Venture board sheds 2% over June 21-25

The TSX Venture Exchange slipped nearly 2% over the June 21-25 trading period, down 29.46 points, to close at 1,458.72.

Clifton Star Resources was the biggest loser by value over the period, dropping 51¢ to $4 a share after failing to impress with some drill results at its Duparquet project in the Abitibi region of Quebec. The company, along with its joint venture partner, Osisko Mining, released results from 22 drill holes from the Beattie, Donchester and Duquesne properties. Highlights include 27.5 metres grading 4.19 grams gold per tonne and 58 metres grading 1.12 grams gold per tonne. Osisko is the operator, after having agreed last November to spending more than $109 million on exploration over four years. At the time, measured and indicated resources were nearly 372,000 oz. gold while inferred resources stood at 1.7 million oz. gold.

Titanium Corp., a company that aims to process waste material in the oilsands into valuable products, was the top gainer by value, rising 30¢ to $1.56 per share on no news. Titanium was fallowed by Bralorne Gold with no news and Golden Hope Mines, up 17¢ to 70¢, with news of some drill results intersecting some quartz-bearing structures with some visible gold at its Beland anomaly near the Bellechasse-Timmins deposit in southeastern Quebec.

KWG Resources and Spider Resources were of the most actively traded stocks over the period with 9.3 million shares and 8.1 million shares traded, respectively. KWG shares were up 1¢ to 12¢ apiece while Spider shares remained flat at 16¢. Junior explorer KWG has found itself in a bidding war with  heavyweight iron ore and coal major Cliffs Natural Resources. Cliffs originally made separate offers of 13¢ a share for KWG and Spider in a bid to gain control of the Big Daddy chromite deposit in the McFaulds Lake area of northwestern Ontario. KWG and Spider, which together hold 53% of the company, then announced a merger, so they could keep control of the project, but that was followed by an increased offer by Cliffs for Spider of 16.5¢ a share. KWG matched that and now, at presstime, Cliffs had upped its offer for Spider to 19¢, leaving KWG with five days to match it.

Copper-cobalt explorer El Nino Ventures shares rose 1¢ over the period to 5¢ apiece after having some positive news in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Tribunal of Commerce of Lubumbashi dismissed litigation, ruling that the claims should be tried in British Columbia, not the DRC. The company has filed an $850,000 counter action against Georges Kavvadias and GCP Group for breach of agreement for a joint venture agreement.
And finally, Fortress Minerals shares fell 1¢ to 14¢ following news that Russian gold and silver producer JSC Polymetal trumped an earlier offer by MacRitchie Metals Pte. for a 100% stake in Fortress’s Svetloye gold project in Russia’s Far East. JSC will pay US$9.25 million in cash. Fortress, a member of the Lundin Group of Companies, accepted the superior bid and will pay MacRitchie a break fee of US$250,000.