Mining sector shines as CDNX slumps

Vancouver — Mining stocks were the only bright spots on Canada’s junior exchange as all other sectors slid into negative territory. The Canadian Venture Exchange composite index lost 10.28 points, or 0.3%, and closed the week ended June 12 at 3344.39. The mining index soared 128.86 points, or 1.8%, to finish at 7357.05.

Skeena Resources was the week’s market darling, trading in excess of 2.9 million shares. The company is gearing up for two diamond exploration programs on its Weirdale kimberlite cluster in the Fort la Corne district of Saskatchewan and the Elkford district of southeastern British Columbia. Skeena remained flat at 13.

Bralorne Pioneer Gold Mines ended the week where it started, at 16, with 1.7 million shares crossing the floor. The company, together with partner Avino Silver & Gold Mines, plans to develop and reopen the Bralorne-Pioneer gold mine in the town of Bralorne, B.C. Avino closed flat at 41.

New Blue Ribbon Resources lost a penny and closed the week at 13, with more than 1.1 million shares traded. The issue is still wallowing near its 52-week low after assay results fizzled from the first round of drilling on the Moose diamond property in Manitoba. Blue Ribbon’s joint-venture partner, BHP Diamonds, tested seven magnetic anomalies on the project without hitting kimberlite.

IMA Explorations lost 2 and closed at 31 with just over 1 million shares changing hands. The company is in the midst of a non-brokered private placement financing that is expected to raise $780,000. IMA has an impressive property portfolio in four key mining districts of Argentina’s San Juan province, as well as in the Cajamarca gold belt in northern Peru.

Montello Resources treaded water and closed at 12 on a volume of 933,000 shares. The company holds diamond exploration properties in Alberta and Manitoba and a platinum group metal property near Sudbury, Ont.

Kensington Resources jumped 7 and closed the week at 77 with 869,000 shares traded. The company is a partner in the Fort la Corne diamond joint venture, the other participants being De Beers Canada Exploration, Toronto-listed Cameco, and UEM (owned equally by Cameco and Cogema). A budget of $4.8 million has been approved by the partners for a 2001 exploration program of drilling, sampling, geological evaluation and diamond recovery.

Radius Explorations closed at 96, up 3 with 833,000 shares crossing the floor. Recently, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gold Fields agreed to purchase almost 2 million units Radius priced at $1.05 per unit, for proceeds of $2 million. The money will be used primarily to fund exploration work on the company’s Guatemala projects along the Motagua gold belt.

GGL Diamond lost 3 and closed at 15, with 823,000 shares traded. Joint-venture partner De Beers Canada Exploration should be gearing up to drill targets on the LA1 and LA2 claims, part of the Doyle Lake project in the Northwest Territories. De Beers stands to earn a 60% stake in the project.

Latitude Minerals traded 675,000 shares with no net change and closed at 3. The company holds a platinum group element property in Alaska and gold properties in the U.S.