TSX Venture up, March 29-April 1

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index rose 1.86% to finish the trading week at 960.84. Spot gold fell US$3 per oz., or 0.17%, to US$1,730.30 per ounce.

Rusoro Mining rose 2¢ to 8¢ per share. At the end of March, the French Supreme Court overturned a decision by the Paris Court of Appeal that had annulled part of the damages portion of the arbitral award granted to Rusoro in its decade-long dispute with the government of Venezuela. In 2016, the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes granted the Canadian miner a US$967.77-million award, following the expropriation of its 95%-owned Choco 10 mine and 50%-owned Isidora mine by Venezuela’s former ruler Hugo Chavez. According to the World Bank tribunal, the South American country had breached its obligations under the Canada-Venezuela Bilateral Investment Treaty.

Shares of Great Bear Resources dropped 41¢ to $15.50 per share. The company released assay results from three step-down drill holes completed over 500 metres of strike at its Dixie project in Ontario. The drilling hit the gold-bearing LP fault at vertical depths between 700 and 820 metres. Highlights included drillhole BR-260, which intersected 3.05 metres grading 15.57 grams gold per tonne from 942.2 metres; BR-261, which returned 1.25 metres of 5.62 grams gold from 822 metres; and BR-262, which cut 2 metres of 7.27 grams gold from 46.50 metres. The company noted that the gold grades and thicknesses at depth were better than those closer to surface on two of the three sections tested. The deeper step-out drilling is expected to continue throughout 2021 and will focus on infilling a four-kilometre section of the 18-km strike of the LP fault. The company plans to complete at least 130 drill holes at the structure in 2021.

Pure Gold fell 34¢ to $1.41 per share. The company reported a ramp-up of the mill at its PureGold mine in Red Lake to 800 tonnes per day, achieving the nameplate capacity. Since January, the mill has been operating at greater than 75% capacity, including multiple consecutive days at greater than 800 tonnes per day and a peak daily throughput of 897 tonnes per day. Pure Gold said it will now focus on fine-tuning its underground operations. The company has also entered into a binding agreement with Sprott Private Resource Lending to increase the principal amount of its debt by up to US$20 million, with US$12.5 million of this amount available upon closing, which, the company says, will ensure the PureGold mine continues its ramp-up with maximum financial flexibility. The remaining US$7.5 million can be accessed if needed to provide additional liquidity. The agreement also defers the payment of cash interest until the end of June.