For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange gained 0.26%, while the TSX Gold Index lost 4.5% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, fell 0.64% with the declining issuers once again outpacing the advancers this time by a 472 to 383 margin on volume of 143 million shares traded.

Iron Creek Capital (IRN) inked a deal allowing Hochschild Mining to acquire a 60% interest in a precious metals area on its Vaquillas Project in Chile. Under the deal, Hochschild pays $750,000 to Iron Creek on signing and has subscribed for 2 million shares of Iron Creek at $0.50 per share. Hochschild must also incur a total of US$6 million in exploration expenditures by the end of 2013. Iron Creek ended the day flat at C$0.41.

A weakening global outlook continued to impact the shares of advanced base metal explorer Tamerlane Ventures (TAM). The company, which recently tabled positive results of its bankable feasibility study for the Pine Point project in Canada’s Northwest Territories, ended the day down C$0.03 at C$0.22.

Greystar Resources (GS) infill drilling has returned 16.64 grams gold and 116.8 grams silver per tonne over 6.1 metres in the Los Laches area of its wholly owned, multimillion-ounce Angostura gold-silver project in the northeastern region of Colombia. The market did not care as Greystar ended the session down C$0.05 at C$1.40.

Dundee Precious Metals (DPM) cut 41.46 grams gold per tonne over 7 metres near its operating Chelopech mine in Bulgaria. Dundee closed at C$4.83 for a C$0.18 gain.

One can expect more quiet trading days because right now all eyes are focused on the financial bailout planned in the United States. Still, we will see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Friday, September 26, 2008

Nickel prolonged its recent resurgence, cresting $9 in the pre-dawn hours, then leaving it in the dust as it blasted to a close at $9.5315/lb., up 61 cents. Zinc had an explosive day, just easing from its intraday high at the end at $0.8294/lb. up 5½ cents. Aluminum was solid, adding just under 4 cents to $1.266/lb., while lead shared in the common updraught, tacking on 6 ¾ cents to $0.874/lb.

Copper jumped the most in six months, to a two-week high, as investors fleeing the sinking dollar sought safe haven in commodities.

“The dollar has been overbought as traders were in a state of euphoria,” said Patrick Chidley, an analyst at Barnard Jacobs Mellet in Stamford, Connecticut. “Now that it is back on a path of weakening, it will help copper.”

There was also a boost from the strengthening belief that China will release some pent-up buying demand after the Olympics end and shuttered manufacturing facilities open back up.

A six-month low in Shanghai copper inventories, a decided narrowing in the Shanghai futures price discount to London prices, and a stronger spot premium in the Shanghai futures market are all bullish signs, analysts said.

The industrial metals shared in an overall surge in commodity buying that saw the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index head for its biggest weekly gain in 33 years. The index rose rising as much as 3.5% yesterday.

And in company news, Xstrata (LON:XTA), the world’s fourth-largest copper producer, abandoned a US$477 million bid for (ASX:IRN) Indophil Resources’ one-third stake in the $3 billion Tampakan copper and gold project in the Philippines.

Xstrata, which sought to add to its 63% stake in the project, yielded to a sweetened bid from rival Stanhill Resources. Tampakan one of Southeast Asia’s largest untapped copper deposits, holds an estimated 2.2 billion tons of mineral resources, including 12.8 million tons of copper and 15.2 million ounces of gold.

Source: Base Metals Rally Strongly