Canada’s junior exchange loses ground

The Canadian Venture Exchange tumbled 86.35 points, or 2.6%, during the report period ended May 30 to close at 3,228.98. The mining index followed suit, losing 34.04 points, or 0.9%, to end at 3,904.67.

Avalon Ventures tacked on 19 and closed at 84. The junior announced it had discovered a 306-metre-thick zone of disseminated copper mineralization while testing a deep geophysical anomaly on the Seagull Lake mafic-ultramafic layered intrusion at the Wolf Mountain property, north of Thunder Bay, Ont. Assay results are pending.

Funding at Wolf Mountain is being provided by East West Resource and Canadian Golden Dragon Resources. The companies can earn a half-interest in the project by paying $20,000 in cash jointly, issuing 50,000 shares each, and spending a total of $300,000 on exploration over a year. An additional 10% can be acquired in exchange for $700,000 in exploration expenditures and for the issuance of 50,000 shares from each company. East West Resources added 4 to its value and closed at 34, while Canadian Golden Dragon jumped 26 to closed at 60.

Kensington Resources closed at 44, up 19. The company recently closed a financing worth $553,079. Proceeds from the private placement will be used to fund the 2000 exploration program at the Fort a la Corne diamond project in Saskatchewan. The project is a joint venture with Monopros, a wholly owned subsidiary of De Beers Consolidated Mines (38%), Cameco (14%), privately held UEM (10%) and Kensington (38%).

Darnley Bay Resources dropped 14 to finish the report period at $1.96. The company is drilling a deep geophysical target at the Thrasher zone, near Paulatuk, N.W.T. Darnley Bay believes the anomalies represent a metallic-rich intrusive. At last report, the hole had reached a depth of 1,174.6 metres.

Shares in Cantex Mine Development continued to tread water as investors awaited further drill results from the Suwar nickel-cobalt-copper-silver prospect in Yemen. Results from an additional 10 holes over a 350-metre section of the Suwar North zone and three holes from the 800-metre-long Suwar south zone have been expected for weeks. The Charles Fipke-led company tacked on 3 over the period to close at 56.

Gabriel Resources got a boost after announcing exploration plans for its Rosia Montana gold project in Romania. The junior jumped 5 to end the week at $2.65. This year’s program is designed to expand the current resource base. The company’s primary target lies within a 2-km area of the Cetate and Cirnic deposits, where an 8-million-oz. resource base has been estimated. Gabriel is working on a bankable feasibility study for the project.

Mansfield Minerals lost a dime and closed at 40. The company received assay results from Teck’s recent drill program on the Cerro Samenta copper property, in northwestern Argentina. The drilling program tested 1,600 metres of strike within the 4-km-long South Samenta geophysical anomaly, as well as 1,200 metres of the 2.5-km-long North Samenta anomaly. No economic grades were encountered.