STOCK MARKETS — Despite pre-budget jitters, western markets

Trading activity remained relatively steady on western markets over the week, despite nagging uncertainty about interest rates and the fate of the looney. Adding to the unease was speculation about a “broadened tax base” in the soon-to-be-delivered federal budget.

Interest in diamonds accounted for much of the activity on the Alberta and Vancouver exchanges. By mid-day on Feb. 16, the VSE’s resource index was at 1,796.99, off 13.8 points from a week ago. The composite index held at 1,143.68, down a modest 6.8 points from last week.

Alberta-listed Savanna Resources took top spot as the most active issue on Canadian markets, posting a gain of 15 cents to settle at 45 cents. The junior has roughly a 35% interest in another Alberta-listed issue, Rhonda Mining, which topped the $10 mark this week largely because of interest in its Saskatchewan diamond project.

Rhonda’s Peter Gummer says the trading also reflects Savanna’s prospecting permits in the Foxe fold belt on Baffin Island. Noranda has a back-in right for the project, where the target is large zinc-lead-silver deposits similar to Black Angel on Greenland.

Rhonda (and its largest shareholder, Savanna) bought 3 million shares of Alberta-listed Aaron Oil, a junior with interests in diamond plays in Saskatchewan and the Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Territories. Aaron is one of Rhonda’s partners on a property where diamonds were recently discovered.

Also active in Saskatchewan was War Eagle Mining, whose share price held steady at the $5.75-level after it announced that core from two of its targets in Saskatchewan was indeed kimberlite. Further work, including diamond analysis and results from other holes, is still pending. The company’s partner is Great Western Gold.

Solomon Resources was ahead a dime to 70 cents after agreeing to earn a half interest in several diamond-gold concessions held by Yellowjack Resources in southeastern Venezuela. A pilot plant is operating on one concession where 416 diamonds weighing a total of 185 carats have been recovered (80.5% of gem quality). The largest stone recovered was 4.45 carats.

After a period of reorganization, International Tournigan has decided to focus on precious metals projects which are low-risk but which carry with them the potential for cash flow. The issue was off a dime, settling at $2.20. Last spring, after securing the backing of Robert Friedland’s Ivanhoe Capital, Tournigan’s two Papua New Guinea subsidiaries stepped up the pace of their activities in the mineral-rich country.

Both have filed applications for exploration licences for lode gold, alluvial gold and gold-copper prospects. These include a large concession in the Morobe gold district, where one of the Tournigan subsidiaries is awaiting approval to carry out further bulk sampling. This concession is reported to have large-scale economic potential.

Affiliated companies Boron Chemicals International and Trans America Industries have announced a private placement to meet the costs of ongoing feasibility studies at the Aguas Blancas iodine project in Chile. Boron was up 24 cents at 78 cents on the news, while Trans America held steady at 48 cents.