CDNX pulls out of summer slump

Canada’s junior exchange closed the week ended Aug. 22 on an up-note as all indices posted gains. The Canadian Venture Exchange composite index tacked on 37.25 points, or 1.1%, to finish the week at 3355.99, while the mining index gained 41.34 points, or 0.9%, to close at 4456.53.

Shares of International Wayside Gold Mines experienced a massive selloff that saw its market capitalization nearly cut in half. The Frank Callaghan-led junior lost 30 to finish the week at 47, with 2.5 million shares crossing the floor. Investors drove the price down after the release of disappointing assay results from the Bonanza Ledge discovery gold target on Wayside’s Cariboo property, near Wells, B.C. The 10 new holes returned spotty results over a 122-metre strike length to a vertical depth of 61 metres.

Asia Minerals lost 3 during the week and closed at 13, with 2 million shares changing hands. Shares of the company resumed trading after the CDNX lifted a ban that had lasted two months. The junior was required to submit additional documentation pertaining to its proposed takeover of Bonanza Gold. By issuing 20 million shares, Asia Minerals would gain control of Bonanza’s mineral rights to eight properties in Nevada. Asia Minerals also holds a 100% stake in the Copperstone low-grade gold property in Arizona, where underground exploration is proposed.

Shore Gold jumped 41 to close at $1.70, with 392,000 shares traded. Drill results from 1.5 tonnes of core samples from the Star kimberlite diamond property in Saskatchewan revealed that the total macrodiamond count per kilogram of sample is 77% higher then previous results. Drill hole 9 returned five diamonds that measured greater than 1 mm in one direction. Twenty-one diamond drill holes (16 of which were drilled this year) have been completed on the Star kimberlite, and all intersected kimberlite. The company is proceeding with a phase-2 drill program to delineate the kimberlite further.

Spokane-based Minera Andes closed at 17, up 3 from the previous week. The junior announced that the gold grade increases with depth on its wholly owned Huevos Verdes property in southern Argentina. Crews recently completed a 1,598-metre drill program on the property, situated in Santa Cruz province, and cut the vein structure over widths ranging from 1 to 11.1 metres.

Diamondex Resources closed at $157, up 14. The junior diamond explorer, which was spun off of Winspear in 1999, holds varying interests in 10 properties in the Northwest Territories. Together, the properties comprise 2,320 sq. km. Earlier this year, a 1,900-metre drill program tested 14 targets on the Hilltop property, but no kimberlite was intersected. The 366-sq.-km. project adjoins the southwestern corner of the Camsell Lake property and includes 1,294 sq. km. of scattered claim blocks comprising the Cache property, in which SouthernEra and Vaaldiam Resources hold a combined 20% interest.