Juniors follow gold, other commodities higher

The junior mining sector remained upbeat during the report period Nov. 9-16 as the gold price approached and closed near the US$450-per-oz. mark. Toronto Venture Exchange-listed companies were likewise looking up. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange Index was nearly 40 points (2.3%) higher, at 1700.60, than it was in the previous week.

There were 69 new 52-week lows for Venture Exchange-listed companies, while 43 managed to hit new highs over the trading period — a marked improvement over the summer period.

New York spot gold managed to tack on a healthy 2%, or US$8.70, over the period to close at US$448.50 per oz. The gold price met resistance at the US$450-per-oz. level, nonetheless hitting levels not seen in 18 years. Toward the end of the trading period, profit-taking kicked in ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving long weekend in the U.S., resulting in a pullback. The yellow metal is still following the weakness in the U.S. greenback against the euro, now at an all-time low.

Silver meanwhile was down 8 to US$7.52 an ounce, or 1% lower than in the previous session. Platinum closed down 1.3%, or US$12, to US$856 per oz. A major precious metals refiner recently predicted an impending platinum oversupply for next year. Palladium was down US$5, to close at US$215 per oz.

Copper closed up a nickel, or 3.5%, to finish at US$1.44, while nickel was trading at US$6.23 per lb. Lead and zinc were trading at 44 and 51 per lb., respectively.

Volume leaders for the trading period were Spider Resouces, which traded 9.9 million shares, and Tyler Resources at 7.6 million shares.

Spider’s shares were up a penny on the leading volume to close at 15.5 per share. Diagem International Resources elected to convert its 8% interest in the McFauld’s Lake VMS property held by the Spider-KWG Resources joint venture — a deal which requires that Spider issue 9.6 million common shares to Diagem (over 5% of the company’s shares).

Tyler Resources recorded a 19 gain to close at 76 and managed to hit a new 52-week high of 87. The company started diamond drilling breccia bodies over a 1.2-km strike length on its Bahuerachi property in Chihuahua state, Mexico, in October.

Diadem Resources was up 1.5 to close at 13.5 on a volume of 5.9 million shares. The company has proposed a non-brokered private placement to raise $1.6 million. Diadem’s diamond prospects include Franklin in the Northwest Territories, Otish in north-central Quebec, and Leek Springs in north-eastern California.

Riding the wave of global price hikes in coal was Vancouver-based Western Canadian Coal. The company’s shares closed up $1.35 to $4.65 on a volume of 5.6 million shares after hitting a new 52-week high of $4.88. The company recently struck a deal with Northern Energy & Mining to explore and develop the Saxon and Belcourt coal properties in British Columbia. The deal calls for an expenditure of up to $20 million to update the feasibility reports on both groups of coal properties.

Shares in Murgor Resources were up 3 to close at 17 on a volume of 5.1 million shares. The company and Freewest Resources have begun drilling their jointly owned Windfall property in the Barry-Urban gold belt of northwestern Quebec.

Entree Gold moved 17 higher to close at $1.20 as 4.8 million shares changed hands. The Vancouver-based junior was riding high on a press release by Ivanhoe Mines, which described the Hugo copper gold porphyry deposit as the richest in the world. Entree says the Hugo deposit has been drill-tested to within 250 metres of its Look Out Hill property, which surrounds Ivanhoe’s Turquoise Hill property.

Top percentage gainers included Currie Rose Resources which can earn up to a 70% interest in the Tanzanian properties of Perth-based Sub Sahara Resources. The company’s shares improved by 140% on a volume of 3.9 million to close at 24.