Jittery western market loses ground

Vancouver — Canada’s junior exchange posted losses on all fronts during the report period ended Oct. 31. The Canadian Venture Exchange composite index dropped 66.57 points, or 2%, to finish the week at 3,254.73. The mining index shed 78.17 points, or 1.6%, to close at 4,713.06.

Anaconda Uranium was the top trader, with 1.5 million shares changing hands. The company announced it will be focusing on the Nisa project in Portugal. In July 1998, the company entered into an agreement with a subsidiary company of the Portuguese state mining company in order to develop and exploit Nisa as a joint venture. The project consists of eight shallow uranium deposits with total reserves in excess of 5 million lbs. of U3O8 at a grade of 0.13% U3O8. Additional deposits in the area provide the potential to increase the resources. Anaconda closed at 7, up 2.

Pan Asia Mining lost 2 to end the period at 16 on a heavy 1.4 million shares. The diamond explorer has been seeking oil and gas deals. In its latest bid, Pan Asia entered into an agreement with Spars Plus Grupa, a Latvian company, to buy, in whole or in part, up to a 100% stake in Spars for $7.5 million. Citing the Venture Exchange’s request for a trading halt (pending the company’s engaging a sponsor), Pan Asia has suspended the option until a due diligence review is completed, allowing trading in its stock to continue.

Rhonda tumbled 46 to end the week at 70 on the trading of 970,000 shares. The junior announced the final diamond counts from the Knife kimberlite in Nunavut. A total of 20 samples weighing 397 kg yielded 217 diamonds with a total weight of 0.13 carat. Nine macrodiamonds were included in the recovery. De Beers can earn a 70% interest in the property and plans to start a new drill program next spring so as to define the dimensions and phases of the pipe.

Another big percentage loser was Brett Resources. Shares in the junior lost half their value closing at 9 on volume of 297,000. The company is completing a due diligence program on the Victoria gold project in northern Bolivia. Results from check-sampling returned widely disparate values from the originals. Brett is investigating the reason for the discrepancies.

Starfield Resources closed out the week at 47, down a nickel with 930,000 shares traded. The junior is currently drilling on the Ferguson Lake nickel-sulphide project, in Nunavut, and expects to extend the West zone an additional 1.2 km along a defined electromagnetic geophysical anomaly. The drill program is scheduled to be completed by the end of December.

Losing some steam after recently surging to a new 52-week high, Muskox Minerals ended the week at $2.37, down 33 with 567,000 shares changing hands. The junior is in the midst of a 5,000-metre drill program that targets the keel sector of the Muskox layered intrusion in Nunavut.

Tiberon Minerals tacked on 39 and closed at $2.75. The company is drilling the Nui Phao tungsten-copper gold target in Vietnam.