Junior exchange remains bullish on gold

Vancouver — Canada’s junior exchange continued its upward march over the trading week ended Jan. 13. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index gained 13 points points, or 0.72% of value, to close at 1,795.38.

International Wayside Gold Mines closed at 32, up 10, with 7.3 million shares traded. The company recently raised $4.8 million through a brokered private placement with First Associates. Wayside sold 32 million units at 15 apiece, with proceeds earmarked for the Cariboo project, near Wells, B.C.

Beta Minerals added 3 to its value and closed at 24 with 6.5 million shares crossing the floor. Shareholder Dynatec recently sold its share position in Beta Minerals to a broad group of investors. The junior is exploring several gold properties in Nevada, and advancing its Thor Lake rare metals property in the Northwest Territories. Beta was formed in 2002 from the exploration assets of former Highwood Resources. The assets include the Thor Lake beryllium and tantalum property in the Northwest Territories and the Mikwam gold property along the Quebec-Ontario border.

China Diamond came off of its 52-week high losing a dime and closing at 45 with 5.8 million shares traded. The company has a controlling interest in the 701 Changma diamond mine in Shandong province. An independent diamond valuation from secured production determined that 51% of a 4,277.1-carat parcel of diamonds is gem-quality, including a single 33.3-carat stone. The total value of the parcel ranges between US$350,000 and US$400,000, or between US$76.10 and US$88.30 per carat. The parcel of stones was processed from 5,997 tonnes of material from the mine, with a resulting grade of 0.79 carat per tonne. A review by SRK Consulting indicates that the diamond distribution, particularly the number of larger stones collected, is consistent with the distribution of stone size defined by the mineral resource and is therefore considered a representative parcel of diamonds for valuation.

ECU Silver Mining finished the week at 33.5, up 1.5 on a volume of 5.4 million shares. The company recently resumed operations at the Santa Juana mine in Mexico; next, drilling will be carried out to define the extension of the vein system. There have been several court hearings regarding ownership of the mine, and decisions will be rendered soon.

International Coromandel Resources tacked on 2.5 and closed at 22.5, after arranging a non-brokered private placement to a maximum or $1 million at 19 per unit. A unit consists of one share and one full warrant exercisable at 25 for two years. The junior has completed the sale of its Wildcat property, in Nevada, and has received 50,000 shares of Vista Gold. The proceeds from both the private placement and the sale of the Vista Gold shares will be used to finance the company’s initial 2004 exploration program on its La Eme (gold) and San Enrique (copper-gold) targets in Mexico.

American Bonanza Gold Mines closed down 3.5, to 33.5, with 4.6 million shares changing hands. The company is in the midst of underground drilling on its Copperstone gold project in Arizona.

Mandorin Goldfields closed at 19, up 4, as it stepped into the gold game in China through the acquisition of a wholly owned foreign enterprise with direct access to a number of exploration projects. Mandorin intends to perform systematic exploration to determine the scale of the projects in its portfolio.