TSX Venture Exchange January 23-29

With precious metal prices pretty much even on the week, the S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index made a 2% gain, closing up 58.63 points at 2,905.51 over the Jan. 23-29 trading session. Average daily trading volumes soared to over 102 million shares, a level not seen since last May.

Again, the market retained a strong bullish trend over the week, with 67 junior explorers rising to new 52-week highs against only 30 that set yearly lows.

Tabling of a revised feasibility study for its Wolverine project propelled Yukon Zinc to top trading honours for the period with 32.6 million shares changing hands; shares in the company closed up a penny at 26.5 apiece. The optimized study concluded planned operations at Wolverine would be economically viable.

Alexis Minerals saw trading volume of over 30 million shares and gained 72% on high-grade intercepts at its Lac Herbin gold project near Val d’Or, Que., closing the session up 41 at 98 per share. The company, which plans to make a production decision at Lac Herbin this year, recently lined up a $20-million brokered private placement.

Additional drill intercepts of high-grade copper from the Chester project in New Brunswick pushed First Narrows Resources to trade almost 16 million shares on the session, gaining a dime to close at 82 per share. Recent drilling on the Bathurst mining camp property cut up to 24.6 metres of 3.93% copper. The company also bumped up the unit pricing in its planned $1.5-million brokered financing by three pennies to 35 apiece.

Shares of Goldeye Explorations gained a nickel to close at 14 each on volume of over 13.8 million for the week. The company recently announced the start of exploration on its Sonia-Puma gold-silver projects in central Chile and has tabled a $1.4-million program for its Todd Creek zinc-lead-silver property in northwestern B.C.

Trading in Stellar Pacific Ventures perked up on an announcement that the company had acquired new claims in northwestern Quebec’s Urban Twp. Almost 12.5 million Stellar shares changed hands, with the stock notching up a penny to 18 per share.

Colibri Resource rallied on high-grade silver values from its Ramard project in Sonora, Mexico. The stock soared 94% on over 9.7 million shares of volume, closing up 43.5 at 70 per share. Drilling cut intervals of up to 6 metres grading 253.8 grams silver, 8.5% zinc and 2.3% lead in a near-surface skarn.

Solitaire Minerals continued its rally, gaining 25% on the week to close up 6.5 at 32 on trading of 9.3 million shares. The company recently began drilling on its Red Lake, Ont.-area gold project.

Shares of Purepoint Uranium Group soared 72% after the company entered into an option with Cameco to acquire up to 50% of the major’s Smart Lake uranium project in the southwestern portion of Saskatchewan’s Athabasca basin. The stock gained 77 to close at $1.84 apiece on trading volume of 5.2 million.

TSX-V greatest percentage change

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		VOLUME	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Colibri Res wt	CBI.WT	1800	0.36	0.07	0.36	+227.2
Colibri Res	CBI	9758	0.71	0.25	0.70	+164.1
BacTech Mining	BM	4363	0.215	0.09	0.17	+88.8
Alexis Minls	AMC	30238	1.20	0.55	0.98	+71.9
Purepoint U	PTU	5188	1.85	1.05	1.84	+71.9
Goldeye Expl	GGY	13850	0.19	0.095	0.14	+55.5
Golden Cariboo	GCC	7743	0.095	0.05	0.085	+54.5
Westar Res	WRC	217	0.80	0.40	0.61	+52.5
Agau Res	AGS	30	0.60	0.34	0.60	+50.0
Hinterland Mtl	HMI	5114	0.24	0.14	0.22	+46.6
Marifil Min wt	MFM.WT	746	0.05	0.01	0.01	-66.6
Sanatana Diam	STA	106	0.60	0.50	0.50	-47.3
Nation Wide Re	NWR	50	0.15	0.105	0.105	-44.7
Buchans River	BUV	20	0.52	0.46	0.48	-35.1
Lucky Stk Res	LKY	90	0.12	0.115	0.115	-32.3
Waratah Coal	WCI	23	1.30	1.02	1.02	-24.4
Cons Abaddon R	ABN	3095	0.65	0.47	0.50	-23.0
Mesa Uran wt	MZU.WT	35	0.245	0.20	0.20	-23.0
Frontier Pacif	FRP	3759	0.83	0.62	0.64	-22.8
Happy Ck Minls	HPY	633	0.66	0.49	0.54	-21.7

TSX-V greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	120815	6.18	+0.93
Strathmore Min	STM	3015850	4.10	+0.90
U3O8 Corp	UWE	1453781	5.25	+0.77
Purepoint U	PTU	5188296	1.84	+0.77
Northern Dyn M	NDM	1091389	9.80	+0.70
Powertech Uran	PWE	3135390	3.38	+0.64
Rainy River Rs	RR	474218	4.75	+0.55
Strategic Nev	SNS	2148814	2.08	+0.53
Marathon PGM	MAR	108800	4.15	+0.50
Serengeti Res	SIR	3156638	1.61	+0.44
Aurelian Res	ARU	2010146	29.38	-0.67
Seabridge Gold	SEA	77115	13.24	-0.65
Osisko Explora	OSK	666996	11.74	-0.56
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	783872	8.10	-0.45
Sanatana Diam	STA	106000	0.50	-0.45
Macarthur Mnl	MMS	14920	1.60	-0.40
Thunder Sword	THU	17400	1.70	-0.40
Wealth Minls	WML	196450	2.28	-0.34
Energy Fuels	EFR	1057045	3.76	-0.34
Waratah Coal	WCI	22861	1.02	-0.33

TSX-V most active issues

		VOLUME	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Yukon Zinc	YZC	32621	0.36	0.26	0.265	+0.01
Alexis Minls	AMC	30238	1.20	0.55	0.98	+0.41
First Narrows	UNO	15959	0.96	0.61	0.82	+0.10
Goldeye Expl	GGY	13850	0.19	0.095	0.14	+0.05
Stellar Pac Vt	SPX	12487	0.24	0.17	0.18	+0.01
Colibri Res	CBI	9758	0.71	0.25	0.70	+0.435
Solitaire Mnls	SLT	9322	0.35	0.23	0.32	+0.065
Golden Cariboo	GCC	7743	0.095	0.05	0.085	+0.03
Continuum Res	CNU	7660	0.64	0.47	0.60	+0.14
UrAsia Energy	UUU	7553	5.25	4.95	5.20	+0.20