TSX Venture Exchange trades sideways

VANCOUVER – The second week of December was a sideways one for the S&P TSX Venture Composite Index, as it alternated between small gains and small losses to end the Dec. 10-14 session up just 0.66 points at 1,183.62. Trading volumes were average, ranging between 70 and 95 million trades per day.

Copper inventories in London climbed to their highest levels since September 2008 but the spot price remained steady near US$3.65 per lb. Gold was not so steady: anxiety over the looming fiscal cliff pushed investors to US bonds, dragging the price of gold down by US$20 to end the week at US$1693 per oz.

The spot price of uranium, by contrast, continued to inch upwards. It ended the week at US$43.50 per lb. U3O8, nicely up from its early November drop below US$41. Coal prices also continue to gain ground.

Kaminak Gold turned around a two month share price decline with the release of the maiden resource estimate for its Coffee gold project in the Yukon. The project is now home to 64 million inferred tonnes grading 1.56 grams gold per tonne for 3.2 million oz. contained gold, using cut-off grades of 0.5 gram gold for oxide and transitional material and 1 gram gold for sulphide mineralization. The company says there remains considerable expansion potential along strike from the current resource and elsewhere. News of the resource came out on Monday morning; by Friday KAM shares had gained 42¢ to reach $1.43.

Mirasol Resources also had a good week, its share price gaining 10% on news that the company is selling its 49% stake in the Joaquin silver-gold project in Argentina to partner Coeur d’Alene Mines. Mirasol will receive US$60 million for its stake, half in cash and half in Coeur shares. The divestment will enable Mirasol to maintain its focus on exploration.

Also gaining ground was Sierra Metals, which announced the discovery of another high-grade vein at its development-stage Cusi silver property in Mexico. The previously unknown vein, located in a deeper portion of the deposit’s disseminated zone, returned 49 metres grading 753 grams silver per tonne, including 33.8 metres grading 1,058 grams silver. The company described the intercept as the most impressive result in its history for its combination of core length and silver grade.

The market was not similarly impressed with the latest drill results from Reservoir Minerals. Reservoir is exploring its Timok project in eastern Siberia and announced a new set of drill results, including 100 metres averaging 3.17% copper and 1.91 grams gold. The drill hit mineralization 584 metres below surface. Unhappy investors pushed the company’s share price from $2.80 to $2.30 over the week.

Solvista Gold was also unable to please the market with its drill results from the Caramanta project in Colombia, even though the hits extended the limits of known mineralization in several directions. Results from the latest seven holes included 179 metres grading 0.83 grams gold. 0.2% copper, and 4.2 grams silver as well as 160 metres grading 1.36 grams gold, 0.22% copper, and 2.8 grams silver.