TSX Venture Exchange August 21-27

Following its recent meltdown, the junior mining-dominated S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index clawed back a bit of ground over the Aug. 21-27 trading session to post a 3.3% gain, up 84.28 points at 2,632.68. Average daily trading volumes relaxed from the previous week’s frantic selloff to come in at 82.4 million shares.

A slow market pulse was again evident in the lopsided tally of new annual highs versus lows for the week. A paltry three companies managed new 52-week highs over the session, while 148 junior explorers sank to new yearly lows.

Blue Note Mining saw its shares rally almost 25% over the week, closing up 12 to 61 per share on trading volume of 20.7 million shares. The company recently delivered the first lead concentrate produced from its Caribou lead-zinc mine in New Brunswick to Xstrata’s Belledune smelter.

Continuing to post gains, Celtic Minerals added a dime to its share price to close the session at $1.03 per share on trading volume of 12.3 million shares. The company recently announced a nickel-copper-cobalt-palladium massive sulphide discovery at its Kingurutik project in Labrador.

Yukon Zinc posted a modest gain of 3 to close the week at 22 per share on trading volume of 9.3 million shares. The company has locked down a US$140-million loan from Barclays Capital to develop its Wolverine polymetallic deposit in the Yukon.

The move by Mongolia’s Mineral and Petroleum Resources Authority to invalidate a pair of licences at Western Prospector Group‘s Saddle Hills uranium project sent the junior’s stock reeling by 39%; the company’s shares closed the week down $1.08 at $1.71 per share on trading volume of more than 6.1 million shares. One licence covers some of the company’s flagship Gurvanbulag deposit.

Excellon Resources saw a rise from drilling near its Platosa mine project, in Durango state, Mexico. The stock notched up 18 to close the session at $1.38 per share on almost 5.5 million shares of volume. One hole intersected up to 41.2 grams silver per tonne, 0.64% lead and 0.44% zinc over 16.3 metres.

Shares of Northland Resources got a 27% boost over the week on an iron-copper-gold resource estimate at its Hannukainen project, in Finland. The stock closed up 90 at $4.20 apiece. Northland has reviewed 84.6 million measured and indicated tonnes averaging 34.6% iron, 0.2% copper and 0.093 gram gold per tonne. Another 81.6 million inferred tonnes graded 35.7% iron, 0.13% copper and 0.036 gram gold.

Seabridge Gold continued to retreat off recent highs, closing the trading session down $2.35 at $23.85 per share. The company is drilling at its Kerr-Sulphurets project, in northwestern B.C., and its Noche Buena project, in Mexico.

Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines posted a more that 10% gain on the week, closing up 50 at $4.90 per share on trading volume of more than 2.4 million shares. It recently closed a $200-million financing earmarked for development of the Bloom Lake iron ore deposit in Quebec.

TSX-V most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Blue Note Mng	BN	20758	0.63	0.455	0.61	+0.12
Peak Gold	PIK	12926	0.54	0.47	0.50	+0.005
Celtic Mnrls	CME	12337	1.24	0.83	1.03	+0.10
Yukon Zinc	YZC	9341	0.245	0.18	0.22	+0.03
Western Prospc	WNP	6143	1.80	0.87	1.71	-1.08
Excellon Res	EXN	5470	1.45	1.13	1.38	+0.18
NFX Gold	NFX	5148	0.50	0.35	0.39	-0.01
TTM Res	TTQ	4668	1.04	0.73	0.77	-0.04
Spider Res	SPQ	4277	0.045	0.03	0.04	+0.01
Dia Bras Expl	DIB	4235	0.95	0.80	0.95	+0.05

TSX-V greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Stratabd Mnr	SB	368	0.30	0.24	0.30	+66.6
Superior Mng	SUI	270	0.41	0.25	0.41	+57.6
Apoquindo Mnls	AQM	149	0.55	0.37	0.55	+57.1
Adriana Res	ADI	971	1.15	0.70	1.10	+57.1
Midland Expl	MD	69	0.77	0.55	0.77	+50.9
Tanqueray Res	TQY	85	0.10	0.09	0.10	+42.8
Unor Inc	UNI	956	0.30	0.205	0.29	+41.4
New Nadina	NNA	333	0.25	0.17	0.225	+40.6
Titan Uranium	TUE	977	1.33	0.82	1.17	+37.6
Garrison Intl	GAU	166	0.115	0.095	0.115	+35.2
Wind River Res	WRR	237	0.105	0.065	0.085	-39.2
Western Prospc	WNP	6143	1.80	0.87	1.71	-38.7
Adroit Res	ADT	39	0.185	0.155	0.155	-38.0
Penteco Res	PEN	525	0.45	0.28	0.33	-37.7
MacDonald Mns	BMK	262	0.07	0.04	0.065	-31.5
Indico Res	IDI	33	0.32	0.25	0.255	-29.1
Sienna Gold	SGP	244	0.72	0.51	0.51	-28.1
Louvem Mines	LOV	13	0.40	0.25	0.25	-26.4
BCM Res	B	25	0.43	0.365	0.38	-26.2
Getty Copper	GTC	144	0.24	0.18	0.18	-25.0

TSX-V greatest value change

		WEEK VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Northland Res	NAU	1416932	4.20	+0.90
Northern Dyn M	NDM	962619	11.00	+0.75
JNR Res	JNN	1301648	2.68	+0.58
Strathmore Min	STM	1551862	2.84	+0.56
Keegan Res	KGN	178237	3.05	+0.54
Anooraq Res	ARQ	910185	3.23	+0.53
MBMI Res	MBR	248291	2.00	+0.50
Mag Silver	MAG	430179	12.35	+0.50
Cons Thomp Irn	CLM	2423166	4.90	+0.50
Liberty Mines	LBE	796817	2.60	+0.50
Seabridge Gold	SEA	183747	23.85	-2.35
Western Prospc	WNP	6143242	1.71	-1.08
Coral Gold	CGR	23200	2.15	-0.33
Zeox	ZOX	308812	1.80	-0.30
Fortress Base	FBM	23000	0.90	-0.29
Esperanza Silv	EPZ	337858	1.72	-0.28
Wealth Minls	WML	142405	2.97	-0.28
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	23100	6.25	-0.25
Whitemud Res	WMK	12385	10.25	-0.25
Quaterra Res	QTA	280423	2.46	-0.24