Venture market stable despite weaker gold

TSX-Venture board juniors continued to weather weak gold prices over the report period Jan. 19-25, despite a modest overall gain. The S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index closed at 1804.07, up 7.32 points from the previous session. Average daily trading volumes were a healthy 43 million shares.

On the New York spot market, gold closed at US$421.90 per oz., off less than a dollar from the previous week’s quote, but not before a small rally to the US$427.50-per-oz. level. The drop in bullion was triggered by the resurgence of the U.S. greenback against the euro and the yen, following strong consumer confidence figures.

Silver generally tracked gold’s action, closing out the session at US$6.67 per oz. on the New York spot market, up a nickel over the week. Platinum closed up a couple of bucks at US$862 per oz., while palladium gained more than 4%, finishing at US$191 per oz., up US$8 from the previous week’s close.

Among base metals, copper gained a few pennies to close at US$1.45 per lb., whereas nickel closed at US$6.44 per lb., down 18 from a week earlier.

The number of new highs versus lows on the junior mining board mirrored that of the previous report period: 37 companies rose to new 52-week highs, and 69 Venture-Exchange-listed explorers dropped to new yearly lows.

Continuing its run as the weekly volume leader, Tyler Resources saw a blistering 20.8 million shares change hands. The stock closed at $1.53, off 30 from a week earlier, but not before touching an intra-day high of $2.18. Following a trading halt, the company released the final set of results from reverse-circulation drilling on the Bahuerachi copper-gold porphyry project in Mexico. Hole 2, which ended in mineralization, returned an impressive 113 metres grading 1.3% copper, 1.07% zinc and 27 grams silver per tonne. A higher-grade portion in the main mineralized skarn breccia returned 1.81% copper, 0.14 gram gold, 22 grams silver, and 2% zinc over 49 metres. The company has improved its drilling and sample-recovery process, addressing concerns about inconsistent results obtained with twinned, core holes.

The second most active trader was Starfield Resources, which saw 6.1 million of its shares cross the floor. The stock closed at 46, up 37%, or 12.5, on the week. Starfield announced plans to expand its Ferguson Lake massive-sulphide base metal/platinum-group-metal project in Nunavut.

Third on the volume tally was ORKO Gold, which traded 5.2 million shares and closed at 19.5. An induced-polarization survey has been carried out on ORKO’s Preciosa gold-silver project in Durango state, Mexico. The company is earning a 75% interest in the project from Wheaton River Minerals.

Aspiring molybdenum developer Adanac Moly continued to attract investors; the share price reached an all-time high of $1.05, having gained 22% in value, to close at 95 on a volume of almost 2 million. With moly now selling for about US$34.50 per lb., Adanac is determined to advance its Ruby Creek project, near Atlin, B.C.

Investors also also took a shine to Tenajon Resources, which dusted off its Ajax molybdenum project in northwestern British Columbia. The share price increased 46% to close at 35 on a volume of 3.3 million.