TSX Venture inches lower, Oct. 1-5

Shares of Aurania Resources rose 53¢ to $2.76. The company recently found the first significant instances of copper mineralization at its Lost Cities–Cutucu project in Ecuador. Two regional exploration teams marked the targets 20 km from one another while exploring magnetic occurrences from a geophysical survey. It named them Jempe and Kirus.

Jempe features outcropping copper mineralization in volcanic rock that Aurania sampled as high as 3% copper and 47 grams per tonne silver. The company has not seen final assays from Kirus, but like Jempe, it occurs in a finely banded tuff. Initial rock-chip sampling returned copper grades higher than 1% and up to 59 grams silver.

Aurania says both targets represent the upper portions of porphyry targets. It is continuing its stream-sediment sampling program across the entire Lost Cities project, ranking targets for scout drilling.

Shares of First Vanadium rose 42¢ to $1.79 after the company finished a second phase of drilling at its Carlin vanadium project, 10 km south of Carlin, Nevada. The company drilled 69 reverse-circulation holes at Carlin, for a total 216 drill holes.

Union Carbide drilled 152 of the holes in the 1960s, and defined a historic resource of 25 million inferred tonnes grading 0.51% vanadium pentoxide for 289 million lb. vanadium pentoxide.

The Carlin project is under option from Golden Predator US Holding. First Vanadium can earn a 100% interest in the project by making yearly payments and exploration expenses over six years. In September it changed its name to First Vanadium from Cornerstone Metals. Its ticker symbol on the TSX Venture exchange is now “FVAN.”

Shares of Novo Resources fell 50¢ to $2.72. The company acquired Farno McMahon, and with it a 100% interest in four tenements, including two mining leases, in Western Australia’s Egina region. The company paid an initial A$150,000 to Farno, and then another A$2.35 million. It also issued Farno shareholders 1.25 million shares valued at A$5.5 million.

Novo also entered an agreement with Pioneer Resources, where it can earn a 70% interest in precious metal rights on four exploration tenements in the Egina region. The four claims make up Pioneer’s Kangan gold project, and are adjacent to claims Novo already holds. As part of the transaction, Novo subscribed for A$1 million Pioneer shares. Novo also paid the company A$200,000 in cash and issued it 100,000 shares. The claims are all part of the Pilbara gold district, where Novo already has its more advanced Comet Well and Purdy’s Reward gold projects.