For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange gained 0.76%, while the TSX Gold Index added 1.3% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, dropped 0.48% with the declining issuers once again out pacing the advancers this time by a 577 to 470 margin on big volume of 250 million shares traded.

Canada’s third-biggest zinc and copper producer, HudBay Minerals (HBM) is offering up 0.61 of its shares for each Skye Resources (SKR) share. HudBay would also buy around 12.7 million shares of Skye at a price of C$7.51 per share in a private placement. At the end of the day, HudBay would have 160.9 million outstanding, of which Skye shareholders would have 20.3 percent. Skye has agreed to pay a break fee of $14 million to HudBay if another takeover offer prevails. Of interest is Skye’s Fenix nickel project in Guatemala. Fenix is slated to go into production in the second half of 2009 at a developing cost of C$1.1 billion and would mark HudBay’s first foray into nickel. HudBay ended the day down C$0.78 at C$14.01, while Skye added C$0.98 to close at C$8.70.

The big winner of the session was Weststar Resources (WER), which added C$0.73 to close at C$1.06. The junior inked a letter of intent to acquire 72 coal permit applications some 70 kilometres northwest of the recent coal discovery of Goldsource Mines (GXS), near Hudson Bay Saskatchewan.

Shares of Bitterroot Resources (BTT) continued to climb on speculation that the company is acquiring three coal permits in Manitoba. Bitterroot gained C$0.10 to close at C$0.93.

Meanwhile away from the red hot coal sector, Tarsis Capital (TCC) reported that the first hole drilled at the Discovery Horizon on its Mor property in the Yukon intersected massive, semi-massive and disseminated sulphide mineralization from 95.09 to 103.48 metres. Another narrow interval of intermittent semi-massive, disseminated and wispy sulphide bands comprising coarse pyrite and lesser chalcopyrite and magnetite was cut between 139.63 and 144.76 metres. Results pending and drill rig turning. Thinly traded Tarsis ended the day up C$0.06 to C$0.45.

The roller coaster ride continues for investors in the Canadian Markets. We will see what Tuesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Tuesday, June 24, 2008