Junior explorers that have liquidity faced the brunt of the selloff with Full Metal Minerals dropping C$0.075 to close at C$0.315, Hathor Exploration (HAT) lost C$0.23 to close at C$1.50 and VMS Ventures (VMS) dropped C$0.01 to close at C$0.28. Full Metals is in the midst of the bulk sample at its Lucky Shot project in Alaska, Hathor has a nice looking uranium discovery at its MidWest NorthEast project in Saskatchewan and VMS has a high-grade base metal discovery on its Reed lake project in Manitoba.

The big board gold miners took it on the chin with Barrick Gold (ABX) falling C$4 to close at C$29.20, Goldcorp dropped C$3.41 to close at C$24.37, Kinross Gold ended the day down C$2.37 at C$12.90, Agnico Eagle (AEM) plunged C$5.28 to close at C$41.92 and Yamana Gold (YRI) gave back C$0.48 to close at 5.64.

The junior board looks set to test the 2002 lows of 890 and a break below this one would mark uncharted waters for the Venture Exchange. The historic low goes back to the VSE Index days in 1998 and 1999 when the bourse treaded water in the 400 point range. We will see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Friday, October 17, 2008

Bravo Venture Group (BVG) tagged 73 metres of 20.99 grams gold per tonne at its Homestake Ridge project in northwestern British Columbia. Bravo ended the day up C$0.30 at C$0.53.

Hathor Exploration (HAT) continues to cut the goods at its 90% owned Midwest Notheast property in Saskatchewan but continues to get no investor love. The latest results include 46 metres running 3.25% U308. Hathor ended the day down C$0.37 at C$2.70, while 10% owner Terra Ventures lost C$0.08 at C$0.56.

Copper Mountain Mining (CUM) got no joy after the company announced that Mitsubishi Materials Corporation has agreed to pay C$28.75 million for a 25% equity stake. Mitsubishi will also arrange a C$250 million project loan, and contract to purchase all the copper concentrate from the Copper Mountain project in British Columbia. The junior finished the session at C$1.02 for a C$0.17 loss.

Victoria Gold (VIT) cut 11.48 grams gold per tonne over 33.5 metres at its Cove-McCoy project located in north-central Nevada. The results sent Victoria shares C$0.035 higher to C$0.305.

Despite cutting 77.34 grams gold per tonne over 11 metres from its Detour Lake project in Ontario, Detour Gold (DGC) fell C$1.28 to close at C$10.64.

Shares of Potash Corp (POT) got slammed thanks to the on going selloff of commodities. Potash ended the day down C$35.50 at C$101 even.

The junior bourse has hit fresh five year lows and its descent since May of 2007 is showing no signs of abating anytime soon. We will see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Friday, October 3, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange added 1.50%, while the TSX Gold Index gained 0.8% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, rallied 0.71% and low and behold the advancing issuers beat out the decliners by a 471 to 388 margin on pathetic volume of 109 million shares traded.

Hathor Exploration (CVE:HAT) got a boost after the company announced the latest batch of drill results from its 90% owned Midwest NorthEast property in Saskatchewan Highlights included 69 metres grading 2.33% U3O8. Hathor ended the day up C$0.43 at C$4.04, while 10% owner Terra Ventures added C$0.02 to close at C$0.92.

Meanwhile, StrataGold (TSE:SGV) added C$0.015 to C$0.08 following news that a 16.52 metre drill intercept returned 0.5% tungsten oxide at its Dublin Gulch property in the Yukon.

A rather quiet news day on Thursday and one would suspect more of the same for Friday trading as investors head into a long weekend. We will see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Saturday, August 29th, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange tacked on 0.08%, while the TSX Gold Index climbed 0.3% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 0.13% with the declining issuers beating out the advancers by a 475 to 349 margin on volume of 101 million shares traded.

Mining giant Rio Tinto showed that the diversified miners are not dead yet. The major tabled earnings of $6.9 billion in the first six months of the year. This marks a 113% jump over the same period of 2007 and should help the company fend off a $147 billion takeover offer from rival BHP Billiton. Rio ended the day up $1.60 to $381.25 in New York.

Investors digested yesterday’s news that Hathor Exploration intersected 5.3 metres of basement-hosted uranium mineralization having off-scale radioactivity readings at its 90% owned Midwest NorthEast property in Saskatchewan and decided to belatedly reward the stock. Hathor ended the day up C$0.23 at C$3.58, while 10% owner Terra Ventures added C$0.07 to close at C$0.90.

Rubicon Minerals tagged another nice hole at its Phoenix project in the Red Lake mining camp of Ontario. The hot hole yielded 891.1 grams gold per tonne over 2 metres and as a result Rubicon ended the day up C$0.35 at C$1.71.

