TSX Venture Exchange February 2-8

Concerns that some European countries too saddled with debt to shake free from the recession will slow the global recovery continued to hurt the S&P-TSX Venture composite index over the Feb 2-8 trading week. The board, unable to recover from a single-day loss of 61.8 points or 4%, ended the week down 43.3 points at 1460.6. Daily trading volumes remained strong, averaging 104 million.

For months, Venture bulls have far outweighed bears, in terms of the number of juniors reaching new 52-week share price highs versus those falling to new lows. In the first week of February the race drew close, with 45 Venture-listed companies reaching new share price highs while 40 fell to new lows.

Shares of First Gold Exploration continued their wild ride, ending the week down 26¢ at 45¢ after gaining as much as 43¢ to reach 68¢ in late January. The company is drilling at its Pivert-Rose lithium-rare earth element property in west-central Quebec and recently pulled its best intercept to date from the ground: 13.4 metres grading 1.5% Li₂O, 2,755 grams rubidium per tonne, 290 grams T₂O₅, and 155 grams beryllium per tonne. First Gold was also the most heavily traded stock on the Venture exchange for the week, moving more than 21 million shares.

Without announcing any news, Botswanafocused explorer Tsodilo Resources jumped 73¢ or 65% to reach $1.85. Tsodilo’s main focus is the Newdico diamond project in northwestern Botswana, where magnetic surveys and follow-up drilling identified two kimberlites last year.

Strong scintillometer readings from four of the first five holes at Fission Energy’s Waterbury Lake project have the company’s share price up as much as 250% since late January, jumping from 18¢ to 63¢ before settling to 47¢. Core from second hole of the season sent the radioactivity metre off the chart; Fission then followed up with three additional holes to define the new J zone and all three also produced significant scintillometer results. Assay results are not yet available. Waterbury Lake is directly adjacent to Hathor Exploration’s high-grade MidWest Northeast uranium discovery.

With the arrangement of a $50-million bought-deal financing, Gleichen Resources is but a breath away from owning 100% of the Morelos gold project in Mexico’s Guerrero state, home to 28.8 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 3.2 grams gold plus 8.7 million inferred tonnes at the same grade. Gleichen arranged to buy Teck Resources’ 78.8% interest in August for $150 million, when the junior had essentially no cash, and raised $241 million in a special warrant financing to complete the deal. More recently Gleichen exercised its right of first refusal to buy Goldcorp’s 21.2% stake in the project for $44.5 million; the new $50-million financing should give it the capital it needs for the deal.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
First Gold Exp	EFG	21342	0.81	0.45	0.47	-0.26
Appleton Expl	AEX	19810	0.35	0.19	0.21	-0.13
IBC Adv Alloys	IB	13561	0.30	0.14	0.20	+ 0.05
Sandstorm Res	SSL	11077	0.65	0.56	0.62	+ 0.06
Gleichen Res	GRL	10797	1.11	0.92	0.98	-0.10
Encore Ren Res	EZ	9612	0.17	0.14	0.16	+ 0.02
Journey Res	JNY	8661	0.09	0.06	0.09	+ 0.01
TagishLkGold	TLG	8118	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.00
Victoria Gold	VIT	7989	1.01	0.84	0.87	+ 0.03
Explor Res	EXS	7396	1.26	0.85	1.05	-0.16

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Global Minls	CTG	960	0.38	0.17	0.31	+ 93.7
Tsodilo Res	TSD	299	2.00	1.04	1.85	+ 65.1
Garrison Intl	GAU	136	0.03	0.01	0.03	+ 50.0
Kivalliq Enrgy	KIV	3982	0.45	0.26	0.42	+ 50.0
Augyva Mng	AUV	452	0.16	0.11	0.16	+ 45.4
Dios Expl	DOS	1555	0.26	0.17	0.23	+ 35.2
Golconda Res	GA	220	0.09	0.08	0.08	+ 33.3
IBC Adv Alloys	IB	13561	0.30	0.14	0.20	+ 33.3
Midasco Cap	MGC	310	0.04	0.03	0.04	+ 33.3
Module Res	MLE	152	0.12	0.08	0.12	+ 33.3
Digger Res	DIG	19	0.35	0.24	0.24	-46.6
Windarra Minls	WRA	47	0.14	0.12	0.12	-40.0
Appleton Expl	AEX	19810	0.35	0.19	0.21	-38.2
Silvore Fox Ml	SFX	98	0.14	0.09	0.09	-35.7
First Gold Exp	EFG	21342	0.81	0.45	0.47	-35.6
Thelon Vent	THV	1674	0.03	0.02	0.02	-33.3
Tanqueray Res	TQY	141	0.05	0.04	0.04	-33.3
Pac Coast Nikl	NKL	103	0.07	0.04	0.04	-33.3
Unor Inc	UNI	3865	0.06	0.04	0.04	-33.3
Finlay Minrls	FYL	445	0.12	0.09	0.09	-30.7

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Tsodilo Res	TSD	299194	1.85	+ 0.73
Maudore Minls	MAO	120601	3.40	+ 0.25
Centurion Mnls	CTN	54200	0.67	+ 0.16
Bridgeport Ven	BPV	144220	2.55	+ 0.15
Global Minls	CTG	959664	0.31	+ 0.15
Kivalliq Enrgy	KIV	3981582	0.42	+ 0.14
Hana Mng	HMG	2760518	1.62	+ 0.12
Bralorne Gold	BPM	60250	0.90	+ 0.10
Eurasian Minls	EMX	132400	1.76	+ 0.09
Prophecy Res	PCY	436600	0.48	+ 0.08
Rainy River Rs	RR	3717907	4.47	-0.68
East Asia Mnls	EAS	2676270	3.01	-0.39
Quest Uranium	QUC	776705	2.68	-0.28
First Gold Exp	EFG	21342304	0.47	-0.26
Lions Gate Mtl	LGM	13801	1.01	-0.25
Galway Res	GWY	3372218	0.93	-0.22
Digger Res	DIG	18900	0.24	-0.21
RareElemntRs	RES	576643	3.43	-0.20
Energold Drill	EGD	531986	2.10	-0.20
Noront Res	NOT	5891293	1.40	-0.18