CDNX gears up for new year

Vancouver — Canada’s junior exchange managed to post modest gains on heavy volume over the holiday-shortened period ended Dec. 21. The Standard & Poor’s-CDNX composite index ended the session up 3.49 points, or 0.36%, to close at 978.49.

News that a $3-million financing has been secured gave a lift to shares of Idaho Consolidated Metals. The junior ended the 2-day period at 38, up 5 on a volume of 583,000 shares. The funds are earmarked for a second round of drilling on its platinum-palladium properties in the Stillwater complex of Montana.

The discovery of a 400-metre-long geochemical anomaly on its Norton Lake nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum-palladium zone, near Thunder Bay, Ont., failed to benefit East West Resource. The new target is at the eastern end of the known zone. Previous drilling outlined a sulphide zone hosting 944,500 tonnes grading 0.72% nickel and 0.55% copper. The junior ended the period down a penny to 8 on 445,000 shares.

Poplar Resources lost 2 and closed at 8 on 426,000 shares. The latest results from ongoing drilling on the Bottenbacken polymetallic property in Sweden left investors unmoved. Three of four holes drilled into the Central zone returned low-grade values of copper, platinum, palladium and gold.

Donner Minerals closed up 3 to 18 on 361,000 shares. At last report, the junior and its partner, Toronto-listed Falconbridge, were performing archaeological work on the South Voisey’s Bay properties through the jointly owned SVB Nickel, preparatory to doing gravity and electromagnetic surveys, geological mapping and re-logging, the objective being to define drill targets for the spring.

Champion Resources ended the day flat at 5 on the exchange of 272,000 shares. The junior is proposing a 12-for-1 rollback in its shares. The consolidation would be followed by a rights offering to shareholders. Funds raised from the rights offering will be used to advance the Farim phosphate project in Guinea Bissau.

Making a nice percentage move, Starfield Resources added 6 and closed at 51 on 243,000 shares. The junior intends to resume drilling on its Ferguson Lake nickel-platinum-palladium property in Nunavut. Rockwell Ventures found a penny and ended the period at 17 on a volume of 191,000 shares. The Hunter-Dickinson-led junior aims to launch a drill program over the newly acquired Haut Plateau nickel sulphide property in east-central Quebec.

War Eagle Mining tacked on 2 to finish at 13 on the swapping of 184,000 shares. The junior’s 2001 exploration program of mapping and sampling confirmed the tantalum potential of the Mac property in the Northwest Territories. The program outlined two areas in the northern and southern parts of the complex, and drill targets will be defined in the weeks ahead.

The latest drill results from the Boyongan copper-gold prospect in the Philippines propelled shares in Philex Mining up 3 to 60, with 107,000 shares traded. The junior’s joint-venture partner, Anglo American, has two drills turning on the property, and four more will be added.