TSX Venture down, July 5-9

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index dropped 3.09% to finish the trading week at 938.47. Spot gold increased by US$20.60 per oz., or 1.15%, to US$1,807.90 per ounce.

Rupert Resources climbed 31¢ to $5.49. The company released drill results from the Heina South prospect at its 100%-owned Pahtavaara project in Finland, about 1,200 km north of Helsinki. Highlights included drillhole 121015, which intersected one metre grading 162 grams gold per tonne starting from 23 metres downhole, and extended the previously defined northeast trend by 160 metres. Hole 121049 cut two metres of 17.7 grams gold from 243 metres, and confirmed continuity of grade at depth within the previously defined trend. The results “significantly extend the mineralised system at Heina South and add continuity to the previously identified high-grade mineralisation, with the trend now shown to strike at least 750 metres with potential to extend to one km with further infill,” James Withall, Rupert Resources’ CEO, stated in a press release.

Shares of NEO Battery Materials rose 29¢ to $1.03. The Vancouver-based company said it is working on a conceptual design for a pilot plant for its proprietary silicon nanocoating technology. The company said the technology could enable the low-cost, mass-production of silicon-based materials that are used in the anodes of batteries in electric vehicles. The company also noted that it is evaluating locations for the plant, and said South Korea is among the top candidates due to that country’s “robust LiB network and technological advancements.”

Eskay Mining fell 44¢ to $2.37 per share. Eskay Mining and Seabridge Gold announced that they have agreed to share the $12 million cost to build the first nine kilometres of an access road to Seabridge’s KSM gold-silver-copper project in B.C., about 65 km northeast of Stewart. Called the Coulter Creek Access Road (CCAR), on completion it would be one of two main access roads to KSM. About 2.92 kilometres of the first segment of the CCAR is on mineral tenures held by Eskay. “The construction of the first segment of the CCAR will provide cost-saving logistical benefits for Eskay Mining’s planned exploration activities,” Mac Balkam, Eskay’s president and CEO, stated in a press release. Once the first segment is complete, he added, “we will have use of the first segment of the CCAR for a minimum of 15 years pursuant to a road access agreement subject to payment of our pro rata share of maintenance costs.”