Gold deals and U3O8 finds propel Venture board

Vancouver — New discoveries and a flurry of wheeling and dealing made for a lively trading session over the report period Sept. 27-Oct. 3. The S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index gained just under 100 points to close at 2,167.87 over the session, approaching heady highs last seen just before the infamous “Bungle in the Borneo Jungle” brought most resources companies crashing down to earth.

Fortunately, China is the main driver of the global resource boom now, and last we checked, the nation really is there.

The gold is there for St. Jude Resources too, judging by street speculation that contenders other than Golden Star Resources may be interested in the junior’s advanced gold properties in Ghana and Burkina Faso. So far at least, St. Jude seems content with Golden Star’s “pre-merger” offer on the basis of 0.72 of a Golden Star share for every St. Jude common share. The US$118-million deal still requires a definitive agreement and various shareholder, regulatory and court approvals. The offer pushed St. Jude shares up another 15 to $2.55.

High-grade uranium values from recent sampling programs in southeastern Peru helped Solex Resources take top spot as largest percentage gainer over the session. The company’s shares jumped 31 to close at 48 on news that three new targets had been outlined, bringing the total number of near-surface targets to five.

Tyler Resources was ahead 23 at $1.49 on respectable volumes. The company has diamond and gold properties in Saskatchewan, but its most advanced asset is the Bahuerachi copper-gold property in Mexico’s Chihuahua state.

Tournigan Gold has added new uranium projects in Slovakia and Wyoming to its portfolio in recent months, resulting in increased investor attention and an 18.5-gain to 66 over the session. The company’s main assets are the Curraghinalt and Kremnica gold projects in Northern Ireland and Slovakia, respectively.

West Hawk Development was another active trader, more than doubling in price to 59 after updating resources at its Groundhog coal project in north-central British Columbia. A technical report for the project was made public to support the resource estimate.

Arizona Star Resource shed 15 to $4.50 after Placer Dome announced that the low-grade Cerro Casale project was “not financeable” at this time. Arizona Star holds a 25% interest in the Chilean copper-gold project, with Bema Gold holding the balance. At presstime, Arizona Star announced that Placer was “in default of its obligations” under various agreements, and gave the company 30 days to remedy the situation. If the dispute can’t be resolved in that time frame, Arizona Star and Bema say they will take “all necessary steps” to have Placer’s 51% interest returned to them.

Toronto-based Unigold, on the other hand, got a nice boost from Placer Dome’s decision to put Cerro Casale on the back burner and instead develop the large Pueblo Viejo gold deposit in the Dominican Republic. The technically oriented junior had been toiling in near-obscurity at its various properties in the Dominican Republic, where its goal is to discover and develop bulk-tonnage deposits similar to Pueblo Viejo. Unigold shares jumped from a low of 6 to close at 15 over the trading session.