TSX Venture Exchange July 11-17

Continued strength in metal and commodity prices didn’t translate into trading strength on the TSX Venture Exchange during the report period July 11-17. The S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index shed 92.04 points over the session to close at 2,552 as sellers dominated over buyers in trading activity.

IMA Exploration took the biggest hit, shedding $2.74 to close at 70 over the session after losing a protracted legal battle over its Navidad silver project to Toronto-listed Aquiline Resources. Aquiline alleged that IMA had breached a confidentiality agreement and unlawfully used confidential information to stake Navidad, which currently hosts a resource of 93.4 million tonnes at 102 grams silver per tonne and 1.41% lead. Aquiline launched its suit against IMA in early 2004, and rejected several attempts by IMA to settle the case out of court, including a $100,000 “nuisance value sum to put this nonsense behind us” offered by IMA president Joseph Grosso. IMA later upped its settlement offer to $21 million, but that too was shot down by Aquiline, which won its case in a plainly worded and hard-hitting B.C. Supreme Court ruling.

Bayswater Ventures was the most active issue over the trading session, up 36 to $1.10. The company plans to merge with Pathfinder Resources to form a new company called Bayswater Uranium that will hold a large land position in three prospective districts: the Central Mineral Belt of Labrador; the Thelon basin covering portions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut; and Niger, West Africa. The proposed transaction is expected to close in early August.

Plexmar Resources took second place on the most-active list, down a penny to 40 over the session. The company is exploring for gold mineralization hosted in veins, volcanics, and an intrusive unit at the Bolsa del Diablo property in Peru.

Goldmarca inched up three pennies to 72 based on continued interest in its 70%-held Condor gold property in Ecuador. The company is proposing to carry out small-scale mining of high-grade resources and then use the cash flow to define low-grade bulk-tonnage deposits. A previous study estimated that the Condor project hosts inferred resources containing about 1.7 million oz. gold in several deposits.

Yukon Zinc was up a fraction of a cent to 28 and appears to be making a slow recovery; it recently received a thumping in the market after releasing a feasibility study for its remote, zinc-rich polymetallic Wolverine project in the Yukon.

The biggest value gainer was investor darling Aurelian Resources, which continues to report impressive results from a recent gold-silver discovery at its Condor project in southeastern Ecuador. The company was up $1.40 to $20.50 over the trading session.

Uranium-focused juniors are enjoying renewed investor interest now that exploration programs are in full gear in Canada. Mega Uranium gained 79 to $7.90, while Cash Minerals added a few pennies to close at $1.12 after announcing it had expanded its land position in the Yukon’s Wernecke Mountains.

TSX-V greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Patrician Diam	PXC	2957	0.215	0.09	0.185	+94.7
Stratabd Mnr	SB	280	0.30	0.18	0.30	+66.6
Cons Gd Thun R	GHG	193	0.28	0.22	0.28	+64.7
Bayswater Vent	BVE	12725	1.26	0.74	1.10	+48.6
Anglo-Bomarc	ANB	13	0.25	0.22	0.25	+47.0
Global Uran	GU	74	0.425	0.29	0.42	+40.0
Absolut Res	ABS	30	0.67	0.50	0.67	+39.5
Dorex Minls	DOX	112	0.45	0.35	0.40	+37.9
Metalcorp	MTC	766	1.93	1.15	1.78	+36.9
Gossan Res	GSS	20	0.30	0.28	0.30	+36.3
IMA Exploratn	IMR	5810	3.44	0.58	0.70	-79.6
Aumega Discov	AUM	805	0.165	0.08	0.095	-42.4
NFX Gold	NFX	183	0.83	0.50	0.52	-42.2
Valencia Vent	VVI	1500	0.435	0.23	0.25	-40.4
Dolly Varden R	DLV	10	0.25	0.25	0.25	-37.5
Sola Res	SL	2494	0.43	0.275	0.285	-36.6
Seine Rvr Res	SRO	29	0.205	0.185	0.205	-33.8
Cascadero Copp	CCD	194	0.245	0.175	0.175	-32.6
Premium Expl	PEM	74	0.285	0.24	0.24	-31.4
Golden Arrow R	GRG	93	1.05	0.74	0.84	-29.4

TSX-V greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Aurelian Res	ARU	903323	20.50	+1.40
Osisko Explora	OSK	273980	5.35	+1.05
Mega Uranium	MGA	1944676	7.90	+0.79
Marathon PGM	MAR	210700	3.82	+0.62
Pac Booker Min	BKM	33830	5.50	+0.50
Coral Gold	CGR	22300	4.09	+0.49
Metalcorp	MTC	766265	1.78	+0.48
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	1558718	6.83	+0.42
Dynasty Met&Mn	DMM	378635	6.15	+0.40
Altius Mnrls	ALS	155625	6.95	0.40
IMA Exploratn	IMR	5810029	0.70	-2.74
Polymet Mng	POM	219636	2.85	-0.50
Birch Mountn	BMD	682437	4.61	-0.49
NFX Gold	NFX	182987	0.52	-0.38
Seabridge Gold	SEA	243218	13.40	-0.37
Golden Arrow R	GRG	93311	0.84	-0.35
Laramide Res	LAM	440526	5.85	-0.34
American G Cap	AAU	379100	1.50	-0.34
Forsys Metals	FSY	375400	1.19	-0.31
Primary Metals	PMI	29710	3.51	-0.29

TSX-V most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Bayswater Vent	BVE	12725	1.26	0.74	1.10	+0.36
Plexmar Res	PLE	11354	0.47	0.395	0.40	-0.01
Goldmarca	GML	7437	0.88	0.69	0.72	+0.03
IMA Exploratn	IMR	5810	3.44	0.58	0.70	-2.74
Simberi Gold	SAU	5781	0.145	0.10	0.105	-0.015
Antoro Res	ORE	4631	0.15	0.10	0.125	+0.025
Cash Minerals	CHX	3987	1.44	1.05	1.12	+0.02
Yukon Zinc	YZC	3520	0.34	0.275	0.28	-0.045
Trade Winds Vt	TWD	3437	0.49	0.38	0.42	+0.04
Patrician Diam	PXC	2957	0.215	0.09	0.185	+0.09