Venture slips slightly over Jan 21-25

VANCOUVER – The Jan. 21-25 trading week was a quiet one for the S&P TSX Venture Composite Index. A few days of small gains were negated by two days of losses, leaving the index down 8.08 points to end the week at at 1,227.24. Trading volumes were slightly higher than seen in previous weeks, averaging 77.2 million.

The most actively-traded junior stock of the week was Atico Mining, which moved 4.3 million shares in two days after announcing an impressive drill intercept from its El Roble mine in Colombia. Underground drilling at the operating mine discovered a new massive sulphide lens at the north end of known mineralization, producing an intercept that carried 6.9% copper and 6.3 grams gold per tonne over 119 metres. The news boosted Atico’s share price by 48%, adding 32¢ to reach 98¢.

Santa Cruz Silver is turning to the markets for money to finish developing its small-scale Rosario project in Mexico. The company is upgrading a 500-tonne-per-day mill that is acquired from Goldcorp and is aiming to start putting silver-gold-lead-zinc ore from Rosario through the mill before the end of the first quarter. Santa Cruz announced a $30-million financing and within a few hours increased the limit to $35 million, selling shares for $1.85.

Investors were not impressed with initial results from Mirasol Resources’ Titan project in northern Chile. Trench results from the recently-staked project included 0.41 gram gold over 194 metres and 1.36 grams gold over 31 metres. Mirasol’s share price fell 19¢ to close the week at $2.38.

A new gold zone at the Comtois project was not enough to halt Maudore Minerals’ share price slide. Drill holes targeting deeper portions of the main Osbell deposit intercepted shallow gold mineralization, producing such intercepts as 9 metres grading 15.1 grams gold and 58.8 grams gold over 0.5 metres. Regardless, Maudore’s share price lost 10¢ over the week to close at $1.20.

The last few holes of Giyani Gold’s 2012 drill campaign at the Klein Letaba project in South Africa hit into a new gold zone. Hole 20 cut 6.7 metres grading 3.88 grams gold plus several very short, high-grade intercepts; hole 19 returned similar results. Investors were nonplussed, leaving Giyani Gold’s share price down 7¢ at 80¢ at the end of the week.

Bacanora Minerals released the results of preliminary economic assessment for the La Ventana lithium deposit in Sonora, Mexico. The mine as envisioned would produce 35,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium annually over a 20-year mine life, and a high 138% internal rate of return would enable payback of the US$114 million capital cost in less than two years. Bacanora’s share price was essentially unchanged on the news, gaining just half a penny to close at 33¢.