CDNX flounders as mining index takes a hit

Canada’s junior exchange closed the week ended June 27 on a down-tick. The Canadian Venture Exchange index dropped 40.53 points, or 1.2%, to finish at 3429.90. The mining index tumbled 102.43 points, or 2.4%, and ended the week at 4202.31.

Cantex Mine Development took this week’s spot as most active, after 7.06 million shares changed hands. The junior miner released long-awaited phase-2 drill results from its Suwar nickel-copper-PGE project in Yemen. Highlights include 6.1 metres grading 1.42% nickel in hole Y-8 and 6.65 metres grading 1.23% nickel in hole Y-11. The company’s shares hit a high of 69 last week before falling back to 61.

Rock Resources lost 6 to close the week at 13 after trading 3.4 million shares. The junior released drill results from the Mt. Tacho copper porphyry target on the Coiron copper-gold project in Chile. In total, 1,746 metres of core were drilled in 6-hole program. Highlights include 9 metres grading 0.14% copper in hole 19 and 4 metres of 0.29% copper in hole 17.

Quaterra Resources tacked on 6 to close at 16. The company announced a private placement worth $150,000. Quaterra and partner Eastmain Resources recently kicked off a second phase of diamond drilling at their Abitibi Extension gold/base-metal project in northeastern Ontario.

Cardero Resource plummeted $1.07 and closed at 74. The first hole of a 12-hole diamond drill program at the Cori Huarmi high-sulphidation gold project in central Peru failed to return significant values for the junior. Hole 1, collared at the extreme northwestern end of a large resistivity anomaly, returned gold values in the range of 80 to 460 parts per billion. The project, part of an untested high-sulphidation epithermal system, lies 114 km south of the town of Huancayo and 250 km southeast of Lima.

Another big loser was Darnley Bay Resources, which plunged 50 to close at 75. The junior is drill-testing a deep-seated coincidental gravity and aeromagnetic geophysical anomalies at its property near Paulatuk, N.W.T. Hole 1 is at a depth of 1,706 metres but has not yet hit the elusive intrusive source rock. Prior to the beginning of drilling in June, the company’s shares hit a 52-week high of $2.98.

Pacific North West Capital added 13 to its value and closed at $1.53. The company recently launched a second phase of drilling campaign on its River Valley platinum group metal project, near Sudbury, Ont. The drilling is designed to infill as well as increase the strike length of the known mineralization.

JNR Resources lost 3 to close at 20. The company reports that the follow-up diamond drilling program on the Moore Lake joint venture with Kennecott Canada has been temporarily suspended in order to perform geochemical analysis of the drill core. Hole ML-9 failed to intersect any significant mineralization; however, hole ML10 intersected a strongly altered and structurally disrupted sandstone column overlying hydrothermally altered graphitic pelites. These pelites returned elevated radiometrics. Assays are pending.