TSX Venture dives 8.3% over the Sept. 19-23 trading week

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index closed the Sept. 19-23 trading week at 578.06 points, down 51.99 points or 8.3% as markets reacted to the increasing likelihood of a recession. 

Some juniors, including Northern Shield Resources, managed to buck the trend. Northern Shield shares rose 91.7% to end at 12¢ after reporting visible gold in a sample from its Root & Cellar project in southeastern Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula. The visible gold was found in a source boulder 140 metres west of the Eastern Conquest target. A previous sample taken from the boulder assayed 111.5 grams gold per tonne.  

During the week, Northern Shield also reported optioning a new gold project in east-central Newfoundland. The 123-sq.-km Zuleika project is centred on a major fault splay off the Dover Hermitage Bay Fault zone, which is parallel to the Dog Bay Line on which New Found Gold’s Queensway project is located.  

Rackla Metals gained 14¢ or 70% ending the week at 34¢. The company announced it has optioned the 288-sq.-km Astro property in the Northwest Territories from Orogen Royalties. The project, located along the Yukon border, expands Rackla’s existing holdings in the Tombstone gold belt within the Selwyn Basin. Based on Snowline Gold’s recent intrusive-hosted gold discovery at the Rogue project in the Yukon, Rackla sees opportunity for similar new finds in the Tombstone belt, where most exploration has targeted gossanous sedimentary rocks. Previous exploration by Orogen and Newmont has identified outcropping gold mineralization along a 10-km-long structural corridor at Astro, with chip-channeling results of up to 30 metres of 17.7 grams gold per tonne. 

To earn a 100% interest in Astro, Rackla will issue 120,000 shares to Orogen, spend $250,000 on exploration over the next 12 months, and make further payments in cash or common shares equal to $382,000. Orogen will retain a 2.5% net smelter return royalty. 

Lion One Metals fell 31¢ or 32% to 65¢ after announcing a $12.5-million bought deal financing. The offering will consist of 16.2 million units priced at 77¢ each, with each unit consisting of one common share and half a warrant. Each whole warrant has a strike price of $1.05 and can be exercised for 36 months.  

Proceeds will be used at the company’s Tuvatu high-grade gold project in Fiji. The company recently reported a follow-up drill hole to a high-grade zone discovered in June. Hole TUDDH-608 cut 19.6 metres (11.9 metres true width) of 21.16 grams gold per tonne from 594.5 metres, including 16.2 metres of 25.28 grams gold, expanding the high-grade zone 20 metres north and 15 metres below previously encountered mineralization. 

In June, the discovery hole TUG-141 returned 75.9 metres of 20.86 grams gold per tonne from 443 metres depth, below the current resource. The project hosts indicated resources of 1.1 million tonnes grading 84.6 grams gold per tonne and 1.5 million inferred tonnes grading 9.7 grams gold.