MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS — Western Markets — Winspear among beneficiaries of stronger market

The Vancouver Stock Exchange composite index tacked on 6.3 points, or 1.58%, to finish the week ended Aug. 17 at 407.22. The mining index added 4.43 points, or 1.6%, and ended the week at 273.41.

Meanwhile, the combined value of the Alberta Stock Exchange rose 21.96 points, or 0.85%, to close at 2,592.49.

Winspear Resources jumped 37 cents to close at $2.75. The market is expecting a micro-macro diamond count from 103 drill holes on the company’s Snap Lake diamond property in the Northwest Territories. Winspear, as the operator, holds a 67.76% interest. Toronto-listed Aber Resources holds the remainder.

EuroZinc Mining tacked on 8 cents to finish the week at $1.10. The company recently closed a 6.4-million-unit private placement priced at 70 cents per unit. Drilling continues at the company’s 75%-owned Aljustrel zinc-copper project in Portugal. The market is expecting a resource update and metallurgical test results.

Contiki Resources rocketed 56 cents to close at $1.22. The company is in advanced negotiations with a British company involved in internet pooled betting on English Premier League soccer matches. The company’s new web site recorded more than 45,000 hits during its first week on-line.

Starfield Resources closed at 97 cents, up 12 cents. The company has begun a summer drilling program at the Ferguson Lake

copper-nickel-platinum-palladium property in Nunavut. To date, the first hole of a 4,000-metre program has been completed.

Maracote International Resources lost 9 cents to close at 11 cents. The company recently dropped its option to earn a 65% stake in the Halley gold property in Peru.

Aquest Minerals lost 3 cents and closed at 24 cents. Assay results from the company’s Anabella gold-antimony project in Guatemala failed to excite the market. The best results averaged 3.01% antimony and 5.23 grams gold per tonne over 32 metres. This included a 4-metre intercept that assayed 8.03% antimony and 13.30 grams gold.

Peruvian Gold closed at 42 cents, down 3 cents. The company has launched a 2,000-metre drill program on its Silvertip project in northern British Columbia. The first two drill holes are designed to test strong geophysical anomalies identified in a recent survey. Peruvian stands to earn a 60% interest in the property from Toronto-listed Imperial Metals by spending $5 million over three field seasons.

Samex Mining tacked on 3 cents to close at 18 cents. The company has arranged a private placement valued at $180,000. A portion of the proceeds will be used to explore properties in Bolivia.