Management of Petaquilla Copper finally gave in to the revised C$2.20 per share cash offer by Inmet Mining. Petaquilla added C$0.29 to close at C$2.18.

Early indication from the Canadian financial earnings front is that more bad news is pending and that means more lack of liquidity, which could be good news for the gold bugs. We will see what Wednesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Wednesday August 27, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange lost 1.18%, while the TSX Gold Index gave back 0.3% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, fell 0.60% with the declining issuers beating out the advancers by a 472 to 355 margin on pathetic volume of only 90 million shares traded.

Hathor Exploration (HAT) reported that a drill hole intersected 5.3 metres of basement-hosted uranium mineralization having off-scale radioactivity readings at its 90% owned Midwest NorthEast property in Saskatchewan. This marks the longest continuous off scale reading hit so far. It was an opportunity for liquidity as Hathor ended the day down C$0.15 at C$3.35, while 10% owner Terra Ventures added C$0.01 to close at C$0.83.

Verena Minerals (VML) added C$0.05 to close at C$0.19 after reporting that it hit 7.1 grams gold per tonne over 14.3 metres at its Volta Grande project in Brazil.

Beaten up zinc miner Blue Note Mining (BN) managed to tack on C$0.005 to close at C$0.055 after announcing that it is trying to reduce costs at its Caribou zinc mines in New Brunswick.

The final trading week of August is now underway and so far little has changed for the Canadian markets as selling continues to dominate the day. We will see what Tuesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Tuesday August 26, 2008

For the tail of the tape; the TSX Exchange gained 1.63%, while the TSX Gold Index (TSE:XGD) rallied 2.9% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, tacked on 0.28% with the declining issuers beating out the advancers by a 462 to 362 margin on volume of 101 million shares traded.

The big news of the day did not include any Canadian listed stocks as mining giant Xstrata (LON:XTA) made a $10 billion cash offer for Lonmin (LON:LMI), the world’s third largest platinum producer. Xstrata tabled a $33 per share bid that Lonmin says is opportunistic despite its 42% premium over Tuesday’s closing price.

Back at home, Atac Resources (CVE:ATC) appears to have tagged at its wholly owned Rau property in the central Yukon. The discovery hole returned 1.24 grams gold per tonne over 68.69 metres. The company describes the mineralization as stratabound in limestone/dolomites with assays pending for nine nearby drill holes that cut similar thicknesses of the same type of mineralization. Atac ended the session up C$0.125, at C$0.375.

Axmin (CVE:AXM) added C$0.015 to close at C$0.23 after the junior reported a 46.7 metre intercept running 3.9 grams gold per tonne at its Komahun project in Sierra Leone.

It was a good day for shareholders of Hathor Exploration (CVE:HAT) despite no new developments at its 90% owned Roughrider uranium zone in the prolific Athabasca basin of Saskatchewan. Hathor ended the session up C$0.51 to a new high of C$3.72.

Consolidation is continuing and the weakness in the resource market means only the strong will survive. We will see what Thursday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Thursday, August 7th, 2008

For the tail of the tape; the TSX Exchange gained 0.32%, while the TSX Gold Index (TSE:XGD) lost 3% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, fell 0.84% with the declining issuers beating out the advancers by a 525 to 339 margin on pathetic volume of 105 million shares traded.

In the it’s about time camp, Teck Cominco (NYSE:TCK) finally stepped to the plate and agreed to buy out the remaining stake it does not already own in Fording Canadian Coal Trust in a total cash and stock deal worth C$14.1 billion. Under the proposal, Fording unitholders get C$82 in cash and 0.245 of a Teck Class B subordinate voting share for each Fording unit. Teck will finance the cash portion of its bid primarily with C$9.8 billion in loans arranged with a syndicate of banks, as well as with proceeds of a sale of Fording units that Teck holds. Teck ended the day up C$2.44 at C$42.85, while Fording added C$6.55 to close at C$90.35.

It was a good day for Exeter Resources (CVE:XRC) as the company reported the highest-grade intersection to date from its Cerro Moro gold-silver project in Argentina. The hot hole yielded a mind numbing 471.9 grams gold per tonne over 3.6 metres. Exeter ended the session up C$0.27 at C$3.49.

Hathor Exploration (CVE:HAT) hit basement-hosted uranium mineralization in the second and third diamond drill holes completed during the summer 2008 drill program on the Roughrider zone on its 90% owned Midwest NorthEast project. Assay results still pending. Hathor ended the day up C$0.05 at C$2.96, while 10% owner Terra Ventures (CVE:TAS) added C$0.06 at C$0.70.

Northern Freegold Resources (CVE:NFR) tagged 46.96 metres averaging 9.6 grams gold per tonne at its Freegold Mountain project in the Yukon. No one cared as Freegold ended the day unchanged at C$0.60.

