TSX Venture edges lower during Jan. 23-27 trading

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index was little changed over the Jan. 23-27 trading period, losing 1.8 points to end at 622.01.   

American Lithium gained 64¢ a share during the week, the most by value, to close at $4.76 after it said on Jan. 24 it was buying back a 1% gross overriding royalty on the company’s TLC lithium project near Tonopah, NV, about 340 km northwest of Las Vegas.  

Nevada Alaska Mining is to receive 950,000 shares in American Lithium for the royalty, which gives the project full control of its concessions as it prepares to release a preliminary economic assessment within days, American Lithium chief executive officer Simon Clarke said in a news release. 

The TLC claystone project in the state’s Esmeralda lithium district has a measured resource of 860 million tonnes grading at 924 parts per million (ppm) lithium for contained metal of 4.2 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), according to an updated resource estimate issued in December. The indicated resource is 1.2 billion tonnes lithium grading 727 ppm for 4.6 million tonnes LCE.  

Another company with lithium assets, Azimut Exploration, advanced the second most by value during the week, adding 39¢ a share to close at $1.50.  

The Montreal-based company said on Jan. 23 that six of its properties in the James Bay region of Quebec show high prospectivity for lithium. It plans to start exploration on most of them this year, including the Pikwa property along the western strike extension of Patriot Battery Metals’ Corvette property. Pikwa is a 50-50 venture with the province, as is Galinée, which is directly south of a mineralized drill interval reported by Winsome Resources on its Adina property. Azimut also has the Corvet and Kaanaayaa properties near Corvette, about 300 km east of James Bay.  

Western Alaska Minerals fell the second most in value during the week, losing 31¢ a share to close at $2.85.  

The company said Jan. 23 it granted options for nearly 1.2 million common shares at an exercise price of $3.16 for five years, of which 850,000 were granted to directors and senior officers and the rest to employees, advisors and consultants.  

On Jan. 17, the company reported high-grade mineralization at its Waterpump Creek carbonate replacement deposit in the Illinois Creek project. Hole WPC22-21 cut 5.1 metres grading 789 grams silver per tonne, 22% lead and 15% zinc.  

“This intercept continues the upper zone or manto at Waterpump Creek and mirrors similar high grades in drill holes extending approximately 400 metres to the north,” CEO Kit Marrs said. “We expect to continue expanding the zone to the south with an aggressive multi-rig program.”