Mining index suffers summer slump

Vancouver — Canada’s junior exchange lost ground over the report period ended July 31, with the mining index slipping considerably. The Canadian Venture Exchange composite index lost 10.69 points, or 0.3%, to finish the week at 3,063.01. The mining index dropped 47.90 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 7,321.46.

Montello Resources was the volume leader, with 1.3 million shares traded. The company is exploring an oil and gas prospect in Tennessee but is also involved with diamond exploration properties in Alberta and Manitoba, as well as a platinum group metal property near Sudbury, Ont. Montello tacked on 3 to close the week at 16.

Argosy Minerals dropped 10 and closed at 32 on a volume of 1 million shares. The company announced that Russia’s Noril’sk Nickel would complete a feasibility study of the junior’s Nakety-Bogota nickel laterite property in New Caledonia. During the past month, stock in the company had run up from 15 to more than 40 per share on speculation that a deal would happen.

IBI remained flat at 5 on heavy trading, with 777,000 shares crossing the floor. The company has completed development of its Namekara vermiculite project in Uganda, and commercial mining is under way.

Cantex Mine Development lost a penny and closed at 8, with 767,000 shares traded. At last report, the company was exploring gossan horizons within the Wadi Qutabah layered gabbroic complex in Yemen.

Starfield Resources lost a penny and closed at 54 on a volume of 751,000 shares. The company has boosted its inferred resource estimate to 46.1 million tonnes grading 0.88% copper and 0.58% nickel plus 1.41 grams combined platinum and palladium on its Ferguson Lake property in Nunavut.

New Blue Ribbon Resources bounced off recent lows, gaining 1 to 10 on 750,000 shares. The Edmonton-based company’s joint-venture partner, BHP Diamonds, is working the Moose project in Manitoba.

Spider Resources ended the week flat at 5, with 719,000 shares traded. The junior has a stake in the Kyle No. 3 kimberlite in the James Bay Lowlands, as well as copper-nickel projects in the Springer-Lavoie Lake region of northwestern Ontario.

Big Blackfoot Resources ended the week unchanged at 3 on 699,000 shares. The company recently optioned its Plata-Inca base metal property in the Yukon to fellow junior Copper Ridge Exploration. Copper Ridge closed the week at 9, up a penny.

Results from the first four holes drilled at the Lupita zone on the Tambor gold property in Guatemala failed to lift shares in Radius Explorations. Despite hitting broad zones of 1-to-2 grams gold per tonne, the stock lost 1 and closed at $1.09, with 502,000 shares changing hands.

Despite no new developments, shares in Philex Gold took a roller-coaster ride, settling at $1.20, up 12 on a volume of 406,000 shares. The junior’s joint-venture partner, Anglo American, has three rigs turning on the promising Boyongan copper-gold discovery in the Philippines.