TSX Venture retreats, Oct. 31-Nov. 4

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index shed 13.89 points, or 1.8%, to a 761.98-point close despite strengthening commodity prices. Spot gold prices surged US$29.59 to US$1,305.06 per oz., ahead of the U.S. presidential elections, while Comex copper prices rose US8¢ to US$2.27 per pound.

Shares of Almadex Minerals climbed 47¢ to $1.54 — its second-straight weekly gain — on Oct. 24 drill results from its El Cobre copper-gold project in Veracruz, Mexico. A drill hole from the project’s Norte zone, one of four porphyry copper-gold targets, returned 9.9 metres of 0.24 gram gold per tonne and 0.2% copper from 9.1 metres deep, 27.5 metres of 0.12 gram gold and 0.2% copper from 118 metres deep, and 433 metres of 0.42 gram gold and 0.2% copper from 162 metres deep. The hole cuts a previous drill hole that returned 151 metres of 0.55 gram gold and 0.2% copper from 392 metres deep. A third hole, drilled steeper than the first two, has been completed and assays are pending.

Gold Reserve gained 25¢ to $5.60 per share after announcing a revised payment schedule to the US$769-million settlement agreement between the company and the Venezuelan government. The agreement accounts for losses Gold Reserve incurred after the government rescinded permits and licences for the company’s Brisas gold-copper project in southeastern Venezuela, as part of a nationalization drive in April 2008.   

The schedule envisages staged payments starting on or before Nov. 30 to June 30 next year, seven months earlier than previously negotiated. As part of the agreement, the parties have also taken steps to establish the joint-venture company Empresa Mixta Ecosocialista Siembra Minera, S.A., which will oversee Brisa’s development. In the project’s 2008 technical report, the proposed open-pit has 10.2 million oz. gold and 1.4 billion lb. copper, within proven and probable reserves of 482.7 million tonnes at 0.66 gram gold and 0.1% copper.

Mariana Resources rose 21¢ to $1.23 per share after providing an update on its newly acquired Bondoukou gold project in Côte d’Ivoire. The company will explore priority targets Bahile-Fako-Elisabeth, Ngouan‐Djoumani and Yanti, which contain artisanal mine workings. Historical rock chips returned 21 samples of weathered quartz-pyrite veins averaging 5 grams gold per tonne from mineralized fault and shear zones. The company has collected 374 regional silt samples over a 10 sq. km catchment area, 525 rock samples and 182 soil samples. The objective will be to define and prioritize targets for reverse-circulation drill testing in second-half 2017. The exploration update came a one week after Mariana announced a 69.6-metre intercept of 62.7 grams gold and 2.7% copper from infill drilling at its Hot Maden project in northeastern Turkey.