TSX Venture eases off, Feb. 21-24

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index shed 7.65 points to an 836.27-point close, while spot gold prices gained US$22.59, or 1.8 %, to US$1,257.19 per oz., and Comex copper prices lost 2¢ to US$2.7 per lb.

Lithium explorer Bacanora Minerals led the value-added category, gaining 32¢ to $1.52 per share after announcing plans to acquire 50% interest in the Zinnwald lithium project in southern Saxony, Germany, from SolarWorld AG, the largest solar panel producer in Europe. In exchange for the interest, Bacanora would pay SolarWorld €5 million and contribute €5 million towards a feasibility study, which would take between 18 and 24 months to complete. Bacanora could also acquire the remaining 50% interest for €30 million within 24 months of signing. The project, located 35 km from the city of Dresden and bordering the Czech Republic, is located in a granite-hosted antimony-tungsten-lithium belt that has been mined periodically for the past three centuries. It has a National Instrument 43-101 non-compliant resource of 10.3 million measured tonnes of 0.37% lithium, 16.3 million indicated tonnes of 0.4% lithium and 9.9 million inferred tonnes of 0.37%, assuming 0.25% lithium cut-off. The company has retained SRK Consulting to update the historical estimate with geological and grade models and infill drilling.

Junior explorer Durango Resources saw 22.1 million shares traded before closing up 11¢ to 18¢ per share after receiving two undisclosed offers on its Trove gold property located next to Osisko Mining’s Windfall Lake gold property in northern Quebec. Previous rock chip and soil samples across the 12 sq. km property returned little to no anomalous gold values, whereas a very low frequency electromagnetic survey outlined four distinctive conductors, which will be followed up with more test work in this year’s exploration program.

Broadway Gold Mining has launched a follow-up phase-two drill program at its wholly owned Madison copper-gold project in the historic Butte-Anaconda mining region of Montana, after confirming favourable alteration and mineralization in previous drilling. News of the program drove shares of the company up 26¢ to $1.28. The project has a past-producing underground mine that the company has refurbished to expand the copper-gold zones for development.

Shares of Engold Mines rose 15¢ to 28¢ on a discovery at its Lac La Hache property, 14 km from the town of Lac La Hache, central B.C. Drilling encountered 27 metres of “intensely mineralized” copper-magnetite skarn from 337 metres deep, located 1.8 km southeast of the project’s existing resource of 7.6 million indicated tonnes of 0.28% copper and 0.05 gram gold per tonne, 1.26 grams silver per tonne and 11.4% magnetite, and 15.8 million inferred tonnes of 0.21% copper, 0.04 gram gold, 0.93 gram silver and 8.32% magnetite. The hole was targeting a 1.4 by 1 km large gravity anomaly. TNM