Junior exchange shows modest gains

April trading activity on the Canadian Venture Exchange was off 61% from the previous month as technology stocks retrenched from their lofty heights. The CDNX declined 18% over March, while, during the same period, the technology index dropped by 28%, the mining index lost 8% and the oil-and-gas index held its ground.

For the report period ended May 2, the CDNX tacked on 35.33 points, or 1%, to close at 3,598.12, whereas the mining index was up 131.67 points, or 3.3%, at 4,102.61.

Frank Callaghan’s International Wayside Gold Mines was off 31 at $2.03. Investors are eagerly awaiting the next batch of drill results from the company’s new gold discovery at its Cariboo project in the Barkersville area of north-central British Columbia. Wayside continues to pick up ground in the immediate area.

Asia Minerals was at a loss to explain the increased trading activity in its shares. The company announced in early April that it was entertaining discussions regarding its Copperstone gold property in Arizona. Asia added a penny to finish at 13.

Hunter-Dickinson group’s Anooraq Resources appears to have fallen out of favour with its South African Platreef property. The issue lost a quarter on the week, closing at 75. The company released an update on the project, including results from the latest eight drill holes.

Harry Barr’s Pacific North West Capital fell back 56 to $2.39 while investors awaited further results from the company’s River Valley platinum group metals (PGM) discovery, northeast of Sudbury, Ont. Pacific North West reported the results for a further six holes at the close of our report period. The most northerly hole drilled, RV-8, intersected the longest mineralized section in the drill program, with an intercept of 130.5 metres averaging 1.21 grams PGM (0.29 gram platinum, 0.84 gram palladium, 0.069 gram gold and 0.018 gram rhodium) plus 0.11% copper and 0.02% nickel. South Africa’s Anglo American Platinum can earn up to a 65% interest in the project.

GMD Resource lost 22 to end the period at 27. A winter drilling program that tested eight geophysical targets on its Royce Group diamond property, 150 km northwest of Yellowknife, N.W.T., failed to encounter any kimberlite. A follow-up program of till sampling is planned for this summer. Monopros is the operator and can earn a 51% interest by spending a total of $16 million.

Darnley Bay Resources was up 28 at $2.16. The company has received the necessary approval to begin a drill program on the Thrasher zone of the Darnley Bay anomaly, near Paulatuk, N.W.T. Last year, ground surveys on the Thrasher zone revealed five electromagnetic conductors within 250 metres of surface and which are coincident with gravity and magnetic responses, any of which, the company says, could signify potential metallic mineralization. Boulders found in the area contained normal background values of nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum.

Eaglecrest Explorations closed at 36, up 7. The company has completed an 11-hole, 1,050-metre program of core drilling at its San Simon gold project in northeast Bolivia. Initial assays are expected in three weeks.