TSX Venture rises, Oct. 2-8

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index rose 4.1%, or 21.5 points, en route to a 547.04-point close.

Gold rose US$1.6, or 0.1%, to US$1,142.5 per oz. gold, whereas copper spot prices gained slightly, up 0.1%, to US$2.40 per lb.

The Toronto-based junior, Roxgold, gained 4% to 61¢ after announcing the results from its 55 zone infill drilling program at its Yaramoko gold project, located in the Houndé greenstone region of Burkina Faso, West Africa.

The program confirmed high-grade gold mineralization continued within the upper reaches of the deposit, as the company advances the project towards production for the second quarter of 2016.

Highlights include 73.9 grams per tonne gold over 4.4 metres true width, 91.2 grams gold over 2.1 metres true width and 24.3 grams gold over 3.6 metres true width.

The underground mine is scheduled to produce 99,500 oz. gold annually for an initial 7.4 years, at all-in sustaining costs of US$590 per oz. gold.

Analysts from Macquarie Securities Group have Roxgold as a top pick in the developer space, placing a target price of $1.35 per share for the company.

Money is pouring into aspiring miner Kennady Diamonds, as shares rose 0.2% to $3.10, after closing its non-brokered private placement totalling $48.1 million.

The capital will be used to deliver a maiden resource at its Kelvin kimberlite pipe, 280 kilometres east of Yellowknife, N.W.T., and help drive the project towards full feasibility by 2017.

Irish Billionaire Dermot Desmond kept his 23.6% share standing in the company by acquiring another 4.5 million shares of Kennady for $12.4 million.

The project is located to the north and west of the developing Gahcho Kué diamond mine — a joint venture between De Beers Canada and Mountain Province Diamonds — which is due to start production in the second half of next year.

Shares of Karmin Exploration went up 4% to 27¢ after the firm updated its Aripuana zinc project in northwestern Brazil, with 70% joint-venture partner and Peru-based miner Milpo.

The partners filed an environmental impact study with Brazilian authorities, and confirmed that the project is on schedule to deliver a definitive feasibility study by next year.

Aripuana is a volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit that hosts measured and indicated resources of 19.1 million tonnes of 3.9% zinc, 1.4% lead, 0.3% copper and 0.25 gram gold.

The partners envision a 5,000-tonne-per-day underground mine over a 15-year mine life, producing an average 65,000 tonnes of zinc, 25,000 tonnes of lead and 5,000 tonnes of copper-in-concentrate.