Venture edges down Aug. 22-26

Vancouver – The S&P TSX Venture composite index was fairly calm in the August 22 to 26 period, with the fluctuating gold price not translating directly to stock movements. Still, three days of losses outweighed two days of gains, leaving the Venture down 12.53 points at 1,752.31 points. Investor caution has kept volumes down, with an average of only 63.3 million shares traded daily in the period.

Prophecy Platinum proved that its initial share spike from 60¢ to $5.63 in a few days in July was no one-time fluke, as the company climbed $1.25 in the latest period to end at $5.45. The latest rise came after the company released results from the first 2011 hole at Wellgreen, which returned 472.6 metres grading 0.29% nickel, 0.13% copper and 0.46 gram platinum, palladium and gold combined. Drilled on the eastern extent of the project, the hole expands the mineralized zone to roughly 500 metres wide.

Botswana-focused Hana Mining got a much-needed boost after releasing assay results from 13 holes from its sediment-hosted Ghanzi copper-silver project. The results included 4.8 metres grading 2.44% copper and 32 grams silver per tonne and 7.2 metres averaging 1.02% copper and 9.4 grams silver, which confirm the continuity and high grades of mineralization at the South Limb South area of the project. Hana’s share price, which hit a 52-week high of $5.68 in December, climbed 57¢ or 45% to close at $1.83 on the latest results.

Previously thinly-traded Tawsho Mining saw a burst of activity after it reported some short but high-grade gold hits from its Whisker Valley project in northern Newfoundland. Hole 11-06 hit a 0.15-metre interval with an average grade of 19.7 grams gold while hole 11-08 cut a 1.3-metre section with a weighted average of 7.9 grams gold, while results from most holes have not yet been released. The company’s share price nearly doubled on the news, climbing 24¢ to 49¢ on roughly 1.3 million shares traded.

Gold World Resources also saw a big spike in activity, becoming the most-traded stock on the Venture with 6 million shares traded after the company released sample results from its Mount Anderson project in the Yukon and the end of the previous period. The results from 11 grab subsamples averaged 30.51 grams gold, 532 grams silver, 0.51% copper, 9.09% lead and 6.5% zinc, with one sample grading 192.9 grams gold and another sample returning 1744 grams silver. The company’s share price went up 4¢ to 10¢ on the news. Gold World has an option to earn 100% of the 54-claim project that sits 55 km south of Whitehorse.

Toro Resources got a big boost after the U.S. Forest Service gave the company a permit to drill at its Morgan Peak copper project in Arizona. Toro’s share price jumped 11¢ in the period to 25¢, with the company having waited since last November for the approval. Toro can now drill the southern and eastern parts of the project with 27 drill sites and plans to launch a 3,000-metre drill program within the next two months. The company moved up from the CNSX to the Venture board in late May.