TSX Venture drops, Oct. 24-28

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index shed 14.76 points, or 1.9%, over the report period to a 775.87-point close despite gains in commodity prices. Spot gold prices rose US$9.01 to US$1,275.47 per oz., while Comex three-month copper prices jumped US10¢ to US$2.19 per pound.

Almadex Minerals rose 47¢ to $1.54 per share after reporting assays from a second drill hole at its Norte zone, one of four porphyry copper-gold targets identified on the company’s El Cobre project in Veracruz, Mexico. Intercepts returned 9.9 metres of 0.24 gram gold per tonne and 0.2% copper from 9.1 metres deep, 27.5 metres of 0.12 gram gold and 0.2% copper from 117.8 metres deep, and 433 metres of 0.42 gram gold and 0.2% copper from 162 metres deep. The hole was collared from the same drill pad as an earlier drill hole, 16-010, which returned 151 metres of 0.55 gram gold and 0.2% copper from 392 metres deep. A third hole, drilled at a steeper angle than the first two, has been completed and assays are pending. Most of the drilling this year focused on the Encinal target, 3 km south of Norte, where intercepts returned 53 metres of 0.27 gram gold and 0.1% copper. Whereas the project’s Villa Rica zone, 1 km south of Norte, has yet to be drill-tested, despite having the largest copper-gold soil and geophysical anomalies identified on the 74.6 sq. km property.

RT Minerals saw 12.2 million shares traded before closing up 5¢ to 15¢ per share after an Oct. 19 exploration update of its Ballard Lake gold property, 50 km northeast of Wawa, Ontario. Two of the three diamond drill holes, totalling 435 metres, intercepted mineralization and alteration similar to gold-bearing structures mapped on surface. Gold occurs within coarse pyrite and quartz tourmaline veins in mafic schists, pillow basalt and gabbro host rocks. A total of 153 samples were sent for assays, with results pending.

Infill and exploration drill results at Mariana Resources’ Hot Maden project in northeastern Turkey drove shares up 21¢ to $1.23. The company reported a “bonanza” intercept of 69.6 metres of 62.7 grams silver and 2.7% copper resource from infill drilling at the Main zone resource. The interval included 7 metres of 526 grams gold and 3.3% copper from 210 metres, 14 metres of 27.7 grams gold and 3.4% copper from 217 metres, and 48.6 metres of 1.7 grams gold and 2.4% copper from 231 metres. Gold-copper mineralization at Hot Maden occurs as sub-vertical, quartz-sulphide and jasperoidal breccia bodies. The deposit contains 7.1 million indicated tonnes of 12.2 grams gold and 2.3% copper, and 718,000 inferred tonnes of 2.7 grams gold and 0.9% copper, assuming an equivalent 2 gram gold cut-off. The 13-hole program also tested for a deep fault offset block of Main zone mineralization beneath the Ridge target in the resource’s southern area.