STOCK MARKETS — Juniors make gains on mixed western markets

Western markets finished the report period ended Sept. 26 mixed, with the Vancouver Stock Exchange composite index down 1.37 at 860.11, while the resource index notched up 13.08 points to close at 1,395.58.

Buyer and sellers played tug-of-war with Atna Resources, pushing the issue to a high of $5.12 before selling it down to $4.50 for a gain of 75 cents on the week.

Assays are now awaited on a fan of stepout holes 50 metres to the west of the “discovery section” on the Foot property in the southern Yukon. The discovery section includes a fan of three holes, which defined a massive sulphide zone over a dip length of 210 metres with values of up to 8.4 metres grading 0.56% copper, 3.45% lead and 14.22% zinc, as well as 7.62 grams gold and 1,348.9 grams silver per tonne.

Westmin, which is earning a 60% interest in the Foot property, reports that the first stepout hole encountered a 3-metre section of zinc-rich massive sulphides, while a second stepout, 100 metres downdip, hit two zones of zinc-rich massive sulphides (1.7 and 7.6 metres thick). A third stepout, this one 50 metres east of the discovery section, also encountered two zones on zinc-rich massive sulphides (0.5 and 6.1 metres thick).

Other companies with property in the area of the Westmin-Atna discovery (as well as Cominco’s nearby Kudz ze Kayah find) continue to

do well.

Demand Gold, which added 6 cents to close at $1.30, is awaiting results from a reconnaissance geochemical survey. On the other hand, interest in the area was not much help to Pacific Bay Resources, which edged down 2 cents at 76 cents.

Expatriate Resources took advantage of the market interest in the growing area play, announcing plans for a brokered placement of 1.5 million shares at $1.80 per share. The company plans to use the proceeds to fund geophysical surveys, geological mapping, soil geochemistry and diamond drilling on its Finlayson Lake area properties.

Expatriate closed up 95 cents at $2.25.

War Eagle Mining took a hit, dropping 85 cents to $3.30, amid reports of lower-than-expected silver grades in drilling by Hecla Mining on the Mexican joint venture known as Los Mayos.

Hecla’s drilling could not confirm previously reported silver values, and War Eagle has agreed to fund another five holes on the property at a cost of US$100,000. War Eagle believes the lower silver values are the result of different drilling techniques used by the two companies.

Drill results from the Dama zone on the Niblack property in Alaska did not help Abacus Minerals, leaving the issue down 44 cents to $1.15.

Joint-venture partners Pallaum Minerals, Labrador International Mining and Swannell Minerals all gained ground before releasing preliminary exploration results from their Voisey Bay area claims in Labrador.

Sampling from two exposed gossan zones returned values of up to 0.25% copper, 0.28% nickel and 0.018% cobalt. Airborne geophysical survey results are not yet available, and the companies plan to carry out a “major” fall-winter exploration program in light of the “significant” preliminary exploration results.

Labrador International traded as high as $2.20 before finishing down 15 cents at $1.50; Swannell touched a high of 78 cents before closing up 3 cents at 55 cents; and Pallaum closed up 88 cents at $2.75, off only a dime from its high trade.

AGC Americas continued to lose ground, slipping 59 cents to finish at $1.28, down significantly from the high of $5.50 it touched in July.