Stronger gold rallies junior explorers

The recovery in gold prices triggered a trading surge in TSX-Venture board exploration companies. The S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index closed at 1892.93 at the end of the Feb. 9-15 period, its highest level in more than 10 months and up a whopping 80.26 points, or 4.4%, higher than at the end of the previous week. Average daily trading volume was 58.8 million shares, the highest in about a year.

Gold closed the session strongly at US$425.60 per oz. on the New York spot market, up US$12.20 from a week earlier. Bullion rose after testing the US$410-per-oz. level. The strength in the American dollar, which had contributed to gold’s recent sag, proved short-lived, with the euro regaining ground on the greenback.

Silver rallied more than 12% to a 2-month high, closing at US$7.34 per oz. on the New York spot market, up 81. Platinum was off US$5, closing at US$850 per oz., but not before a mid-week jump to US$874. Palladium gained five dollars, finishing the trading period at US$183 per oz.

Base metals were strong. Copper gained five cents, closing above US$1.48 per lb. Nickel closed at US$7.10 per lb., up 25 from the previous week. Zinc quietly ascended to US60 per lb., a multi-year high, as inventories dwindled.

The gap between new highs versus lows closed, with 53 companies touching new 52-week highs and 59 Venture Exchange-listed explorers seeing new lows.

Topping the volume charts was Spider Resources, trading more than 10 million shares and shedding 1.5 to close at 20.5. The company and its partner, KWG Resources, released preliminary diamond analysis results from the Wawa project in Ontario. Seventy-six diamonds measuring greater than 0.8 mm in one dimension and weighing a total of 0.61 carat were recovered from 95.3 kg of processed lamprophyre dyke material. Spider also announced a $1.5-million flow-through financing of 8.9 million shares priced at 17 per share.

Aspiring uranium developer Bell Coast Capital saw 8.1 million shares cross the floor. The stock gained 13.5 to close at 48. The company recently divested itself of its Nevada gold properties, which are now held by Staccato Gold. Bell Coast will focus instead on its half-stake in the Sheep Mountain uranium project, in Wyoming, which produced from the 1960s through to the 1980s.

In third spot was Tyler Resources, which traded 6.8 million shares. The stock closed at $1.75, up 21 from the previous week. The company released gold and silver numbers from reverse-circulation drilling on the Los Alisos zone at its Bahuerachi copper-gold porphyry project in Chihuahua state, Mexico. Hole 9 returned 9.1 metres grading 2.2 grams gold and 182 grams silver per tonne, plus 4.3% zinc.

Argent Resources and Eastfield Resources posted gains of 35% and 72%, respectively, following two significant drill intercepts of massive sulphides on the Iron Lake project in central British Columbia.

Western Prospector Group gained 81, closing at $2.55 on a volume of 2.1 million shares. The company is advancing its Saddle Hills uranium project in northeastern Mongolia and recently inked a deal allowing neighbour Khan Resources to acquire part of a concession bordering its mining licence.