Junior market continues to climb

Vancouver — Canada’s junior exchange gained some steam during the week ended May 20. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index tacked on 10.56 points, or 0.96% of its value, to close at 1,078.96.

Spider Resources finished the week up a penny to 10 with 4.1 million shares changing hands. The stock has traded heavily since the latest release of results from the Spider 3 massive sulphide project in the James Bay Lowlands of Ontario. Hole 6, drilled below the previously reported massive-sulphide intersections, cut 5.6 metres averaging 2.9% copper and 0.45% zinc. A deeper, zinc-rich section averaged 5.4% zinc and 0.3% copper over 9.65 metres. Spider has a 47.66% interest in the ground, with the rest held by KWG Resources. KWG ended the week at 13, down 2.

Donner Minerals gained 4 to finish at 20 with 1.9 million shares traded. A 2,200-line-km MegaTEM geophysical survey is under way on the eastern half of the South Voisey Bay nickel sulphide project. Toronto-listed Falconbridge, which is carrying out the program, can earn a half-stake in the project by spending $23 million on exploration over five years. Falco had spent $2.3 million by the end of 2002 and is required to spend an additional $1.7 million in 2003 to maintain its option. There are four ownership blocks in the project: Donner’s wholly owned SVBN property; the Donner-Northern Abitibi joint-venture property; the Donner-Commander joint-venture property; and the SVBN-Palladium Minerals joint-venture property.

Belvedere Resources lost a penny and closed at 50 with 1.8 million shares traded. The junior recently completed a private placement of 1.8 million shares priced at 50 each for a gross proceeds of $903,000. The money will contribute to working capital. Belvedere holds several gold and base metal properties in Finland.

A rising gold price helped American Bonanza Gold Mining gain 3 to close at 30 on a volume of 1.6 million shares. The junior has begun exploring the Gold Bar property in the Battle Mountain-Eureka mineral trend of central Nevada. It is also in the midst of an underground program at the Copperstone gold property in Arizona.

Wolfden Resources closed at $1.80, down 3 with 1.3 million shares traded. The junior recently resumed exploring the High Lake massive sulphide property in the Northwest Territories. The resource stands at 5.3 million tonnes averaging 4.05% copper and 2.36% zinc, plus 1.76 grams gold and 31.73 grams silver per tonne.

Mag Silver remained flat at 70 with 1.2 million shares traded. The company kicked off a 3,500-metre drill program at its Juanicipio property in Mexico’s Zacatecas state. The program is testing targets that are aligned with the major veins now being mined at the Fresnillo silver mine.

Investors rewarded Minera Andes for proposing a merger deal with fellow junior La Mancha Resources. Under the merger proposal, 4.5 Minera Andes shares would consolidate into one share of a new company called La Mancha Mining. After the merger and consolidation, each existing La Mancha share will be exchanged for one share in La Mancha Mining. Minera Andes closed the week at 31, up 6 on 435,500 shares, while La Mancha Resources closed at $1.77, down 18.