Graphite stocks stand out on Venture in March 26-30 period

VANCOUVER — The S&P TSX Venture Composite Index rose 10.87 points to 1,566.39 points in the March 26 to 30 period after two days of gains outweighed three days of losses. Volume was up from the week before but still fairly modest at an average of 94.5 million shares traded daily.

Graphite speculation, gaining significant buzz in recent months, reached new heights in the period as companies focused on the commodity were the clear stand-outs.

Northern Graphite saw the highest value gains of the index, up 56¢ in the period to $3.19 as investors clamoured to get into the latest hot commodity. The company’s share price has climbed from 90¢ in mid-January, in which time it has announced an extra-large-flake graphite research tie-in and closed a $10.6-million offering. The company is advancing its large-flake Bissett graphite project in Ontario, which hosts a resource of 26 million indicated tonnes grading 1.81% graphite and 55 million inferred tonnes grading 1.57% graphite.

Not far behind in gains was Flinders Resources, whose share price has gone on a wild ride since listing in February. The company’s share price climbed 50¢ in the period to end at $2.73, near its closing price of $2.95 on its first day of trading, while in between the company has traded at a low of $1.52. The company owns the past-producing 13,000-tonne-per-year Kringel graphite mine in Sweden, which hosts a historic resource of 6.9 million tonnes grading 8.8% graphite. In the period the company announced a $15-million proposed financing at $1.70 per unit, and in early March the company started a 2,500-metre, 35-hole drill program.

Zenyatta Ventures was the second-most active company with 10.3 million shares traded and the highest percentage gainer with a 23¢ or 144% climb to 39¢, also due to its graphite holdings. The company released no news in the period, but a February study on its Albany graphite deposit in northeastern Ontario showed the presence of coarse flake graphite and a January drill hole intersected eight separate breccia zones containing graphite. Zenyatta is launching a 4,000-metre drill program to test a 1,400-metre-by-800-metre airborne electromagnetic conductor on the project.

Strike Graphite was up 9¢ to 35¢ after receiving a drill permit for its Simon Lake graphite property in northern Saskatchewan. The company, which changed its name from Strike Gold in January, acquired the Simon Lake as well as the Deep Bay East property last September from Zimtu Capital, and more recently acquired the Wagon property from Zimtu.

Property aggregator Zimtu snapped up a number of graphite projects early on, and in recent months has been optioning them off. Several property deals counted as qualifying transactions for companies, while all companies have since seen gains. Orocan Resource, which recently changed its name to Standard Graphite, has gone from around 20¢ before making a deal in November to a high of 90¢, Lomiko Metals has climbed from 5¢ in early January to a high of 18¢, Galaxy Capital has gone from 13¢ in late February to a high of 27¢, Big North Capital has climbed from 20¢ in mid-March to a high of 33¢, and Pinestar Gold climbed 3¢ to 15¢ on its first day of trading after announcing its property deal.