TSX Venture trends higher, Jan. 22-26

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index rose 1.18% to finish the trading week at 890.80.

High-grade sample results at its Cerro Blanco gold project in Guatemala sent shares of Bluestone Resources up 30¢ to $1.45.  The company reported more assays from 90 underground chip samples of known and previously mapped veins, including a 2.5-metre sample grading 270.5 grams gold per tonne and 637 grams silver per tonne. Bluestone reported that 51% of samples assayed graded equal or greater than 3 grams gold, with an average of 35.5 grams gold and 90 grams silver over widths ranging from 1 to 3 metres. Three drill rigs are operating on surface and the company has also started an underground infill drill program. The drill program will use 3 km of underground development done after a US$230-million investment in the project by previous operators, the company said. The company started working on a feasibility study in the second half of September 2017. Results from the underground drill program will appear in a mid-2018 resource estimate. A preliminary economic assessment estimated a nine-year mine life producing 952,000 oz. gold and 3.14 million oz. silver.

Shares of Atlantic Gold increased 25¢ to $1.76 after the company reported more results from the third phase of a resource-expansion drill program at its Fifteen Mile Stream gold project in Nova Scotia. Highlights included 20 metres grading 21.9 grams gold from 35 metres, including 1 metre of 419 grams gold in the Egerton-MacLean zone; and 3 metres of 52.9 grams gold from 18 metres, including 1 metre of 156 grams gold from the Plenty zone. Fifteen Mile Stream has measured and indicated resources of 10.59 million tonnes grading 1.33 grams gold for 452,000 contained oz. gold at a 0.35 gram gold cut-off grade. Inferred resources amount to 6.64 million tonnes grading 1.12 grams gold for 240,000 oz. gold at the same cut-off grade.

Mirasol Resources rose 23¢ to $2 per share on no corporate news. The junior announced in January that it had acquired the Zeus high-sulphidation epithermal gold project in Northern Chile, 40 km southeast of Gold Fields’ multimillion-ounce Salares Norte discovery. Zeus hosts two recognized breccia-hosted gold targets: Artemisa and Apollo. The junior is looking for a joint-venture partner to help advance the project, which covers 184.8 sq. km of contiguous exploration claims (159.8 sq. km wholly owned and 25 sq. km controlled through a five-year, option-to-purchase agreement). Exploration will likely include systematic soil sampling, geological mapping and rock-chip sampling, as well as magnetic and electrical geophysical surveys. TNM