Junior market hits yearly low

Vancouver — A lack of buying conviction going into the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. pushed Canada’s junior bourse to its lowest levels of the year during the report period ended Sept. 10. The Canadian Venture Exchange composite index dropped 22.78 points, or 2.2%, to finish the week at 992.38.

American Bonanza Gold Mining was the most actively traded junior explorer, ending the week unchanged at 14 with just over 2 million shares changing hands. The company has signed a letter of intent paving the way for fellow junior Mask Resources to earn a 49% stake in American Bonanza’s wholly-owned Gold Bar and Pamlico projects in Nevada.

Shares in Sultan Minerals sprang to life after the Frank Lang-led junior announced that Toronto-listed Kinross Gold will fund at least $500,000 in costs before the end of the year and an additional $500,000 by Sept. 4, 2003 to acquire an option to earn a 60% stake in the junior’s Kena gold-copper property near Nelson, B.C. Kinross can then earn its stake by spending $9 million over a 5-year period. The project sparked considerable excitement earlier in the year by intersecting broad zones of low-grade gold mineralization in a porphyry-style setting, as well as bonanza grade intercept near the contact with volcanics. Sultan ended the week at 30, up 2 on 789,000 shares.

Partners RJK Explorations and Toronto-listed GLR Resources caused a stir by announcing that visible gold mineralization had been hit while drill testing a soil geochemical anomaly on the jointly owned Stares-Calvert property in the Thunder Bay district of northwestern Ontario. Shares in RJK doubled on the news hitting 36, only to plunge later in the week once the assay results came back showing only 0.01 gram gold. Two more holes over the anomaly have been completed but cut unmineralized granite. RJK ended the week at 16 on a volume of 513,000.

Diagem International Resource attracted the eye of investors, gaining 4 to close at 21 on heavy volume of nearly 1.7 million. Stock in the junior has rallied over the past week on news of surface sample results from a diamond project near Wawa, Ont. Joint venture partner, KWG Resources and fellow junior Spider Resources reported that 24 of 52 samples collected on the 45-sq.-km property returned 565 diamonds, 50 of which were macrodiamonds.

Starfield Resources lost ground as investors awaited the results from hole 132 into the Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-platinum-palladium project in Nunavut. The company reported that the hole cut three zones of massive sulphide ranging in thickness from 5.5 to 13.7 metres. Stock in the junior closed at 44, down 6 on over 1.3 million shares.

Making a nice percentage gain, Bell Coast Capital added 9 to close at 35 on 1.2 million shares. The company reported that 8 surface samples collected in the southwest corner of its Property 1 concession in the South Gobi region of Mongolia returned an average of 0.81% copper, 0.09% molybdenum and 0.12 gram gold per tonne. So far, the junior has outlined a prospective area measuring 3 km by 250 metres. An additional 34 samples have been collected and assay results are pending.

Gulf International Minerals dropped a dime to 45 on nearly 1.6 million shares. At last report, the company planned to launch full production at its Kansai gold project in Tajikistan by August 15, with the pouring of its first gold bar expected early this month.