The world's hottest junior gold company just heated up again.

Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista announced Wednesday that he increased his stake in Ventana Gold Corp. from 12.3% to 17.5%. The investment was made through an entity he controls called 63X Master Fund, which now owns 15,500,000 Ventana shares.

Ventana has been the talk of the junior mining world since the spring, when it unveiled some phenomenal drill results on its La Bodega gold project in Colombia. On Monday, the stock jumped another 32.5% on more strong results from La Bodega.

Mr. Batista is one of the world's most flamboyant billionaires, and controls a conglomerate of mining, energy and infrastructure companies.

Along with Mr. Batista, Vancouver mining kingpin Ross Beaty is also a major Ventana shareholder.

Peter Koven