Market news: TSX Venture Exchange

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index closed the period up slightly at 1,228.66 points for a 0.12% — or 1.42-point — gain. Markets rallied on stronger-than-expected U.S. job numbers and signs of improvement in the European Union.

Reports from the U.S. Labor Department indicated the American economy generated 157,000 jobs in January, though the unemployment rate rose to 7.9%. Meanwhile, inflation in the EU fell to 2%, marking the first time in nearly two years that the rate sits near the European Central Bank’s mid-term target.

Market gains were underpinned by rising commodity prices, with April gold up US$8.60 to US$1,669.50 per oz., while March copper contracts rose 3¢, en route to a $3.76 per lb. weekly close. On the energy side, March contracts for crude oil jumped US25¢ to US$97.74 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following a strong showing from the U.S. manufacturing sector.

Vancouver-based explorer Balmoral Resources saw its shares fall this week after releasing additional intercepts from its Martiniere project on the Detour gold trend in Quebec. Balmoral dropped 19¢ en route to an 88¢ close on Feb. 1. The company was drill testing shallow zones along the the Bug Lake fault system, as well as attempting to expand mineralization at its Hangingwall and Footwall zones. According to a company release on Jan. 28, Balmoral believes that results from the final 11 holes of its 2012 drill initiative support the presence of a fault repeat of the Footwall zone, as well as a fourth, near-surface gold zone located between the Bug Lake and Hangingwall zones.

Diversified explorer Reservoir Minerals enjoyed a surge as its shares jumped 17¢ en route to a $2.47 weekly close. The company has recently made headlines due to promising intercepts at its Timok copper-gold joint venture with major Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold in Serbia, but on Jan. 30, Reservoir announced it was expanding its exploration holdings in the Central African nation of Gabon. Reservoir got two exploration permits following geological reviews by company representatives during an EU-funded geochemical program in the late 2000s.

The Mitzic property covers 516 sq. km in northern Gabon, where geologists found contiguous gold-in-soil anomalies. 
The Boumango permits encompass 323 sq. km in southeast Gabon, and host another three gold-in-soil anomalies in an area that runs 9 by 6 km. Reservoir plans on running an auger drill program to test the bedrock beneath the soil anomalies, as well as start-up conventional trenching and pitting during early 2013.

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