Vancouver – The S&P TSX Venture Exchange made respectable gains in the Feb. 14-18 week, up 66.12 points after climbing all five days to close at 2423.68 points. Volume averaged 202 million shares traded daily, while 143 companies hit 52-week highs and 37 hit 52-week lows.
Proving that the iron ore sector is still hot, Canadian Orebodies had the highest volume and percentage gain after announcing it had secured the 2,700-ha Haig Inlet iron ore project in Nunavut. Orebodies’ share price doubled from 19¢ to 38¢ on the news, while total trading volume was just over 29 million. The company is acquiring a full legal and beneficial interest in the project in an Inuit-owned mineral exploration agreement with Nunavut Tunngavik in a staged share-based deal. To secure full ownership Orebodies will eventually have to issue 14 million shares and grant a 3% gross overriding royalty. The project has a large historic resource.
Orbite Exploration VSPA shot up after announcing it had produced its first ton of high-purity alumnia from a patented, proprietary process at its Cap-Chat Quebec facility. The company’s share price gained $1.19 or 73% to close at $2.82, while it hit a trading high of $3.23. Almost 19 million shares were traded in the company that had been trading at 20¢ in September. Orbite stated that the successful first ton proves the viability of the process and also provides an opportunity to validate cost assumptions. The company is planning to produce alumina for the $3 billion aluminum production industry in Quebec.
Batero Gold had the highest value gains of the week, up $1.39 to close at $4.19 after releasing especially long drill holes from its Colombian Batero-Quinchia gold-copper project. Hole 8 hit 591.5 metres grading 0.72 gram gold per tonne and 0.13% copper from 8 metres depth and hole 5 cut 398.9 metres carrying 0.46 gram gold per tonne and 0.09% copper from 105 metres downhole. The company continues to drill on the La Cumbre porphyry target with two rigs and is adding a third, while it is exploring the La Lenguita target 500 metres northeast and the Matecana target one kilometre southeast with two other rigs.
Geomega Resources had a second big week after releasing another long rare earth drill hole from its Montviel property in the Abitibi region of Quebec. The hole returned 512.7 metres grading 1.38% total rare earth oxides, with neodymium oxide coming in at an average grade of 0.24% in the intersection. The hit follows up on the first result from the company’s phase 1 drill program, released the week before, that returned 480 metres grading 1.24% TREO. Geomega’s share price climbed 87¢ to close at $3.65, while the company first started trading at 35¢ in September.
Canaco Resources got a boost after announcing that the dispute about mineral rights on a tiny portion of its Handeni project had been settled. The final settlement has Canaco paying the former mineral lease holder US$2 million for previous development work and a 2% net smelter royalty on minerals produced from the 0.07-sq.-km area. The company’s share price climbed 86¢ to end at $6.10.
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