TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE AUG. 19-25

The S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index posted a gain over the Aug. 19-25 trading week, closing up 16.37 points at 1,940.01. It was the first weekly gain in several months for the junior board. Daily trading volumes remained subdued, averaging out to 46.2 million.

Despite the board’s small gain, bears continued to dominate the mining sector. While 422 juniors fell to new share price lows, only four managed to climb to new highs.

KWG Resources traded more shares than any other junior, moving 12.4 million shares to close up a penny at 5. The company is working with Spider Resources and Freewest Resources to explore a property some 3.5 km northeast of Noront Resources’ Eagle One discovery near McFaulds Lake, Ont. The three JV partners released drill results showing thick intersections of massive chromite.

News of a $3.25-million financing prompted a flurry of trading for Selwyn Resources but the junior’s share price still closed the week down a penny at 10. Selwyn is advancing the massive but isolated Selwyn zinc-lead project, in the Yukon, near the border with the Northwest Territories.

Vast Exploration had an unusually busy week of trading. Without releasing any news, the former mining junior traded 5.8 million shares to climb 9 to 61. Vast is now an oil and gas company focused on exploring and developing its Qara Dagh Block project in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Another company that did not release news found silence not so golden. Antares Minerals lost 35 over the week to close at $2.35. The junior’s flagship project is the Haquira copper-gold-molybdenum project in Peru, which in early August produced long, wellmineralized intercepts such as 525 metres of 0.65% copper and 0.015% moly and 342 metres grading 0.75% copper, 0.022% moly and 0.11 gram gold per tonne.

A six-month slide appears to be over for Whitemud Resources. From February to August the company’s share price fell to $4.80 from $8.80, but over the recent session Whitemud’s share price gained 75 to close at $5.75. The company mines kaolin, used to make a concrete performance additive, in southern Saskatchewan.

A long gold intercept — 134 metres grading 2.91 grams gold — buoyed Clifton Star’s share price 66 to $3.57. The intercept came from Donchester, one of three adjoining mine properties in Duparquet Twp., Que.

For Geologix Explorations, it was a wellmineralized silver intercept that provided some share price lift. The company reported strong drill results from its San Agustin silver- gold-lead-zinc project in Durango state,

Mexico, and subsequently gained 44 to close at $1.59.

Mixed results from Goldsource Mines chopped $1.08 from the junior’s share price; it closed at $4.80. The company is trying to delineate the coal bed it intersected by chance in April. Some holes have returned thick, continuous coal intercepts, while others show no coal at all. Investor confidence, which seemed limitless when the junior’s share price peaked at $19, seems to be faltering.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
KWG Res	KWG	12370	0.05	0.04	0.05	+ 0.01
Selwyn Res	SWN	7011	0.10	0.09	0.10	-0.01
Vast Expl	VST	5761	0.69	0.47	0.61	+ 0.09
Largo Res	LGO	4818	0.59	0.47	0.50	-0.02
North Am Gem	NAG	4306	0.19	0.16	0.17	-0.02
Antares Minls	ANM	3879	2.70	2.21	2.35	-0.35
Spider Res	SPQ	3750	0.08	0.05	0.07	+ 0.01
Western Potash	WPX	3586	0.90	0.70	0.84	-0.04
Forest Gate	FGT	3437	0.07	0.05	0.05	0.00
Bonanza Res	BRS	3254	0.13	0.08	0.10	-0.01

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Trillium North	TNM	35	0.08	0.07	0.08	+100.0
Terraco Gold	TEN	264	0.17	0.10	0.17	+ 88.8
Condor Res	CN	131	0.62	0.34	0.62	+ 77.1
Intl Barytex	IBX	81	0.62	0.35	0.62	+ 72.2
James Bay Res	JBR	230	0.65	0.40	0.63	+ 53.6
Tri Origin Exp	TOE	124	0.37	0.31	0.37	+ 42.3
Anglo-Can Uran	URA	338	0.17	0.11	0.17	+ 41.6
Manson Creek	MCK	107	0.07	0.05	0.07	+ 40.0
Intl Beryllium	IB	2315	0.30	0.18	0.28	+ 40.0
Geologix Ex	GIX	699	1.59	1.09	1.59	+ 38.2
Ballad Gld & S	BGS	51	0.06	0.01	0.01	-75.0
Black Bull Res	BBS	280	0.08	0.03	0.03	-57.1
Intl Chalice R	IRI	43	0.12	0.05	0.06	-53.8
Conquest Res	CQR	15	0.06	0.03	0.03	-50.0
Solomon Res	SRB	213	0.12	0.08	0.08	-46.6
Cadillac Mng	CQX	19	0.09	0.05	0.05	-44.4
Huntington Exp	HEI	39	0.04	0.04	0.04	-42.8
Arcturus Res	AZN	38	0.05	0.04	0.04	-42.8
Colombian Mins	CMJ	113	0.44	0.31	0.31	-42.5
Dot Res	DOT	1007	0.05	0.02	0.03	-40.0

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Whitemud Res	WMK	13789	5.75	+ 0.75
Clifton Star	CFO	319892	3.57	+ 0.66
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	67800	15.20	+ 0.50
Geologix Ex	GIX	698983	1.59	+ 0.44
Keegan Res	KGN	132500	2.45	+ 0.36
Condor Res	CN	130590	0.62	+ 0.27
Intl Barytex	IBX	80862	0.62	+ 0.26
Mosquito Cons	MSQ	170420	1.44	+ 0.24
San Gold Res	SGR	1838505	1.65	+ 0.22
James Bay Res	JBR	229500	0.63	+ 0.22
Goldsource Min	GXS	711020	4.80	-1.08
Uruguay Mnl Ex	UME	404874	1.20	-0.65
Aldridge Minls	AGM	16500	2.50	-0.50
Antares Minls	ANM	3879247	2.35	-0.35
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	207685	2.65	-0.31
Inca Pac Res	IPR	114835	1.00	-0.30
Exeter Res	XRC	482470	3.00	-0.27
Colombian Mins	CMJ	112500	0.31	-0.23
Callinan Mns	CAA	174512	1.78	-0.22
Contintl Mnls	KMK	1078441	0.70	-0.19