TSX Venture plummets, Nov. 7-11

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index dove 34.07 points, or 4.5%, to a 727.91-point close over the Nov. 7-11 trading period in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election. The spot gold price dropped US$77.42 to US$1,227.64 per oz., its lowest level since June, whereas Comex copper prices rose to 16-month highs, gaining US24¢ to US$2.51 per lb.

Shares of Abitibi Royalties shed $1.42 to close at $8.35, marking the greatest loss of value during the trading period. The company’s prime asset is a 3% net smelter return royalty on the eastern portion of Agnico Eagle Mines and Yamana Gold’s Canadian Malartic gold mine in Quebec.

Diamond explorer Archon Minerals was a front-runner in the value-added category, gaining 28¢ to $1.70 per share. In October, the company stated in third quarter financial results that an exploration campaign is underway at its land holdings at and near Dominion Diamond’s Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories. Archon owns a 35.7% interest in Dominion Diamond’s Buffer Zone, which hosts the Jay and Lynx kimberlite pipes, and a 100% interest in the West Buffer Zone.

Junior explorer G4G Capital gained 9¢ to $1 per share following the Nov. 2 appointment of Robert Carpenter, co-founder and former CEO of Kaminak Gold, to the company’s board of directors. G4G recently acquired 2,490 sq. km of land holdings in the Yukon’s prospective White Gold gold district from prospector Shawn Ryan and private company Wildwood Exploration. The properties represent all of Ryan’s precious metal interests in the district that is not under joint venture. G4G plans to change its name to White Gold Corp., pending shareholder approval, to better reflect its new strategic focus on exploration in the Yukon.

Depressed silver prices drove shares of Avino Silver and Gold Mines down 55¢ to $2.58 per share despite strong third quarter financial results. The company gained $13.2 million in revenues from production at its Avino silver-gold and San Gonzalo silver-gold mines near Durango, Mexico, or up 163% from last year’s comparable quarter. The company produced 410,908 oz. silver and 1,813 oz. gold from 138,000 tonnes, and reported a net income of $1.2 million, compared to a loss of $625,000 in the third quarter last year. The company continues to develop an operating plan to ramp up production at its Bralorne gold mine near Gold Bridge, B.C, which has been under trial production status since 2010. The mine plan includes changing the mining method to long hole mining, which should support production levels up to 300 tonnes per day. Expansion work on the 100-tonne-per-day mill and infrastructure is expected to begin by the end of this year. A resource update in October pegged the deposit at 248,000 measured and indicated tonnes of 9.36 grams per tonne gold, and 330,000 inferred tonnes of 6.24 grams gold.