Canadian Venture Exchange breaks 3000

Vancouver — Canada’s junior exchange broke through the 3000 mark during the report period ended Jan. 16, riding on the back of resource-related issues. The Canadian Venture Exchange composite index tacked on 149.11 points, or 5.1%, to close the week at 3077.54. The mining index surged 299.25 points, or 5.7%, and closed at 5528.23.

Cantex Mine Development was the week’s volume leader, finishing the week at 26, up 8 with 3.5 million shares crossing the floor. The Charles Fipke-led company recently announced encouraging geochemical results from the Suwar massive-sulphide project in Yemen.

Poplar Resources remained flat at 23 on a volume of 1.9 million shares. The company released results from spot-check analyses of previous drill core from its Bottenbacken palladium project in central Sweden. A comparison of results with those obtained by the Swedish Geological Survey show excellent correlation.

Pan Asia Mining ended the week at 10, up a penny on a volume of 1.8 million shares. The junior announced that open-pit mining is still in progress on the 701 diamond project in China. Several large diamonds were recently recovered, the biggest of which weighed 33.2 carats.

Montello Resources lost 4 and closed at 9, with 1.1 million shares traded. Together with fellow juniors New Blue Ribbon Resources and TRI Communications Solutions (formerly Redwood Resources), Montello has a stake in the Legend diamond property in northern Alberta. A petrographic analysis of the Kendu target confirms it is a kimberlite. Results from a caustic fusion analysis for diamonds are pending. New Blue Ribbon closed at 24, down 6 on a volume of 570,000 shares.

A million shares of JNR Resources traded, with the junior ending the week up 2 to 11. The Dale Hoffman-led junior is participating in a joint venture with Kennecott Canada on several uranium properties in the Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan. Recently, JNR raised $607,800 through a private placement of 3 million shares at 19 per share.

Starfield Resources closed out the week at 67, up 9 on a volume of 520,000 shares. The junior’s stock has been climbing steadily on news of an increased resource estimate at the Ferguson Lake nickel- copper-palladium-platinum-cobalt project in Nunavut.

Pacific North West Capital got a slight boost after announcing that drilling would resume on its River Valley platinum-palladium property in February. A total of $2 million has been budgeted for a minimum of 11,000 metres of diamond drilling and geophysical surveys, as well as stripping and sampling. Shares in the Harry Barr-led junior tacked on 13 and closed at 85, with 483,000 shares traded.

Philex Gold closed the week at 70, up 40 on a moderate volume. The junior gold producer was given a buy recommendation by Yorkton Securities. Its joint-venture partner, Anglo-American, is drilling the Buyongan copper-gold property in the Philippines. Assay results were received from nine holes, including an impressive 365-metre section running 0.81% copper and 1.9 gram gold per tonne.