Venture climbs in shortened July 3-6 period

VANCOUVER — The S&P TSX Venture Composite Index managed a 20.36-point gain in the shortened July 3 to 6 period to end at 1,211.35 points after two days of gains and two of losses. The climb came despite low volumes, averaging 59 million shares traded daily. The drop in volume was partially caused by the American July 4 holiday, with only 37 million shares trading on the index that day.

For a second week Barkerville Gold Mines was the stand-out in terms of volume with almost 24 million shares traded. A 10.6-million-oz.-gold resource estimate on the company’s Cow Mountain project sparked the interest the week before, as did a ‘geological potential’ estimate that stated there could be as much as 90 million oz. gold in the area. Doubt about the resource estimate, however, meant the increased activity actually saw the company’s share price fall 24¢ to 97¢ after climbing from 81¢ to as high as $1.67 after the resource came out.

Rare-earth explorer Matamec Explorations was a distant second in volume with 3.4 million shares traded. The company released no news in the period, but on June 26 it announced that Toyota Tsusho had agreed to extend until July 11 the deadline for finalizing a joint venture agreement on the company’s Kipawa heavy rare earths deposit. In March the companies agreed that by June 27 Toyota would decide if it would help pay for a feasibility study. At the time Toyota paid $1.5 million as part of a binding MOU, and Matamec has since come out with a scoping study on the project. Matamec’s share price climbed to as high as 39¢ in the period before closing up 9¢ at 30¢.

Gold Reserve had the highest value gains of the period, end up 36¢ at $3.76 after closing as high as $4.10 early in the week. The company saw 10,580 shares traded in the first two days when it climbed 79¢, and then 3,090 shares traded as it fell 43¢ in last two days. Gold Reserve did not release news in the week, but on June 28 shareholders approved a debt restructuring. The company continues to pursue a $2.1-billion arbitration claim against Venezuela for expropriating its Brisa gold project and also optioned in to a Mexican copper-gold project from Soltoro.

Graphite-focused Flinders Resources had the second-highest value gains, climbing 27¢ to close at $1.60. The company released no news in the period, but on the Monday following the company announced new drill results from its Kringel project in Sweden. The five holes released included intercepts of 9.7 metres grading 10.8% graphite, 19.4 metres grading 8% graphite, and 11 metres grading 8.2% graphite. On news of the results the company’s share price climbed 8¢ more to $1.68.

Challenger Deep Resources, an Indonesia-focused coal company, fell 15¢ to 30¢ in the period with 54,000 shares traded. The company is working to get its Tabang thermal coal project in East Kalimantan into production in 2013 and in early May it hired an Indonesian coal marketing firm to help secure buyers. The company was trading above 60¢ in late April but has since declined on fairly sparse trading.