CDNX gains momentum

Canada’s junior exchange posted gains as all indices ended up in the black at the close of the report period Oct 18-24. The Canadian Venture Exchange composite index added 45.48 points, or 1.4%, to its value to finish the period at 3,321.30. The mining index rallied 138.84 points, or 3%, to close at 4,791.23.

Starfield Resources topped the most actively traded chart, losing 8 to finish at 52, with 1.8 million shares changing hands. The junior announced the discovery of a new sulphide zone on the Ferguson Lake nickel-sulphide project in Nunavut.

Pan Asia Mining finished second on the most-active list, with 1.4 million shares changing hands. The junior closed at 18, up 3. Pan Asia recently entered into an agreement with Latvian-based Spars Plus Grupa, to develop oil and gas distribution and transit facilities in the Baltic region of northern Europe. The company also owns the 701 diamond mine in China where it is in the midst of converting the existing open pit to a much larger underground mine.

Volatile Philex Gold closed up 8 to $1.44 on heavy trading. Investors are anxiously awaiting further drill results from the promising Boyungan copper-gold prospect in the Philippines. The junior was trading at 13 on Sept. 15, just before the company announced that hole 6 at its Boyungan prospect in the Philippines returned 365 metres grading 0.81% copper and 1.9 grams gold per tonne.

Muskox Minerals jumped 34 to close at $2.70, with 1.1 million shares traded. The junior is in the midst of a 5,000-metre drill program, targeting the keel sector of the Muskox layered intrusion in Nunavut. Muskox is eyeing platinum-palladium mineralization similar to the Bushveld complex in South Africa.

Rhonda found a nickel and closed at $1.16 on 857,000 shares. In early October, the junior announced that the Knife kimberlite pipe in Nunavut had yielded 98 diamonds, including six macrodiamonds. De Beers Consolidated Mines stands to earn a 70% stake in the property.

New Blue Ribbon Resource ended the week flat at 16, with 831,000 shares crossing the floor. The junior can earn a 60% chunk of the 1-million-acre Legend diamond property, in the Birch Mountains area of northeastern Alberta, from Montello Resources and Redwood Resources. Montello remained steady at 17, while Redwood lost 39 to close at $1.11.

International Wayside Gold Mines closed at 39, up 1 on 852,000 shares. The drills are still turning at the junior’s Bonanza Ledge gold discovery, near Wells, B.C. The company will continue to drill throughout the winter months. To date, 40 diamond drill holes have been completed southeast of the BC shaft, near the Bonanza Ledge discovery.

Trading at the lower end of its 52-week range, Cantex Mine Development closed down a penny at 26, with 745,000 shares crossing the floor. At the Sadah gold prospect in Yemen, the company is attempting to delineate additional drill targets through geologic mapping and sampling.