Venture climbs on strong volumes over Oct 4-8

Vancouver – With rising gold and copper prices contrasting poor U.S. employment data and mixed feelings about more international government stimulus, the S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index continued its up-down-up pattern over Oct. 4-8 to end the week up 40.09 points at 1,784.88. Daily trading volumes remained very strong, averaging 145 million.

Even though each week shows mixed signals, the overall Venture market trend has been nothing but up since mid-July – the Venture board has gained some 400 points in less than three months. And the bears-versus-bulls race reflects that overall gain. Over the first week of October 113 Venture-listed companies reached new 52-week share price highs while only 67 fell to new lows.

A steady stream of good news prompted Avion Gold shareholders to exchange 13.8 million Avion shares, lifting the African gold producer up 5¢ to 76¢. The company produced 23,609 oz. gold at its Takakoto-Segala mine in Mali in the third quarter, an 89% increase over the third quarter of 2009, and now has started developing underground mine workings at the site to access higher-grade ore and increase production. During the week the company also closed its acquisition of the Hounde Group concessions, which are in Burkina Faso just south of Semafo‘s operating Mana mine.

With its second gold stream now online in the form of SilverCrest Mines‘ newly operational Santa Elena mine, Sandstorm Resources decided to tap the markets for some funding. First it announced a $38-million bought deal financing, then it increased the deal to $50 million. Either way, investors were not terribly pleased and pushed Sandstorm’s share price down 6¢ to 73¢. Sandstorm says it will use the funds for further metal stream acquisitions.

Infill drill results from the Northeast Fold area at the Ghanzi sediment-hosted copper-silver project in Botswana lifted Hana Mining 34¢ to a new high of $3.05. Hana is modeling a pit at Northeast Fold, which would follow after the planned New Discovery pit in a mine plan. New intercepts from the second potential pit include 2.5 metres grading 5.69% copper and 14 grams silver and 8.3 metres of 2.26% copper and 10 grams silver.

Good gold intercepts from new zones in the footwall and at depth in the Hinge mine lifted San Gold 12¢ to $3.47. Drilling at Hinge is focused on the L10 and L4 zones, which are south of the main zones currently being mined, and the work recently returned such intercepts as 12.7 grams gold per tonne over 11.6 metres and 31.5 grams gold over 2.6 metres.

And promising trench results from the Silverjack project in New Brunswick added 10¢ to Slam Exploration‘s share price, which reached 26¢. Slam dug 600 metres of trenches in an area 1 km south of its Silverjack zone, where drilling earlier this year returned a best interval of 6.6 metres grading 268 grams silver per tonne, 1.27% copper, 5.65% zinc, and 4.53% lead. Now the new trenches are exposing multiple zones showing silver and base metal mineralization.