TSX Venture Exchange Jan. 15-21

Fallout from U.S. economic woes triggered precipitous drops in Canadian markets over the Jan. 15-21 trading session with the S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index plummeting 13.5%, or 379.3 points, to 2,390.52. Daily trading volumes for the week averaged 95.7 million shares.

A decisively bearish trend overwhelmed the junior board with a paltry six companies managing new annual highs, while 273 dropped to 52-week lows.

With anxiously awaited assays in from its Voltaire Lake project in northwestern Ontario, Gravity West Mining plummeted 68% to close the week down 20.5 at 9.5 per share on trading volume of 60.3 million shares. Investors were not impressed with hole VL07-03A, which returned 10.8 metres of 0.34% copper and 0.08% nickel — including 2 metres of 0.87% copper and 0.15% nickel. A separate 1-metre interval assayed 1.2 grams palladium per tonne.

Sage Gold posted almost 20 million shares of trading volume and shed over 50% to close at 22.5 per share. Drilling at its Jacobus property, near Beardmore, in northern Ontario, returned up to 22.6 metres of 0.7% nickel and 0.74% copper, including 11.8 metres of 0.93% nickel and 0.92% copper.

Shares of Peak Gold fell a dime on trading volume of 13.3 million shares to close the week at 49 apiece. It closed a $110-million financing late last year.

Carmax Explorations slipped 1.5 to finish the week at 19 per share on more than 9 million shares traded. Recent drilling on the company’s Eaglehead property, in northern B.C.’s Quesnel Trough, intersected wide intervals of copper-molybdenum-gold mineralization.

Tyler Resources continued to be a strong trader over the week with 9 million shares changing hands — closing off two pennies at $1.53 per share. Chinese metals giant Jinchuan recently tabled a $1.60-per-share takeover bid for the junior. In mid-2007, Tyler released a significant resource estimate for its Bahuerachi polymetallic project, in northern Mexico.

MacDonald Mines Exploration dropped 16 on the session to close at 42 apiece on nearly 8.2 million shares traded. It closed a $10-million financing in November with drill plans for its VMS projects in the McFaulds Lake area of the James Bay Lowlands.

On 7.8 million shares traded, Geoinformatics Exploration slipped 2.5 to 24 per share after strong recent gains stemming from a resource estimate at its Whistler project, in Alaska. The project holds 840,000 contained ounces gold classified as indicated, plus 2.74 million oz. gold under the inferred category.

Shares of Sable Resources continued to soar on no news. The stock traded up 29 on the week to close at $1.07 on nearly 1 million shares traded. The company raised $1 million late last year for underground development work and processing equipment at its Shasta project in north-central B.C., where it plans small-scale gold and silver production.

TSX-V greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
St Eugene Mng	SEM	69	0.12	0.07	0.10	+	66.6
Luxor Ind	LRL	10	0.085	0.05	0.085	+	54.5
Resolve Vent	RSV	45	0.195	0.195	0.195	+	39.2
Sable Res	SAE	999	1.15	0.78	1.07	+	37.1
Plato Gold	PGC	64	0.12	0.06	0.12	+	33.3
Cantex Mn Dev	CD	2892	0.11	0.07	0.10	+	33.3
Jantar Res	JR	150	0.09	0.07	0.09	+	28.5
Island Arc Exp	IAX	55	0.195	0.155	0.195	+	25.8
Pac Casc Minls	PCV	199	0.23	0.17	0.23	+	24.3
Diamcor Mng	DMI	26	0.57	0.425	0.49	+	22.5
Gravity West	GRW	60308	0.305	0.095	0.095	–	68.3
Northern Abiti	NAI	2793	0.355	0.13	0.15	–	57.1
Sage Gold	SGX	19777	0.46	0.195	0.225	–	50.5
Great Sthn Ent	GSR	60	0.035	0.01	0.03	–	50.0
Goldmember Mnl	GMV	47	0.37	0.20	0.20	–	45.9
Golden Arrow R	GRG	165	0.85	0.55	0.55	–	43.8
Kodiak Expl	KXL	5626	3.68	2.15	2.15	–	42.6
Rye Patch Gold	RPM	69	0.39	0.24	0.24	–	41.4
Anglo Mnrls	ALM	949	5.87	3.60	3.60	–	39.0
Mexican Silver	MSM	719	0.57	0.35	0.355	–	37.7

TSX-V greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Sable Res	SAE	998600	1.07	+	0.29
Digger Res	DIG	17800	2.10	+	0.20
New Millen Cap	NML	719042	0.85	+	0.15
Wealth Minls	WML	102865	1.45	+	0.15
Asian Minl Res	ASN	93380	1.69	+	0.14
Olivut Res	OLV	13589	0.90	+	0.09
Polar Star Mng	POS	134039	0.75	+	0.09
Diamcor Mng	DMI	25500	0.49	+	0.09
Moss Lake Gld	MOK	421500	0.48	+	0.08
New World Res	NW	70500	0.43	+	0.06
Seabridge Gold	SEA	312473	20.00	–	7.28
Pan Oce Exp	POE	2336456	11.30	–	2.90
Anglo Mnrls	ALM	948814	3.60	–	2.31
Kodiak Expl	KXL	5625588	2.15	–	1.60
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	124743	6.85	–	1.27
Whitemud Res	WMK	25767	9.25	–	1.25
Noront Res	NOT	4255585	2.70	–	1.14
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	267960	7.13	–	1.12
Rainy River Rs	RR	722528	4.01	–	1.09
Pediment Expl	PEZ	1316947	2.05	–	1.07

TSX-V most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Gravity West	GRW	60308	0.305	0.095	0.095	–	0.205
Sage Gold	SGX	19777	0.46	0.195	0.225	–	0.23
Peak Gold	PIK	13315	0.59	0.49	0.49	–	0.10
Opact Res	OPA	9128	0.75	0.50	0.55	–	0.17
Carmax Expl	CMX	9066	0.24	0.17	0.19	–	0.015
Tyler Res	TYS	9030	1.56	1.52	1.53	–	0.02
MacDonald Mns	BMK	8183	0.63	0.42	0.42	–	0.16
Geoinformatics	GXL	7799	0.355	0.24	0.24	–	0.025
Blue Note Mng	BN	7351	0.33	0.24	0.255	–	0.075
Yukon Zinc	YZC	7034	0.13	0.11	0.11	–	0.015