Resource stocks fuel junior exchange

Vancouver — Canada’s junior exchange finished the report period ended March 2 on a bullish note as resource shares fueled a late rally. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index closed at 1899.09, up 35.48 points or 1.9% of value.

Spider Resources and joint-venture partner KWG Resources recently tabled more results from ongoing winter drilling on the McFaulds #3 base metal target in the James Bay Lowlands of Ontario. Hole 24 intersected 12.09 metres averaging 1.81% copper and 0.07% zinc, plus 0.1 gram gold and 3.36 grams silver per tonne, starting at 219 metres down-hole. This included a 3.47-metre section that averaged 4.21% copper, 0.2% zinc, 0.22 gram gold and 8.55 grams silver. Spider closed the week down a penny to 22 with 11.5 million shares traded. KWG ended the session down 7, to 39, with 2.4 million shares traded.

Far West Mining closed up 29 to $1.36 with 6.9 million shares traded. The company is exploring for iron-oxide copper-gold deposits in collaboration with BHP Billiton along 300 km of the Candelaria iron-copper belt of northern Chile. Seven holes were sunk in the 4c target area and five others tested the depth and strike extensions of the mineralization in hole 4c3-01 (2.47% copper and 0.33 gram gold over 60 metres). All the holes returned intersections with anomalous copper values (up to 52 metres of 0.14%). Far West can earn a 70% participating interest in a target area by drilling up to 2,000 metres of core.

Victoria Resources rocketed 88 and closed at $1.79 with 6.9 million shares traded. The junior, a 36%-owned affiliate of Toronto-listed Bema Gold, released additional diamond drill results from the Mill Canyon property in Nevada. Drilling has identified four high-grade gold zones over a width of 185 metres and length of 125 metres. Gold mineralization has been intersected in 8 of the 10 holes, including hole OC-10, which cut 9.1 metres averaging 40 grams gold.

Cantex Mine Development added 4 to its value and closed at 11 with 6 million shares changing hands. The junior holds an exclusive exploration licence covering 1,063 sq. km in northwestern Yemen, and in Nevada it has a 51% stake in 10 gold exploration targets. As well, Cantex owns a 10.2% interest in a 6,043-sq.-km licence in western Greenland.

Muskox Minerals jumped 13 and closed at 38 on a volume of 6 million shares. The company tabled results from an initial 2-hole drilling program on its Atlin project in northwestern British Columbia. The two exploratory holes were drilled to test a section of the Pine Creek Fault zone. Some eyebrow-raising results were cut in hole YJ-03-01, which intersected 5.56 metres averaging 513.5 grams gold per tonne starting at 45.75 ft. down-hole.

Plexmar Resources closed at 25, down 6 with 5.8 million shares changing hands. The Quebec-based company recently announced a private-placement financing of $3 million. The company will issue up to 12 million units priced at 25 apiece. A unit consists of one share plus one share purchase warrant exercisable at 40 for two years. Plexmar will use the proceeds to explore the Marilia and Cascajal properties in Peru.

OntZinc ended the week up 2, to 20, with 3.7 million shares crossing the floor. The company has plans for a $1.1-million exploration drilling program at the Scotia zinc mine in Nova Scotia.