Gold sparkles on Venture exchange

Vancouver — Canada’s junior exchange continued its bull run during the week ended Feb. 17. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index closed at 1931.61, up 65.43 points, or 3.5%.

Spider Resources and KWG Resources tabled results from the first drill hole from their McFaulds #3 project in Ontario. Hole McF-20 cut 5.87 metres averaging 2.8% copper plus 0.5 gram gold and 15.5 grams silver starting at a down-hole depth of 68.4 metres. This was followed by a 4.2-metre section of 0.26% copper, 11.8% zinc, and 1.57 grams silver starting at 91.2 metres down-hole. Spider closed the week at 23, up 3, with 1.8 million shares traded. KWG ended the session at 40, up a nickel on a volume of 1.8 million shares.

Superior Mining closed at 16, up 4 with 6.8 million shares traded. The junior has reached an agreement to earn an interest in the Bothaville gold and the Bakgaga platinum project, both of which are in South Africa.

Donner Minerals closed up 3, to 20, with 6.8 million shares traded. Donner announced it has boosted its private placement to $3 million. More than 18 million units are to be sold at 16 apiece. Beginning in early March, the company will drill targets on its Stephens Lake project in Manitoba. Plans call for 3,000 metres (10-12 diamond drill holes).

ECU Silver Mining closed at 40, up 8 with 6.5 million shares changing hands. The company recently announced that it has entered into a private-placement financing worth $999,000. A portion of the funds will pay for exploration drilling at the Santa Juana mine.

EuroZinc Mining closed the week at 60, up 16, with 6.4 million shares crossing the floor. After a public session that examined EuroZinc’s bid to buy the Neves Corvo copper mine in Portugal, the jury handling the tendering process accepted the offer as a conforming bid. A final decision will be announced in 30 days.

OntZinc closed up 6, to 23, with 4.2 million shares traded. The company will spend $1.1 million drill-testing the Scotia mine in Nova Scotia so as to confirm the consistency of the zinc-lead reserves. Predevelopment work will include mining and business studies, plus environmental work. The Scotia mine is wholly owned by OntZinc through a subsidiary.

JNR Resources closed at 48, up 16 with 4.1 million shares traded. The company recently closed a private placement totalling $821,000. In January, the company optioned its Moore Lake and Lazy Edward Bay uranium properties to International Uranium. These properties occur in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. The partners are in the midst of diamond drilling at Moore Lake. International Uranium closed at $2.45, up 70, with 2.1 million shares traded.

Inca Pacific Resources closed at 31, up 8, with 3.4 million shares traded. Earlier this month, the company announced it had agreed to buy Anaconda Peru’s 51% interest in the Magistral project for US$2.1 million.

Taseko Mines closed at $3, up 75, on a volume of 3.3 million shares. Taseko recently placed 6.7 million for proceeds of $4 million. The financing brings the current working capital position of the company to about $23.8 million. Taseko’s main assets are the Gibraltar copper mine, the advanced-stage Prosperity gold-copper project, and the Harmony gold projects, all of which are in British Columbia.