For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange fell 0.47%, while the TSX Gold Index dropped a modest 0.1% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 0.97% with the advancing issuers beating out the decliners by a 528 to 469 margin on lower volume of nearly 194 million shares traded.

It was a good day for shareholders of Mano River Resources as the junior inked agreements with a leading Russian steel and natural resources company that include a $4 million equity placement and the sale of 61.5% of the Putu Range iron ore project in Liberia held under African Iron Ore Group, which is an 80% owned subsidiary of Mano. The price tag is $37.5 million. Satisfactory due diligence still needs to be completed but in the meantime, Mano added C$0.19 to close at C$0.36.

Investors are not enamored by proposed nuptials of Niblack Mining and Committee Bay Resources. The deal would see each Niblack share exchanged for one Committee Bay share. Of interest to cash-rich Committee Bay is Niblack’s wholly owned VMS project in southeast Alaska. Committee Bay ended the day down C$0.015 at C$0.265, while Niblack closed at C$0.27 for a C$0.03 loss.

It took a day for investors to digest but the latest drill results from the Represa zone of the Camino Rojo project in Mexico’s Zacatecas state helped shares of Canplats Resources. The owner of the highly touted find gained C$0.80 to close at C$4.75.

Metalex Ventures, WSR Gold and Arctic Star Diamond continued to trade heavily after the joint venture reported that massive sulphides have been encountered between 78.1 and 90.1 metres depth on their project in the James Bay Lowlands. Metalex ended the session down C$0.015 at C$0.35 on over 7.6 million shares traded, WSR dropped C$0.07 at C$0.63 on nearly 800,000 shares traded and Arctic Star lost C$0.02 to close at C$0.12 on over 2 million shares traded.

The volatility in the Canadian markets may be pointing to a short term top for the big producers, while the junior bourse is attracting more interest. We will see what Tuesday trading has in store.

Source:  Resource Stock Roundup Saturday, May 24, 2008