Junior explorers were bruised and battered as gold remained weak over the April 12-18 report period. The S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index continued its slide, shedding a whopping 138.87 points, or almost 8%, to close at 1699.68. Retail investors watched nervously as average daily trading volumes dropped to 37.5 million shares.
Gold’s anemic performance, coupled with the lack of investors, decimated the weekly tally of new market highs versus new lows. Only 13 companies reached new 52-week highs compared with a soaring 113 falling to new annual lows.
Uranium explorer JNR Resources grabbed top place among volume leaders, with more than 4.4 million shares crossing the floor. However, the stock lost a dime to close at 72. The company has been drilling its Moore Lake property, on the southeastern rim of the Athabasca Basin, with partner International Uranium. JNR also recently acquired a 70% interest in Altius Minerals‘ Rocky Brook uranium project in western Newfoundland.
Tyler Resources took second place in the weekly volume chart with 4.1 million shares trading. The stock closed down 21 at $1.36 per share. The market is awaiting further results from drilling at Tyler’s Bahuerachi polymetallic project in Chihuahua state, Mexico. The latest drill hole, no. 21, intersected 141 metres grading 0.4% copper (including 11 metres of 1.6% copper) plus silver and zinc values in the skarn-breccia zone.
Third most active was Alexis Minerals, which traded more than 3.7 million shares and gained 2 to close at 80. The company and its partner, Noranda, pulled impressive high-grade copper values from the West Ansil project in Rouyn-Noranda, Que. Alexis recently lined up a $13-million private-placement financing.
Entre Gold traded 2.5 million shares. The Mongolian explorer received news from partner Ivanhoe Mines that drilling on the Copper Flats area of the Shivee Tolgoi property confirmed extension of the Hugo North deposit’s high-grade copper mineralization on to the project. The hole intersected more than 115 metres of strong chalcopyrite and bornite mineralization.
One of the top percentage gainers, Eaglecrest Explorations jumped 36%, closing up a nickel, to 19 per share on a volume exceeding 2 million shares. Trench sampling on the Dona Amelia zone at the San Simon property in Bolivia returned significant gold values.
Western Canadian Coal dropped 94 on the week to close at $4.10 on a volume of 400,000 shares. The northeastern British Columbia coal producer recently graduated to a full TSX listing and received permitting for its Wolverine mine, near Tumbler Ridge.
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