.79 | + | 0.24 |
| Gold Reserve | GRZ | 28771 | 3.08 | + | 0.19 |
| Slater Mng | SLM | 102500 | 0.35 | + | 0.15 |
| Midland Expl | MD | 39942 | 1.37 | + | 0.14 |
| Anfield Nickel | ANF | 53090 | 3.48 | + | 0.13 |
| Focus Graphite | FMS | 1091832 | 0.66 | + | 0.12 |
| Reservoir Mnls | RMC | 494209 | 2.09 | – | 0.21 |
| Athabasca Mnls | ABM | 855921 | 1.38 | – | 0.19 |
| Pac Booker Min | BKM | 17453 | 6.15 | – | 0.18 |
| Timberline Res | TBR | 57750 | 0.19 | – | 0.17 |
| Chesapeake Gld | CKG | 22999 | 8.48 | – | 0.16 |
| Solvista Gold | SVV | 525925 | 0.6 | – | 0.16 |
| Argex Silver C | RGX | 1089861 | 1.25 | – | 0.16 |
| Probe Mines | PRB | 856144 | 1.94 | – | 0.14 |
| Tasman Metals | TSM | 138108 | 1.16 | – | 0.14 |
| SilverCrest Mn | SVL | 913863 | 2.26 | – | 0.12 |
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