Venture slides in May 7 to 11 period

VANCOUVER — The S&P TSX Venture Composite Index dropped 4.2% in the May 7 to 11 period, losing 58.72 points to end at 1,346.33 points after three days of losses outweighed two days of gains. Investor caution is clearly taking hold, with only 55 million and 58 million shares traded on the index on last and second last days of the period. Overall volume still came in at an average of 74.1 million shares traded per day though thanks to higher volumes earlier in the week.

In a week of general losses there were no stand-out value gains, with Lumina Copper seeing the highest value climb with a 39¢ rise to $12.50. The small recovery came after the company officially increased the size of the already massive Taca Taca project in Argentina, adding 62% to the indicated category and 19% to the inferred category. The sulphide resource now stands at 824 million indicated tonnes grading 0.59% copper, 0.12 gram gold per tonne, and 0.018% molybdenum for 10.7 billion lbs. copper, 3.1 million oz. gold and 320 million lbs. moly, plus inferred resources of 938 million tonnes grading 0.48% copper, 0.09 gram gold and 0.015% moly. The project also hosts a sizable oxide resource.

Rare-earth explorer Hudson Resources saw a sharp jump of 16¢ on the last day of the period to end up 13¢ or 50% at 39¢ for the second highest value gains on the index. The company released no news during the period, but did release a resource estimate on its Sarfartoq rare earth project in Greenland in late April. The resource established an indicated resource of 5.9 million tonnes grading 1.8% total rare earth oxides, plus inferred resources of 2.5 million tonnes grading 1.6% TREO, based on a 1% cut-off grade. The company is focusing on the production of Neodymium, which along with praseodymium, constitutes 25% of the contained rare earth oxides.

Ascot Resources also saw a 13¢ gain not long after releasing a resource estimate, ending at $1.11 after putting out the first resource on the Big Missouri project in northwest British Columbia earlier in May. At a 0.2 gram gold cut-off, the target is estimated to contain 53.9 million tonnes grading 0.74 gram gold and 4.6 grams silver per tonne for 1.3 million oz. gold and 7.9 million oz. silver, plus 63.4 million inferred tonnes carrying 0.49 gram gold and 3.3 gram silver for 993,000 oz. gold and 6.6 million oz. silver.

Comstock Metals was one of the bigger percentage gainers, up 8¢ or 53% to 23¢ after four days of gains. The Yukon and Mexico explorer announced the discovery of a new zone of porphyry-style mineralization at its Corona project in Mexico’s Chihuahua state. Discovery hole 67 hit 34.5 metres grading 0.36 gram gold from 122 metres depth and ended in mineralization. Five other drill holes on the periphery of the new zone also hit short mineralized intercepts.

Chesapeake Gold fell sharply in the period, ending down $2.92 at $8.69. The loss continues a poor run in May that has seen the company’s share price drop for nine straight days of trading, having ended April at $13. The company is expected to release shortly the prefeasibility study on its sizable Metates project in Mexico.