Venture makes slow and steady gains Aug. 16-20

The S&P/TSX Venture made small but steady gains during the Aug. 16 – 20 trading week, ending up 22.57 points after rising every day. Trading volume was below average but up from the week before at 83.5 million.
The new high-low balance remains skewed, despite slow and steady improvement, with 36 Venture-listed companies hitting new highs and 144 hitting new lows.
The big story last week was BHP Billiton‘s bid for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, which brought increased attention to potash-based companies trading on the Venture. Among the volume leaders of the week, Passport Potash had 12.2 million shares traded, Encanto Potash hit 9.6 million shares traded, and Allana Potash counted 6.8 million shares traded. Amazon Mining, meanwhile, was among the top value gainers, up 25¢ to end the week at $2.45.
Northern Star Mining was by far the most traded on the Venture, pushing the envelop at 67.1 million shares traded. The attention, however, was due to the company announcing that it was being sued and intends to file for bankruptcy. The lawsuit was filed by MineralFields 2010 Super Flow-Through LP and related funds, and relates to alleged misrepresentations in flow-through private placements by some current and former directors and officers. The lawsuit was automatically stayed following the bankruptcy filing. The company dropped from 7¢ to a penny.
Ecuador-based Salazar Resources hit a 52-week high after releasing three step-out drill results from its Curipamba project in the centre of the country. Taken from the El Domo target, hole 56 cut 16 metres grading 11.32 grams gold per tonne, 195.31 grams silver per tonne, 3.75% copper, 0.93% lead and 8.19% zinc. The company only recently restarted exploring the project after a two-year suspension following Ecuador’s mining moratorium. The company hit a trading high of $1.42 before closing the week at $1.21.
New Guinea Gold saw heavy trading after releasing drill results from its Sinivit mine in Papua New Guinea. Results from seven reverse circulation holes drilled on the southern oxide pit at the mine included 14 metres grading 33 grams gold and 3.21% copper from surface; 12 metres grading 10.28 grams gold and 1.85% copper from 10 metres depth; and 8 metres grading 12.64 grams gold and 1.22% copper from 16 metres downhole. The company’s share price climbed 3.5¢ or 43.8% to 11.5¢ on 9.6 million shares traded.
Lumina Copper was one of the big value gainers of the week, ending up 54¢ or 34.9% at $2.09 for a new 52-week high. The company recently started a four- to six-month drill program on its flagship Taca Taca copper-molybdenum-gold project in Argentina, and also released its quarterly financial statements. The company was trading at a low of 66¢ a year ago.
Right behind Lumina in the value gains was Antares Minerals, which gained 53¢ on its way to a new 52-week closing high of $3.60. The company has been steadily gaining since it released a positive preliminary economic assessment for its Haquira copper project in late July. More recently Antares announced that it had started work at the Rio Grande copper-gold-silver project in Argentina it controls with joint venture partner Pachamama Resources. The program includes metallurgical testing, geochemical sampling, geological mapping and an induced-polarization/resistivity survey, but no drilling. The company has a 52-week low of $1.15.