With no rest for the sellers with the underlying commodity prices weakening, one has to wonder what it will take to get some serious buying back into resource stocks We will see what Wednesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

For the tail of the tape; the TSX Exchange lost 0.59%, while the TSX Gold Index (TSE:XGD) was the lone winner by adding 1.1% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, fell 0.08% with the declining issuers beating out the advancers by a 518 to 412 margin on volume of 128 million shares traded.

Well let’s see. On Friday we reported that shares of Goldsource Mines (CVE:GXS) added C$4.74 to C$8.89 on optimism that economic coal could still be found on its coal permits of the Border property near Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan. Now I am not one to call out the dogs but on Monday the company reported that it hit 23.2 metres of coal in its fifth hole on the project. Pure luck or a little leakage ahead of the news and perhaps the regulators should decide which. Goldsource ended the day up C$0.99 at C$9.88 after hitting an intraday high of C$14.65.

On the area play front, shares of Geo Minerals (CVE:GM) added C$0.055 to close at C$0.255 after the company received a letter from Saskatchewan Energy and Resources stating that of the coal permit applications will be given priority sequence.

Stocks to watch for Tuesday’s session include Hathor Exploration (CVE:HAT) and Terra Ventures (CVE:TAS). The 90-10% partners on the Roughrider uranium discovery zone in Saskatchewan were halted from trading pending news. Hathor closed at C$2.91 up C$0.06 before the halt, while Terra closed at C$0.64 for a C$0.02 loss. More drill results coming so stay tuned.

After a bit of a rest on Friday, the sellers are back using any volume generated to sell stocks. We will see what Tuesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange fell 1.44%, while the TSX Gold Index dropped 0.7% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, plunged another 3.13% with the declining issuers swamping the advancers by a 537 to 386 margin on abysmal volume of only 137 million shares traded.

Shares of Hathor Exploration (HAT) and Terra Ventures (TAS) rallied after resuming trading following news that measurement of natural gamma emission radiation in counts per second (cps) indicate nineteen individual zones (ranging from 0.1 to 3.4 metres) of highly radioactive (5,000 cps to greater than 9,999 cps) mineralization were encountered within broader zones of elevated radioactivity (greater than 500 cps), of up to 20.7 metres on the Rough Rider uranium zone in Saskatchewan. Hathor with a 90% stake in the project added C$0.30 to close at C$2.85, while 10% holder Terra added C$0.11 at C$0.64.

Beleaguered zinc miner Blue Note Mining gave some rare good news in that its Caribou zinc-lead mine in New Brunswick produced a record 85,537 tonnes during June. Blue Note ended the day up C$0.01 at C$0.125.

Shares of Uracan Resources (URC) were halted from trading pending news at C$0.43. The company recently tabled an inferred resource for its Double S zone in Quebec. Based on a 0.009% U3O8 cut-off, the resource tallied 74.215 million tonnes averaging 0.012% U3O8.

The correction in resource stocks continued with the junior bourse leading the way. The question now is: how low will we go? We will see what Thursday trading has in store.

Source:Resource Stock Round Up Thursday July 10, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange gained 0.71%, while the TSX Gold Index fell 0.6% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, plunged another 3.17% with the declining issuers swamping the advancers by a 734 to 295 margin on low volume of only 167 million shares traded.

Even potash speculation appears to be losing some steam as evidenced by shares of Nordic Diamonds (NDL), which added only C$0.015 to C$0.095 following news it inked a deal with Grizzly Diamonds (GZD) to acquire ground in southeast Alberta. For its part, Grizzly ended the day down C$0.03 at C$1.07.

Rubicon Minerals (RBY) continues to hit the goods at its Phoenix project in the Red Lake gold district of Ontario. The latest results included 361.7 grams gold per tonne over 1.8 metres. Rubicon ended the session up C$0.17 at C$1.37.

Shares of Hathor Exploration (HAT) were halted from trading pending news at C$2.55, as were shares of Terra Ventures (TAS), last traded at C$0.53. Drilling has resumed on its high grade Rough Rider uranium zone in Saskatchewan where Hathor owns 90% and Terra a carried 10% stake. The news out is that basement-hosted uranium mineralization over 69.2 metres in the first hole of the summer 2008 diamond drill program. Measurement of natural gamma emission radiation in counts per second (cps) indicate nineteen individual zones (ranging from 0.1 to 3.4 metres) of highly radioactive (5,000 cps to greater than 9,999 cps) mineralization were encountered within broader zones of elevated radioactivity (greater than 500 cps), of up to 20.7 metres. Trading is expected to resume at the open of Wednesday trading.

The correction in resource stocks continued as the junior bourse broke down below the crucial 2,400 level. Since early in 2006 this has marked a bottom for the more speculative stocks with the recovery being rather pronounced. We will see what Wednesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Wednesday, July 9th, 2008