Juniors hold on as Metal Prices soften

Junior mining stocks edged higher over the trading period Jan. 12-18. The TSX Venture Exchange gained 24 points, or more than 1%, to finish the trading period at 1796.75 as the gold price steadied.

Spot gold traded over a narrow range, finishing about even at US$422.60 per oz. in New York. The dollar showed signs of weakness and the euro appeared to be strengthening against it. Analysts were bullish on the yellow metal’s prospects ahead of some key U.S. economic data, due a few days after presstime, and the Iraqi elections, later in the month.

Silver lost some ground, shaving off 33, or nearly 5%, to close at US$6.62 per oz. Among other precious metals, platinum was about even, finishing at US$860 per oz., while palladium was off by $11 to close at US$183 per oz., a decrease of 5%.

There’s been little change in the base metals sector. Nickel was off 11 to close at US$6.62 per lb., whereas copper lost a penny to finish at US$1.42 per lb.

The trading period saw 37 new 52-week highs for Venture Exchange-listed companies, while 66 companies reached new 52-week lows.

Topping the most-active list for the fourth consecutive week was Calgary-based Tyler Resources, which reported drill results from its Bahuerachi copper project in Chihuahua, Mexico. The company traded more than 19.7 million shares and reached a 52-week high of $2.09 before finishing the week at $1.83. The stock is still riding high following news of the widest drill intercept to date: 143 metres averaging 0.71% copper, 0.22% zinc and 6 grams silver per tonne from near surface and ending in mineralization. The junior had dipped to a low of 68 in the previous report period, when disappointing reverse-circulation results spooked the markets.

Second among the most active stocks was Vancouver-based Skygold Ventures, which traded more than 5 million shares. Skygold also featured fourth on the list of percentage gainers and reached a new 52-week high of 24 before finishing at 22.5. Investors were enthusiastic about a wide drill intercept at the Spanish Mountain project, near Barkerville, B.C., which the company optioned from Wildrose Resources. The 11 holes released contained 22 significant intercepts, highlighted by hole 228, which returned 2.47 grams gold per tonne over 60.1 metres for its entire length. Stratiform high-grade gold was found to occur in a shaley unit. The project is 15 km east of Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley copper-gold operation.

ORKO Gold traded 2.7 million shares and closed up 7, to 20. The company is running an induced-polarization survey on the Preciosa property in Durango state, Mexico, which it is optioning from Wheaton River Minerals. Orko will begin drilling following evaluation of the IP survey.

Pele Mountain closed up 5.5 to 26 on more than 2.5 million shares, after two large diamond-bearing volcanogenic zones were found during exploration at the Festival diamond project in northern Ontario. Goldcorp will continue to provide funding as part of its option to earn up to a 60% interest in the project.

Market attention has not waned for uranium explorers. JNR Resources, which is exploring its high-grade Moore Lake deposit, traded nearly 2.9 million shares and closed 19 higher to finish at $1.28.