TSX Venture edges higher, Oct. 9-15

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index rose 1.8%, or 9.67 points, to close at 556.71 points, as gold prices gained 2%, or US$24, before closing at US$1,181.3 per oz. gold. 

The yellow metal grazed a 3.5-month high on talk of delay in U.S. Federal Reserve rate hikes, and after China increased its gold holdings by nearly 1% in September. 

Copper recovered 3.5% to US$5,155 per tonne (at a cash-buyer London Metal Exchange price), as China soaks up supply after hitting a 20-month high in its copper imports for September, up 30% from August. 

Brent crude oil fell 8.2% to US$48.71 per barrel, with the U.S. reporting a larger-than-expected crude stockpile build.

Integra Gold topped the volume-traded category, with nearly 7.2 million shares traded before closing up 7%, or 2¢, at 32¢ per share.

The company said that 25 million shares held by Samson Belair/Deloitte Touche — in connection with the 2014 acquisition of the Sigma-Lamaque mill in Quebec — has been acquired by a group of international institutional shareholders. Integra president and CEO Stephen de Jong said it is a “winning outcome for all parties involved,” at an initial 23¢ per share.

Integra recently received 2.4 million in exercised share warrants, which brings its treasury to $24 million. The funds will help advance the nearby Lamaque South gold project, which has various orogenic gold targets within the highly prospective Abitibi greenstone belt.

Montero Mining and Exploration’s share price jumped 350% to 5¢, after a $2.7-million investment by Ovation Capital to advance the company’s Duyker Eiland phosphate project in Saldanha Bay, South Africa.

Ovation could earn 10% in the project after a prefeasibility study, which the company expects by next year. Ovation could earn another 20% by advancing it towards a bankable feasibility study.

A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in 2012 calculated a $126.1-million net present value at a 10% discount rate, and a 38.1% internal rate of return. The PEA envisages a production average of 490,000 tonnes annually of 33% P2O5 concentrate over 11 years.

AurCrest Gold rose 300% to 2¢ at close after launching subsidary Wiigwaasaatig Energy in a move to develop wind energy sources in remote First Nation communities around its Richardson Lake Gold property in Ontario.

The company says renewable energy in the district would provide some of the power the junior needs for exploration, and promote socioeconomic growth and sustainable development for First Nation groups. 

Atico Mining’s strong third-quarter results at the El Roble copper and gold mine in Colombia gave way to a 5% rise in share price, before closing at 40¢.

The miner produced 3.3 million lb. copper and 2,969 oz. gold, accounting for a 20% increase in copper and 1% increase in gold, compared to the same quarter last year.