TSX Venture Exchange, Dec. 16-20

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index dropped 6.29 points during the trading sessions en route to closing at 888.18. Markets reacted positively late in the trading period after the U.S. Federal Reserve opted to modestly cut its bond-buying programs by US$10 million starting in January. Struggling gold and energy futures weighed on the Venture, while copper prices remained a bright spot.

February contracts for gold bullion fell again this week, losing 2.7%, or US$33.20, en route to a US$1,202.40 per oz. close. Crude oil futures remained flat, with February contracts for West Texas Intermediate rising US$1.62 before closing at US$99.17 per barrel. Copper futures closed near a three-month high at US$3.32 per lb.

Explorer Kennady Diamonds led the value-lost category during the week, as the company dropped 65¢ on 113,500 shares traded, en route to a $5-per-share close. On Dec. 16 Kennady announced diamond recovery results from a mid-year drill program at its wholly owned Kennady North project in the Northwest Territories.

Almost 3.5 tonnes of kimberlite was recovered from 21 holes drilled at the Northwest Lobe of the Kelvin kimberlite. Kennady recovered 4.3 tonnes of kimberlite from Kelvin containing more than 16,000 microdiamonds, of which 474 are commercial-sized diamonds. The company’s summer program returned a sample grade of 4.56 carats per tonne, which compares to 8.13 carats per tonne during year-end drilling.

On Dec. 19 Kennady announced it had arranged a $2.29-million, non-brokered private placement of flow-through shares priced at $5.75 per share.

It was another tough week for silver producer Aurcana, which lost 49¢ on 2.7 million shares traded en route to a 52-week low of 61¢ per share. On Dec. 19 the company announced it was putting its Shafter silver mine in Texas on care and maintenance following a review by its board. Aurcana said the decision was fuelled by low silver prices, and did not disclose how long the mine would be idle, or how many workers would be impacted.

Aurcana has been struggling with its cash position, and will likely need to raise capital  so that it can meet obligations under $55 million in debt repayments due over the next three years. Aurcana’s board and management team agreed to a 20% salary reduction, while the company is operating its La Negra silver–zinc–copper–lead mine in Mexico.

Xmet was the most traded company with 16 million shares changing hands, while losing 5¢ to close at 10¢. Xmet has been consolidating a land position at its Blackflake project, which holds two blocks of claims east of Zenyatta Venture’s high-profile Albany graphite discovery.

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