Late rally leaves Venture down only slightly in May 16-20 period

Vancouver – A market rally in the latter half of the May 16 – 20 period saved the S&P TSX Venture Composite Index from another period of sharp decline.  The index ended at 2,031.44 points, down only 6.78 points after declining almost 70 points in the first half of the period. Volume was markedly low, averaging 117 million shares traded daily.

Despite the low volume, Orbite Exploration managed to have 30.8 million shares traded in the period. The company’s share price dipped almost a dollar at one point, trading as low as $2.10, before bouncing back and ending the period up 34¢ at $3.39, though still well off its mid-April high of $5.69. Orbite stated it had no material changes that would explain the activity. The week before, the company announced it had filed a new patent application that would cover the extraction of rare earths from materials other than clay, and intends to file new applications for two new ‘patent families’ in the next few weeks.

Second on the activity chart, Encanto Potash had 20.9 million shares traded as it climbed 7¢ to 30¢. Over 10 million of those shares were traded on the day Encanto issued an operational update, stating that it is on track to nearly double the resource at the Muskowekwan project. The increase is dependent on the Muskowekwan First Nation membership voting to support the transfer of 62.7 sq. km of reserve land to a joint venture between Muskowekwan and Encanto.

Mirasol Resources had the biggest value gain in the week, climbing 82¢ to end at $5.50. The company did not release news in the period, but the week before it announced an initial resource for its Joaquin silver project in Argentina’s Santa Cruz province and drill results from its Virginia project in the same region. The resource outlined 19.6 million indicated ounces at 85 grams silver per tonne and 47.9 million inferred silver oz. at 108.1 grams silver, with both totals incorporating both the oxides and sulphides. Drill results from Virginia included 29.1 metres grading 251 grams silver and 26.6 metres averaging 230 grams silver, both true widths.

Rising 60¢ to an all-time closing high, Great Quest Metals ended at $3.80 in a period that saw it announce board nominations in an information circular. Along with the six current directors, Great Quest has nominated Gordon Peeling to the board, who has just wrapped up a 13-year term as president of the Mining Associated of Canada.  The company recently started drilling up to 800 shallow holes at its 94%-owned Tilemsi phosphate project in Mali.  

Colombia-focused Batero Gold released several long low-grade drill hits from its Batero-Quinchia project that sits roughly 20 km north of Medoro Resources’ Marmato project. Results included hole 13 that hit 592.5 metres grading 0.45 gram gold per tonne and 0.12% copper and ended in copper mineralization at 603 metres, hole 11 that returned 458.5 metres averaging 0.64 gram gold and 0.12% copper from 7.5 metres depth, and hole 15 that cut 234 metres carrying 0.54 gram gold and 0.08% copper from 8 metres. Batero’s share price declined 49¢ to end at $3.09.