Venture edges down again in Sept. 12-16 period

Vancouver – The S&P TSX Venture Composite Index dropped for another week as debt fears continued to overshadow the economy. Over the September 12 to 16 period the Index climbed 26 points over two days and fell 48 over three to end down 22.25 points at 1,762.85 points. Volume edged up for another week, averaging 81.5 million shares traded daily.

There were no breakaway value gains in the week, but Rio Alto Mining topped the list with a respectable 40¢ climb to $2.90. The company was also one of the most active with almost 15 million shares traded as it released its first full-quarter production numbers from its recently commissioned La Arena gold-silver mine in Peru. Rio Alto conducted its first gold pour on May 9, while between June 1 and August 31 the company produced 9,385 oz. gold from roughly 1.1 million tonnes of ore while still ramping up production. Rio Alto expects to achieve commercial production at the mine by November.

Grayd Resource saw gains of 28¢ in the week, including a 25¢ bump on the last day of trading in the period on no apparent news to end at $1.95. Big news came the following Monday, however, when Agnico-Eagle announced it would be buying the company for $275-million, or $2.80 per share. Agnico will in return get the La India project in Mexico that hosts 760,000 measured and indicated oz. gold at 0.88 gram gold per tonne and 506,000 inferred oz. at 0.8 gram gold, plus the recently discovered Tarachi gold porphyry prospect 10 km north.

IBC Advanced Alloys had a busy, but not necessarily productive, week after announcing a short form prospectus offering. The company announced plans to raise up to $8-million in a best-effort offering at the start of the period, only to see its stock price drop 5¢ to 17¢ on no less than 28.5 million shares traded. The following Monday IBC announced it had withdrawn the planned prospectus, deciding that financing at current prices would not be in its or shareholders best interest.

Prosperity Goldfields took a hit after releasing drill results from its Kiyuk gold project in Nunavut. The company’s stock price fell 47¢ on the day the results were released and 58¢ in the period to end at 69¢ with roughly 1.7 million shares traded. The only result from the Rusty zone hit 157.6 metres grading 1.7 grams gold, including a 30-metre interval grading 4.9 grams gold. The company was unable to drill three other planned holes on the zone because of a late start due to permitting and an early stop due to caribou migrations.

Bellhaven Copper & Gold shot up 14¢ to 64¢ on 1.3 million shares on the day it released a maiden resource for its La Mina project in Colombia, while it ended the period up 10¢ at 57¢. The project is estimated to contain 40.56 million tonnes grading 0.77 gram gold and 0.31% copper for 1 million oz. gold and 279 million lbs. copper. The resource is taken from the La Cantera prospect, one of 7 defined porphyry gold-copper targets in a 1.5-km by 500-metre block at the property.