CDNX loses ground on new S&P index

Vancouver — The Canadian Venture Exchange launched a new composite index during the week ended Dec. 11. Based on market capitalization, the Standard & Poor’s-CDNX Composite Index is meant to provide an indication of the performance of listed companies. The index started trading on Dec. 10 at a baseline value of 1,000 and ended the week down 3.2 points, or 0.32%, to 996.80. There is no relation between the new index and the four previously established ones.

Freewest Resources Canada lost a penny and closed at 34 with 1.5 million shares crossing the floor. Backhoe trenching has uncovered a new gold zone at the Clarence Stream property in New Brunswick. The so-called Murphy zone has been intermittently exposed by trenching over a strike length of 200 metres and over widths of 10-50 metres.

IBI shareholders recently exercised private placement warrants worth $232,000. This, combined with cash flow generated from its vermiculite mine in Uganda, has enabled the company to apply for Tier 2 listing on the CDNX. The company’s issue remained flat at 6 with just over 1 million shares traded.

Shares of Andean American Mining continued to attract investors, climbing toward a new 52-week high. It ended the week at 50, up 9 on a volume of 887,000 shares. The company is running a pilot plant at its Santa Rosa gold property in Peru, where it envisions a 3,250-tonne-per-day mine.

Poplar Resources lost 2 and closed at 11 on a volume of 567,000 shares. The company is exploring its Bottenbacken polymetallic project in central Sweden. Assay results from the rest of hole 5 are still pending, though a 0.6-metre test section of the hole averaged 0.96% copper plus 1.42 grams palladium, 0.86 gram gold, 0.06 gram platinum and 5.7 grams silver per tonne.

Chapleau Resources continued to trade heavily after identifying a third tantalum target on its Kougarok property in Alaska. The Cranbrook-based junior closed down 2 to 46 on 549,000 shares.

Shares in Aurora Platinum continued to move higher, climbing 55 to close at $3.20 on 516,000 shares. The junior announced a $600,000 financing consisting of 235,000 units priced at $2.55 each. The company has several active nickel-copper-platinum-palladium properties in Ontario and Quebec and is now drilling its Nickel Lake prospect near Sudbury.

Silver Standard Resources hit a new 52-week high, gaining 47 and closing at $3.80 on 302,500 shares. The company is drilling the high-grade Manantial Espejo silver-gold project in Argentina.

Altius Minerals closed at 80, down 1 with 404,000 shares crossing the floor. The junior recently inked a deal allowing Barrick Gold to earn up to a 75% stake in its Botwood Basin gold project in Newfoundland to look for Carlin-type deposits on the property.

Kensington Resources added 1 to its value and closed the week at 70 on 338,000 shares. The company holds a stake in the Fort la Corne diamond project in Saskatchewan, where new diamond counts are expected shortly.

Atacama Minerals closed up a nickel to 65 on 303,000 shares. Full iodine operations were recently reported at the Aguas Blancas mine in northern Chile.