TSX Venture Exchange – November 3-9

There was no lack of bullish signs on the S&P/TSX Venture composite index during the Nov. 3-9 reporting period. And here’s three of them: The Venture board gain 65.86 points to close at 1,355.48; average daily volume was a blistering 148 million shares; and the number of companies headed north to 52-week highs (96) outnumbered southbound cousins (22) by about four-to-one.

While base metals held strong during the five-day period, gold continued to break nominal records. Now the gold price only has about US$1,200 to go to break its inflation-adjusted record.

And there was plenty of evidence of investors’ delight in the yellow metal. Many companies benefited from the Midas touch, pumping up share prices to yearly highs and beyond.

International Tower Hill Mines was up $1.38 to $6.45 — an all-time record — as investors continued to see the potential of the company’s ever-burgeoning gold resource in Alaska. At last count, that had reached 297 million indicated tonnes grading 0.85 gram gold per tonne for 8.1 million oz.

Salazar Resources closed up 39¢ at $1.14 — heights it hasn’t seen for well over a year — as the market pushed up the shares of explorers in Ecuador. Salazar, which is ramping up to begin exploration of its Curipamba project, noted during the five-day trading period that the president of Ecuador had signed long-awaited mining regulations into law, further clearing, it would seem, the path for mining developments in that country.

Timmins Gold, closing in on its two-year high of nearly $1.50, was up 38¢ to $1.14. Excitement stems from the company’s efforts to achieve commercial gold production at its San Francisco gold mine in Sonora state, Mexico. Timmins Gold forecasts a gold pour in January 2010 and annual production of as much as 100,000 oz. gold at a cash cost of US$412 per oz. gold.

Dorato Resources busted beyond its three quarters of a dollar 52-week high, closing up 32¢ at 85¢. Investors like the looks of its Cordillera del Condor project, in northern Peru, not far south of Kinross Gold’s Fruta del Norte gold project.

As a final example of gold’s lustre, this time from B. C., Terrane Metals, which has outlined more than 6 million oz. gold at its Mt. Milligan project, hit $1.01, up 6¢ — breaking a buck for the first time since late 2006.

Still, even through its gold goggles, the market was capable of squinting at a few non-gold-focused companies. Allana Resources continued to enjoy interest in its Ethiopian potash assets, highlighted by a $2-million private placement paid for by a Chinese mining fund. Allana was up 8¢ to 39¢. Mesa Uranium’s share price more than doubled to 23¢ from 10¢. It announced staking its “Green Energy” lithium project in Utah, where oil drilling has in the past intersected lithium-containing brines.

A few notables in negative territory were Diamcor Mining, down 18¢ to 20¢; Hathor Exploration, which shed 23¢ to $1.79; and Goldsource Mines, off 9¢ to $1.58.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Allana Res	AAA	25819	0.44	0.25	0.39	+ 0.08
Global Hunter	BOB	18698	0.12	0.04	0.11	+ 0.06
RomarcoMnrls	R	16673	1.40	1.18	1.32	+ 0.12
Medoro Res	MRS	14497	0.77	0.56	0.70	+ 0.14
Avion Res	AVR	13679	0.44	0.31	0.41	+ 0.12
Timmins Gold	TMM	13273	1.20	0.74	1.11	+ 0.38
Terrane Metals	TRX	12687	1.13	0.93	1.01	+ 0.06
Network Expl	NET	11626	0.08	0.05	0.08	+ 0.01
Journey Res	JNY	10514	0.06	0.04	0.06	+ 0.01
Lithic Res	LTH	7764	0.17	0.08	0.17	+ 0.06

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Mesa Uran	MSA	565	0.29	0.10	0.23	+155.5
La Quinta Res	LAQ	420	0.06	0.03	0.05	+150.0
Global Hunter	BOB	18698	0.12	0.04	0.11	+120.0
Cavan Vent	CVN	242	0.25	0.17	0.25	+108.3
Tanqueray Res	TQY	294	0.03	0.01	0.02	+100.0
Berkley Res	BKS	218	0.08	0.04	0.07	+ 75.0
Horseshoe Gld	HSX	207	0.05	0.03	0.05	+ 66.6
Prize Mng	PRZ	958	0.05	0.04	0.05	+ 66.6
X-Ore Res	XOR	251	0.05	0.04	0.05	+ 66.6
Mill Bay Vent	MBV	182	0.05	0.04	0.05	+ 66.6
Diamcor Mng	DMI	46	0.34	0.18	0.20	-47.3
Cantex Mn Dev	CD	5562	0.16	0.06	0.09	-43.7
Mengold Res	MNI	120	0.04	0.03	0.03	-40.0
Midasco Cap	MGC	37	0.03	0.03	0.03	-40.0
Pac Bay Mnrls	PBM	1444	0.09	0.04	0.05	-37.5
Black Bull Res	BBS	31	0.03	0.02	0.02	-33.3
Red Rock Enrgy	RRK	91	0.16	0.13	0.13	-31.5
Mineral Hill	MHI	311	0.10	0.07	0.07	-30.0
Ultra Uranium	ULU	66	0.08	0.06	0.07	-30.0
Devonshire Res	DSH	56	0.10	0.07	0.07	-30.0

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Intl Tower Hil	ITH	1938126	6.45	+ 1.38
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	120470	14.50	+ 0.80
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	243654	5.30	+ 0.65
Rare Elemnt Rs	RES	1051813	3.44	+ 0.43
Salazar Res	SRL	310033	1.14	+ 0.39
Timmins Gold	TMM	13273035	1.11	+ 0.38
Galway Res	GWY	6758652	1.37	+ 0.37
Energold Drill	EGD	307263	2.35	+ 0.33
San Gold Res	SGR	7693383	3.02	+ 0.32
Dorato Res	DRI	1205390	0.85	+ 0.32
Pac Booker Min	BKM	15090	7.87	-0.36
Hathor Expl	HAT	5232052	1.79	-0.23
Diamcor Mng	DMI	46388	0.20	-0.18
Universal Powr	UNX	951950	0.64	-0.16
Lions Gate Mtl	LGM	132100	0.80	-0.15
Maudore Minls	MAO	528258	3.35	-0.15
Newstrike Res	NR	105000	0.51	-0.11
Goldsource Min	GXS	399490	1.58	-0.09
Ascot Res	AOT	487406	0.32	-0.07
Aldridge Minls	AGM	124500	1.23	-0.07