STOCK MARKETS — VSE, Alberta slide as western markets continue slump — Diamond explorers add lustre to otherwise sluggish week

Both western markets slipped over the report period ended May 27, with the Vancouver Stock Exchange losing 17.63 points to close at 1,000.59 and the Alberta Stock Exchange down 33.34 points to finish at 2,523.03.

Not all the news was bad, however. Mar-West Resources enjoyed a stellar week, soaring to a high of $3.20 before settling in at $2.70 — a gain of $1.01. About 308,200 of the company’s shares changed hands.

Last week, Mar-West and 20% partner Curion Ventures announced drill results from seven more holes at the Sinter zone at the San Martin concession in Honduras. Those results included 33.5 metres grading 4.77 grams gold per tonne in hole 12, 16.8 metres of 2.53 grams in hole 14, and 33.6 metres of 1.72 grams in hole 15.

Based on results of 15 holes, the partners believe the average true thickness of the gold zone to be 20 metres, with an average gold grade of 1.77 grams per tonne. Curion closed at 64 cents for a gain of 19 cents.

Northern diamonds continued to sparkle in the eyes of Canadian juniors.

Contractor Monopros, a wholly owned subsidiary of South African diamond giant De Beers Consolidated Mines, intersected kimberlite while drilling a lake-based geophysical target on the AK claim block in the Northwest Territories. Mountain Province Mining holds a half stake in that project, Camphor Ventures holds 10%, and Alberta-listed Glenmore Highlands is in for 40%.

The news boosted Mountain Province by 88 cents to $3.10, while Camphor rose 35 cents to $1.15. Glenmore Highlands was down 60 cents to $4.60. TSE-listed Lytton Minerals holds a 38% stake in Glenmore.

Drilling of additional lake-based targets will continue as long as weather permits. A summer program involving land targets is also planned.

Another diamond explorer, Winspear Resources, gained 40 cents to finish the week at $1.60, reaching a high of $2. Some 3.1 million shares changed hands, making it one of Vancouver’s most active issues.

Winspear reported last week that it had collared a second vertical drill hole at its Camsell Lake joint venture in the Northwest Territories, 55 metres west of the discovery hole. The hole returned 107 metres of complex kimberlite breccia. Beginning at a depth of 119.3 metres, the second hole encountered more complex kimberlite breccia over 98.5 metres.

Several pyrope garnets and a 0.9-Mm diamond were recovered during the examination of core in the field. The core has been shipped to Vancouver for further evaluation.

Winspear holds 57.3% of Camsell Lake, whereas Toronto-listed Aber Resources holds the remaining 42.7%.

First Quantum Minerals rose 15 cents on a volume of 262,300 to end the report period at $5.40. First Quantum and several other Canadian juniors are exploring mineral belts in Zambia, which are known to extend into the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Last month, the Zambian government asked the company to enter into negotiations to acquire the Luanshya copper mine and the Baluba copper-Cobalt mine, known as BCo.

Indonesian diamond explorer Indomin Resources continued a slow recovery in the wake of the Bre-X Minerals debacle, gaining 4 cents to close at $1.78.

Indomin reported the discovery, at shallow depths, of an additional horizon following the exploration and preparation of diamond-bearing paleogravels for bulk sampling.

The paleogravels lie beneath 18 to 22 metres of overburden at the company’s sixth-generation contract of work at Martapura, in South Kalimantan.

Borneo Gold, another junior hoping to put the Busang affair behind it, added a dime to close the week at $1.99.