TSX Venture Exchange -Dec. 15-17

Investors in companies listed on the S&P/TSX Venture composite index continued their trading frenzy over the Dec. 15-17 reporting period, keeping daily volumes above 125 million trades. The board ended the short session down 3.93 points, at 1,421.15. With the year almost finished, the board remains up more than 100% from its low of 685 points last December.

In the three-day session, more than twice as many Venture-listed companies reached new 52-week share price highs as fell to new lows. Specifically, 52 juniors climbed to new highs, while 24 fell to new lows.

One of the companies reaching a new high was Rainy River Resources, which gained 46¢ to close at $4. Rainy River is exploring its namesake property, which is in Richardson Township, in northwestern Ontario, and recent drilling has returned significant results. Hole 406 cut 48 metres grading 4.29 grams gold per tonne in the main ODM zone, then traversed across to the 433 zone, where it hit 25.5 metres grading 6.04 grams gold.

The only news out of Atac Resources was a deal to sell a 50-sq.-km land package in the Dawson Range, in the Yukon, to Silver Quest Resources for $115,000. Nevertheless, Atac gained 13¢ to reach a new high of $1.46. Atac’s key project is the Rau gold discovery, which is also in the Yukon.

High-grade drill results from the Santa Lucia mining camp, part of the Royal Mines of Zacualpan in central Mexico, propelled Impact Silver up 15¢ to $1.17. Results included 466 grams silver per tonne over 3.2 metres and 278 grams silver over 6.3 metres, including 1,185 grams silver over 1 metre. One week earlier, the company announced a drill intercept at Santa Lucia of 1,078 grams silver over 3.3 metres.

A joint venture and private-placement deal with Goldcorp lifted Quaterra Resources’ share price 30¢ to $1.70. The two companies signed a letter of intent for a deal that would give Goldcorp the option to earn a 65% interest in any of Quaterra’s central Mexican properties, other than Nieves, by spending $2 million on exploration over two years and completing a feasibility study. Goldcorp is also investing $10 million in Quaterra over two years, starting with an immediate $4-million private placement.

Drill results also gave CBR Gold shares a nice lift. Underground drilling at the Niblack copper-gold-silver-zinc project on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, returned such intercepts as 44 metres grading 2.25% copper, 3.01 grams gold, 5.52% zinc and 76 grams silver, and 9 metres of 4.19% copper, 5.18 grams gold, 13.85% zinc and 133 grams silver.

The news added 21¢ to CBR’s stock, which closed out at 76¢ per share.

And Underworld Resources gained 21¢ to reach $1.66 on news of another agreement with Shawn Ryan, the Yukon prospector who discovered Underworld’s exciting White Gold project.

Ryan is providing Underworld with another 646 claims in the White Gold district for $161,500 and 600,000 Underworld shares.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Appleton Expl	AEX	11775	0.25	0.17	0.19	+ 0.03
Avion Res	AVR	9742	0.50	0.43	0.46	-0.01
Canada Lithium	CLQ	8412	0.47	0.39	0.41	-0.02
Svit Gold	SDP	7629	0.19	0.15	0.17	0.00
Freewest Res	FWR	7250	0.97	0.96	0.97	+ 0.01
Kodiak Expl	KXL	7106	0.50	0.46	0.48	-0.02
Canaco Res	CAN	6939	0.58	0.48	0.50	-0.04
Selwyn Res	SWN	6483	0.30	0.22	0.25	+ 0.05
Medoro Res	MRS	6015	0.52	0.44	0.49	0.00
Apella Res	APA	5972	0.35	0.22	0.22	0.00

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Firesteel Res	FTR	30	0.10	0.08	0.10	+100.0
Ginguro Expl	GEG	707	0.32	0.17	0.30	+ 76.4
Ruby Red Res	RRX	23	0.12	0.09	0.12	+ 50.0
Probe Res	PBR	1637	0.12	0.08	0.12	+ 50.0
Intl PBX Vent	PBX	1610	0.09	0.06	0.09	+ 50.0
Lithic Res	LTH	1871	0.32	0.19	0.28	+ 47.3
Queensland Mnl	QML	1730	0.15	0.06	0.10	+ 42.8
CBR Gold	CBG	1048	0.88	0.55	0.76	+ 38.1
Condor Res	CN	308	0.16	0.13	0.15	+ 36.3
Canuc Res	CDA	246	0.30	0.21	0.30	+ 36.3
Proam Expl	PMX	35	0.12	0.10	0.10	-52.3
Hansa Res	HRL	123	0.10	0.08	0.09	-40.0
Animas Res	ANI	1396	1.06	0.64	0.68	-37.6
Orsa Vent	ORN	43	0.12	0.09	0.09	-35.7
Astorius Res	ASQ	55	0.11	0.09	0.09	-35.7
Emerick Res	ERC	266	0.30	0.25	0.26	-35.0
Santa Fe Metls	SFM	50	0.09	0.09	0.09	-30.7
La Quinta Res	LAQ	20	0.09	0.09	0.09	-30.7
Radisson Mng	RDS	921	0.09	0.06	0.07	-30.0
St Eugene Mng	SEM	330	0.07	0.05	0.05	-28.5

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Rainy River Rs	RR	1734574	4.00	+ 0.46
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	62248	7.25	+ 0.45
Quaterra Res	QTA	329600	1.70	+ 0.30
CBR Gold	CBG	1047861	0.76	+ 0.21
Underworld Res	UW	743349	1.66	+ 0.21
Amazon Mng	AMZ	580560	1.50	+ 0.16
IMPACT Silver	IPT	736938	1.17	+ 0.15
Bridgeport Ven	BPV	28300	1.80	+ 0.15
Ginguro Expl	GEG	707265	0.30	+ 0.13
Energold Drill	EGD	177714	2.60	+ 0.13
Animas Res	ANI	1395799	0.68	-0.41
Eurasian Minls	EMX	240901	2.13	-0.27
East Asia Mnls	EAS	4309993	3.61	-0.22
Contintl Mnls	KMK	529262	2.02	-0.20
San Gold Res	SGR	5845082	3.30	-0.19
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	424723	3.87	-0.18
Canplats Res	CPQ	1779792	3.15	-0.14
Emerick Res	ERC	265762	0.26	-0.14
Metalex Vent	MTX	22880	1.07	-0.12
Dorato Res	DRI	926420	0.98	-0.11