The broader bourse remained in neutral during Wednesday trading on the Canadian markets, as investors elect to wait for more economic news before laying down big bets. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange added a modest 0.16%, while the TSX Gold Index rallied 0.20% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, tacked on 1.13%, with the advancers edging out the decliners by a 408 to 367 margin on volume of 152 million shares traded.

International Tower Hill Mines came out with some metallurgical studies on its Livengood deposit in Alaska. The results indicate that a combination of grinding, gravity concentration and cyanide leaching of the tails increase average recoveries by 15% in the oxide/transition rock and by 30% in the sulphide rock, producing a global average gold recovery of 89%. Shares in the company added a penny to C$2.96.

Shares of Cline Mining added C$0.23 to close at C$0.48 after the upstart coal miner announced that the refurbishment and development to commercial production of its New Elk metallurgical coal mine in Colorado is proceeding well.

On the downside, Western Prospector Group received notice from the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia stating that Western’s exploration licences 7685X and 4969X, which are the primary licences for Western’s Gurvanbulag uranium deposit, have been suspended for three months due to violations cited by inspectors from Mongolia’s Atomic Energy Agency. The company is in the midst of a C$0.56 per share takeover offer from CNNC International. Western ended the day down C$0.16 at C$0.38.

A stock to watch is Hathor Exploration. The company was halted from trading pending news at C$2.07. Drill results are expected from its Roughrider uranium discovery in Saskatchewan.

The markets appear to have stabilized at these levels but the future direction remains cloudy as earnings start to pour in. We shall see what Thursday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Thursday, April 16th, 2009