Junior miners settle back after rally

Vancouver — Junior mining companies roared back to life in the first half of September, with the S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index even cracking 2,000 briefly before settling back to 1998.16 on Sept. 12, for a gain of 46.53 points from a week earlier. By presstime however, decliners were outpacing advancers, with the downdraft whacking more than 10 points off the Index.

St. Elias Mines was the most active junior over the short trading session Sept. 6-8 (data from Sept. 9 and 12 were not available at presstime). The company’s shares fell 19 to 61 over the report period, reflecting disappointment over the latest drill results from the past-producing Jales-Gralheira gold project in northern Portugal. The mineralized intervals were generally narrow (averaging 0.3-to-0.7 metre in width) while grades ranged from 1 to 17 grams gold per tonne, with most averaging at the lower end, at 2-3 grams.

St. Elias is earning a 51% stake in the project from Kernow Resources and Developments, which also took a 19-hit to 24 after the results were digested by investors.

Vedron Gold also saw plenty of action, and climbed 6 to close at 30 over the session. The company’s properties are situated in the world-famous Timmins camp of Ontario, near some of its most prolific gold producers. The junior raised $1.25 million in a recent private placement to continue work at its various properties.

Uranium explorer JNR Resources was off 9 at $1.20, shedding some of the gains made in recent weeks after releasing drill results from the Moore Lake uranium project in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin. Also in the uranium game is Western Prospector Group, now drilling its Saddle Hills uranium deposit in Mongolia. The company’s shares got a boost of 32 to close at $4.52 based on strong investor interest in the project.

Coal producer Pine Valley Mining reached a milestone at its Willow Creek mine in northeastern B.C., which made its first shipment a year ago. The company produces good-quality PCI and metallurgical coal and is looking to expand operations. Shares of Pine Valley climbed 30 to $4.50, reflecting strong prices for coal and other commodities shipped to booming Asian markets.

Endeavour Silver was ahead 35 at $2.40, and took top spot as the largest value gainer over the report period. The company recently announced that silver production from the Guanacevi project near Durango, Mexico, reached 108,000 oz. in July. The company secured its option to acquire the Guanacevi plant, the producing Santa Cruz silver-gold mine, and related concessions in May of last year. The company has since worked to expand and modernize the mining and processing complex.

Quebec explorer Osisko Exploration picked up 31 to close at 75 after it outlined a gold system with “potential” for a few million ounces of gold at its Canadian Malartic property in northwestern Quebec. But not enough work has been done to determine a resource compliant with National Instrument 43-101.