TSX Venture posts strong gains, Feb. 15-19

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index hit a three-month high, rising 3.8%, or 19.65 points, to a 530.79-point close, boosted by strong metal prices. 

Spot gold closed at US$1,230.80 per oz. gold, after its first weekly fall in five weeks, down 0.7%, or US$8.6 per oz. gold, as the U.S. dollar and global equities strengthened.  

French investment bank Natixis analyst Bernard Dahdah, who won last year’s London Bullion Market Association prediction competition, said that fears around China, oil and negative interest rates are overstated, and reckons this year gold could reach a low of US$900 per oz., and a high of US$1,300 per oz.  

Three-month London Metal Exchange copper contracts gained US$103.5 per tonne, or 2.3%, to US$4,590 per tonne, as equities and Chinese market sentiment received a boost.

Brent crude oil bounced over the trading period, before closing down 1.1% to US$33.01 per barrel after news that Saudi Arabia and Russia would freeze oil output at current near-record levels, marking the first coordinated move by the world’s two largest producers in 15 years. The deal is considered preliminary, doesn’t include Iran, and may require “other steps to stabilize and improve the market,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said. 

Integra Gold saw 11 million shares traded before closing up 3¢ at 40¢ per share, after positive assay results from step-out drilling at its Triangle gold deposit in Val-d’Or, Que. 

The company reported a 6-metre uncut intercept of 80.32 grams gold per tonne, 100 metres along strike of the C6 structure — one of six steeply dipping and stacked shear zones that define the deposit. 

Other intercepts returned 77.83 grams gold uncut over 3.1 metres and 18 grams gold uncut over 6.5 metres from the C1 and C2 structures, at relatively shallow depths above 350 metres vertical. 

More assay results from last year’s program are expected over the coming months. The company says that 90,000 metres of drilling across the property is planned this year, with most defining more resources at Triangle. 

West-African gold explorer Thor Explorations jumped 200% to a 6¢ close, after a non-brokered private placement.

The company issued 3.54 million shares at $0.115 per common share, for gross proceeds totalling $407,112 towards exploration and working capital. 

Thor’s Douta and Central Houndé projects cover 577 sq. km of the prospective greenstone belts in Senegal and Burkina Faso.

Kaminak Gold rose 21¢ to a $1.23 close, after filing a feasibility study of its Coffee gold project in the Yukon. The open-pit and heap leach project could generate a $455-million after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate, and a 37% internal rate of return over a 10-year mine life. TNM