STOCK MARKETS — Furious Venezuelan activity gives push to

Action on western markets showed little sign of abating during the period ended Feb. 9, with the Vancouver Stock Exchange resource index gaining more than 37 points to finish at 785.12, an 8% increase since the end of January.

The composite index posted a more modest rise with a jump of 16.37 points to the 731 level.

Once again, market action focused on activity in the Kilometre 88 region of Venezuela, although price movements have moderated somewhat. Canarc Resource added itself to the list of companies with interests in the area through an agreement with Tombstone Explorations.

The agreement includes a private placement in Tombstone totalling $1.9 million, an option to earn a 50% interest in eight of that company’s properties in the region, and the opportunity to make other property acquisitions with Tombstone in Venezuela.

Canarc’s share price reacted well to the news, trading as high as $1.65 before settling for a 23 cents gain at $1.50. Tombstone followed suit with a 55 cents jump to $2.60.

Carson Gold jumped $1.50 to finish at $3.90 following announcement of the company’s plans to issue up to three million units at $2.04 per unit. Up to 2.5 million of the units will go to Venezuelan Goldfields, which in turn has the right to joint venture on a 60-40 basis any of Carson’s Venezuelan ground. Venezuelan also has an exclusive right to negotiate a joint venture on the Oro Uno property, which is now owned by International Kengate Ventures; Venezuelan acquired that right following a reverse takeover of Kengate by the property owners.

Venezuelan finished the period unchanged at the $11 level, while International Kengate lost ground, falling 23 cents to $1.50. Share prices in Eurus Resource and Crystallex International remained little changed during the period, finishing at $2.08 and $4.60, respectively. Eurus, which can earn a 50% interest in Crystallex’s Albino property, recently started a 1,000-metre drilling program. With expectations for the region running so high, assay results from the program will likely have far-reaching effects.

Additional assay results from the Taysan copper-gold project in the Philippines gave Chase Resource a 40 cents boost to $3.80. The company, which has an option to acquire a 67.4% interest in the property from private interests, reported that grades from the first two holes were about 60% higher than reserve averages for copper and gold. Chase hopes to outline a higher-grade core within the large porphyry deposit.

CanAlaska Resources finished up 7 cents at a new high of 27 cents. The company recently announced plans to review possible joint ventures in Panama with a large resource group in that country.

Plans to option two gold properties in Mexico from Almaden Resources gave Eldorado a boost, with the issue finishing ahead 18 cents at $1.68. Almaden also gained ground, adding 4 cents to close at $1.29.

War Eagle Mining announced the acquisition of an option on 11 diamond properties in northern Saskatchewan from a private interest. The issue added 15 cents to close at 50 cents.

Kalahari Resources hopes to add a further 1.2 million acres to its current land position in the Northwest Territories diamond play through ongoing negotiations with a third party. If successful, the company’s holdings will exceed 2.2 million acres. Kalahari finished up 3 cents at $1.23. Joint venture partners Leeward Capital, Skeena Resources and Connecticut Development all posted gains after boosting their land position in the Northwest Territories.

Leeward also announced separate joint ventures with a number of other companies, including GWR Resources, Zappa Resources and American Bullion Minerals, setting off a chain reaction of price jumps.

Leeward added 35 cents to finish at $1.15, Skeena closed up 11 cents at 60 cents, Connecticut added 22 cents at 76 cents, GWR added 12 cents at $1.76, Zappa gained 30 cents at 55 cents and American Bullion jumped 33 cents to 70 cents.