TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE AUG. 5-11

The S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index continued its slide over the Aug. 5-11 trading session. Red closes far overshadowed a single six-point gain, leaving the board to close down 222.76 points at 2,015.35. And in yet another sign of the summer doldrums, trading volumes were weak, averaging out to 52.9 million trades daily.

But perhaps the strongest indication of just how bearish the junior board is right now is the fact that 393 Venture-listed companies sank to new 52-week lows over the session while only 8 rose to new highs.

North American Gem was the session’s top trader, moving 9 million shares to close down 9 at 19. The junior is awaiting coal permits near Goldsource Mines’ coal discovery in Saskatchewan and has released no recent news.

As for Goldsource, it’s been a rocky road of late. When the company’s first stepout hole failed to hit coal, the rags-to-riches junior lost half its share price. When two subsequent holes did return significant coal intercepts investors came back. Then, at the start of this session, the company announced two more hits and a miss. Investors seem to have grown nervous, however, and over the session Goldsource lost $2.62 to close at $6.04.

Always a volume leader, Largo Resources traded more than 7 million shares to close the week down 14 at 70. The company is awaiting a feasibility study for its Maracas vanadium-platinum group metals project in Brazil, expected out this week, and drill results from its Northern Dancer tungsten-moly project in the Yukon.

Western Potash lost 47 over the session to close at $1.03, without releasing any news. In late July, the junior announced that the first drill hole into its Russell-Miniota project in Manitoba intersected two potash-bearing formations, confirming the presence of mineralization.

A 209-metre intercept grading 0.68% copper and 0.014% molybdenum wasn’t enough to prevent Los Andes Copper from the market’s downward drag. The long intercepts from its Vizcachitas project in Chile sparked a small gain, but over the session the company’s share price slid 7 to close at 47.

Similarly, short high-grade intercepts from the Rice Lake gold mine couldn’t prevent San Gold’s share price slide. The junior lost 43 to close at $1.43, despite announcing intercepts including 27.84 grams gold per tonne over 6.4 metres and 20.89 grams gold over 7.2 metres.

Tirex Resources defied the market odds, gaining 33 after a long share price decline to close at $1.33. The Vancouver-based junior is exploring a large volcanogenic massive sulphide project in Albania that has seen little modern exploration until now.

Several companies fell significantly without releasing any news. Chesapeake Gold lost $1.30 to close at $5.65, Kodiak Exploration slid 84 to $1.56, Rainy River Resources fell 81 to $1.95, and Altai Resources lost 81 to close at $1.15. The change was enough to prompt Altai to issue a news release saying it simply doesn’t know why its share price is so low.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
North Am Gem	NAG	9125	0.31	0.17	0.19	-0.09
Century Mining	CMM	7610	0.08	0.05	0.05	0.00
Largo Res	LGO	7073	0.84	0.65	0.70	-0.14
Western Potash	WPX	6060	1.40	0.99	1.03	-0.47
Cypress Dev	CYP	5565	0.45	0.28	0.28	-0.05
Prize Mng	PRZ	4515	0.14	0.08	0.10	+ 0.02
Cloudbreak Res	CDB	4488	0.14	0.09	0.09	-0.01
Gold Hawk Res	CGK	4200	0.06	0.05	0.05	0.00
Los Andes Copp	LA	3804	0.52	0.47	0.47	-0.07
San Gold Res	SGR	3744	1.86	1.34	1.43	-0.43

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Eastfield Res	ETF	92	0.11	0.08	0.08	+ 60.0
Goldmember Mnl	GMV	10	0.09	0.09	0.09	+ 50.0
Starfire Mnrls	SFR	766	0.13	0.08	0.12	+ 50.0
Azteca Gold	AZG	179	0.09	0.03	0.09	+ 50.0
Black Bull Res	BBS	168	0.09	0.06	0.06	+ 50.0
Everett Minls	EAR	280	0.12	0.08	0.12	+ 50.0
Nova Uranium	NUC	258	0.19	0.14	0.14	+ 40.0
Menika Mining	MML	10	0.12	0.12	0.12	+ 33.3
Calibre Mng	CXB	60	0.20	0.14	0.20	+ 33.3
Cadillac Mng	CQX	31	0.12	0.04	0.04	+ 33.3
Mineral Hill	MHI	2696	0.20	0.10	0.12	-58.6
Probe Mines	PRB	1736	0.40	0.25	0.28	-53.3
Gold Bulln Dev	GBB	37	0.09	0.05	0.09	-47.0
Skybridge Dev	SBD	57	0.60	0.37	0.37	-44.7
Altai Res	ATI	625	1.94	1.12	1.15	-41.3
Rolling Rock	RLL	33	0.11	0.09	0.10	-41.1
New Dimen Res	NDR	176	0.11	0.06	0.06	-40.0
Stealth Mnls	SML	50	0.04	0.03	0.03	-40.0
Ballad Gld & S	BGS	101	0.05	0.03	0.03	-40.0
Mazorro Res	MZO	56	0.33	0.20	0.20	-39.3

PXI

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Tirex Res	TXX	513323	1.33	+ 0.33
Planet Expl	64000	0.52	+ 0.11
MBMI Res	MBR	406969	0.50	+ 0.09
McVicar Res	MCV	43000	0.95	+ 0.09
Strategic Metl	SMD	213313	0.40	+ 0.09
Atac Res	ATC	648083	0.34	+ 0.08
Northern Shiel	NRN	195000	0.61	+ 0.08
Max Res	MXR	44300	0.38	+ 0.06
Champion Bear	CBA	44100	0.49	+ 0.06
Cons Fortress	CFR	973000	0.25	+ 0.06
Goldsource Min	GXS	783283	6.04	-2.62
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	10634	17.00	-1.50
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	132141	5.65	-1.30
Kodiak Expl	KXL	3008575	1.56	-0.84
Rainy River Rs	RR	806193	1.95	-0.81
Altai Res	ATI	625463	1.15	-0.81
Canplats Res	CPQ	936699	2.98	-0.71
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	310296	3.50	-0.70
Quaterra Res	QTA	183925	2.40	-0.70
Andina Mnls	ADM	691799	2.71	-0.68