TSX Venture rises, Dec 11-15

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index gained 8.27 points to a 801.23-point close, as spot gold prices rose US$7.95 to US$1,256.44 per oz., and Comex copper prices gained US16¢ to US$3.14 per pound.

Shares of Meridian Mining gained 41¢ to $1 after increasing its loan by US$1 million to fund plant expansion at its Espigao manganese project in Rondonia, northwestern Brazil. The US$8.5-million upgrade would boost production capacity to 100,000 tonnes magnesium oxide per annum, up from 30,000 tonnes per annum. The company is producing and selling manganese oxide from surface colluvium, while geological work is underway to find high-grade manganese veins for longer-term production. On Dec. 7, the company released an early resource and preliminary economic assessment for its Bom Futuro tin project, a historical mine in Rondonia that produced 195,000 tonnes tin for over 30 years. The company intends to recover metal from the tailings area, which has 3 million indicated tonnes 0.063% tin and 58 million inferred tonnes 0.053% tin. The 16-year, US$28-million mine would process 3.8 million tonnes tin a year. The study calculates an after-tax net present value of US$50 million at a 10% discount rate, and a 40% internal rate of return.

Rotation Minerals, a junior explorer focused on gold and silver in northwestern B.C.’s Golden Triangle, has seen its shares jump 15¢ to 33¢ per share on news of the company completing its 100% purchase in the Scottie gold property, 50 km north of Stewart, British Columbia. The 3.2 sq. km property hosts the historical Scottie gold mine, which produced 95,400 oz. gold from 183,000 tonnes between 1981 and 1985. Four vein zones — L, M, N and O — were partly explored by drilling and underground development. A historical resource on the remaining zones totals 120,000 tonnes of 19.31 grams gold per tonne for 74,000 oz. gold. Rotation says the deposit has over 1 km of unexplored strike length and 600 metres of open vertical extent. Historical data is being modelled to find targets for the 2018 drilling season.

A feasibility study on Bacanora Minerals’ Sonora lithium project in Mexico sent shares of the company up 28¢ to $1.80. The study shows that a 19-year open-pit operation with an annual production of 35,000 tonnes lithium has a US$802.5 million after-tax net present value assuming an 8% discount rate, and forecasts a 21.2% internal rate of return. On Dec. 15, Bacanora secured another $53.5-million investment from NextView Capital, earning the Chinese institutional fund management group a 19.8% stake in Bacanora. The budding miner is to supply NextView with 5,000 tonnes lithium carbonate per year during the first stage of production, followed by an increase to an annual 8,000 tonnes.