TSXV moves higher, Dec. 27-31

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index rose 4.21 points or 0.45% to 939.18 during the Dec. 27-31 trading week. Spot gold climbed US$20.60 per oz., or 1.14%, to US$1,829.80 per ounce.  

Shares of Rock Teck Lithium rose 75¢ to $7.56. The company announced on December 30 that it had closed the first tranche of a private placement to U.S. and international investors at a price of US$4.20 ($5.38) per unit for gross proceeds of about US$39.6 million ($50.7 million). Each unit consisted of one common share and one common share purchase warrant entitling the holder to purchase a common share at an exercise price of $6.77 per warrant share until June 30, 2024. The company said it plans to close the US$1.4 million remaining under the offering in one or more additional tranches “in the near future.” Rock Tech will use the funds to finance the construction of a high-grade lithium hydroxide converter and refinery facility in Guben, Germany. Some of the proceeds will also be used for exploration and development at its Georgia Lake lithium project in Ontario, Canada, and for general corporate purposes. The company says it plans to supply the automotive industry with lithium hydroxide and anticipates commissioning its lithium converter at a nameplate production capacity of 24,000 tonnes per year as early as 2024.

Cypress Development rose 32¢ to $2.22. The company announced on December 22 that it had successfully completed a seven-day continuous run at its pilot plant located at a metallurgical facility in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, about 160 km southeast of its 100%-owned Clayton Valley lithium project. The pilot plant operated at its designed feed rate of one ton per day of lithium claystone from the Clayton Valley lithium project. “Over 400 samples of leach solutions and solids were collected and shipped to ALS Global for analysis during the testing period. Cypress leased a portion of the metallurgical facility in 2021 to build the lithium extraction pilot plant. The company plans to produce high-purity lithium hydroxide suitable for battery use.

Shares of Baroyeca Gold jumped 44.3% to 44¢. The company signed a letter of intent to acquire 200 hectares to the south and contiguous to its Santa Barbara gold project in Bolivar, Colombia. The new ground includes a past-producing artisanal gold mine, and brings the project’s total land package to 310 hectares. Under the deal Baroyeca pays US$250,000 in cash and issues $250,000 worth of shares. The new ground, said Raul Sanabria, the company’s president, “secures the southwestern extension along strike of the already identified vein sets and increases an extra 60% of our land position in the area to an approximately 2,100 metre by 1,800 metre block.” The past-producing mine, he added, “is known for recovering high-grade gold near surface, from a parallel vein similar to the one Baroyeca is currently developing as an exploratory tunnel, and is less than 150 metres from our pilot processing plant.”