TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE JULY 24 -30

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained four out of five days during the last week of July to close the week up 32.38 points at 1,427.36. Daily trading volumes remained low, averaging just 75 million.

The rising average belied the bulls-and-bears race, however, which painted a very different picture. Over the week, only 23 Venture-listed companies reached new 52-week share price highs while 186 fell to new lows.

Sidon International Resources was the week’s volume leader, moving almost 22 million shares to climb 4¢ to 16¢, showing that some investors still have an appetite for early-stage exploration. The company finally received approval for its May deal to acquire an 80% interest in the Morogoro East gold property in Tanzania, a grassroots project.

A $25-million financing by Victoria Gold attracted considerable investor attention: Victoria traded 14 million shares to fall 4¢ to 69¢. In the private placement, it will sell 35.8 million shares at 70¢ apiece. Victoria will use the money to advance its two core projects, which are the Cove gold project in Nevada and the Eagle gold project in the Yukon.

High-grade gold samples from the 3Ace project in the southeast Yukon boosted Northern Tiger Resources’ shares. Nine grab samples taken from the main outcrop at 3Ace returned values as high as 4,820 grams gold per tonne and the results pushed Northern Tiger’s shares up 10.5¢ to 30¢.

Silver Quest Resources also rallied on good gold results. The company is drilling at its Capoose project in north-central British Columbia and a recent 100-metre step-out to the southeast returned 30 metres grading 1.89 grams gold and 12.51 grams silver per tonne, followed by 10 metres of 0.99 gram gold and 11.3 grams silver. Silver Quest gained 16¢ to reach 68¢.

Investors are pleased with Gold Bullion Development’s progress at the Granada gold project near Rouyn-Noranda, Que. Gold Bullion is exploring around an historic gold mine and recently produced strong infill results from the known deposit, including 123.5 metres of 1.07 grams gold and 75 metres of 1.5 grams gold. It recently completed 27 holes probing the East-Northeast discovery area and says every hole intersected “significant zones of altered feldspar porphyry (favourable for gold mineralization) with quartz veining” with visible gold in many holes. Gold Bullion rose 9¢ to 58¢.

Finally, it was a rough week for Challenger Development, which announced an option deal for a gold project in Tanzania only to be hit with a lawsuit and a TSX rebuke. Challenger signed on to earn a 70% stake in the Buziba-Busolwa project and described the project’s inferred resource, only to retract the resource the next day because it was not compliant with National Instrument 43-101 regulations. And the lawsuit stems from another deal, this one to acquire 70% of a private Zambian company that owns an historic gold mine. Challenger signed the deal in March but now an individual is claiming he should get 25% of the property.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Sidon Intl Res	SD	21595	0.16	0.10	0.16	+ 0.05
Victoria Gold	VIT	14196	0.75	0.66	0.69	-0.04
Terrane Metals	TRX	11476	1.40	1.34	1.36	-0.02
Cons Spire Vnt	CZS	10237	0.05	0.04	0.05	-0.01
Northern Tiger	NTR	8901	0.33	0.18	0.30	+ 0.11
Gold Bulln Dev	GBB	7478	0.64	0.51	0.58	+ 0.09
Canaco Res	CAN	7074	2.13	1.57	1.99	+ 0.33
Creso Expl	CXT	6678	0.79	0.53	0.70	+ 0.12
Arian Silver	AGQ	6337	0.16	0.10	0.16	+ 0.06
Avion Res	AVR	5871	0.47	0.42	0.44	-0.01

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
New Nadina	NNA	74	0.11	0.07	0.11	+ 83.3
SouthernAndE	SUR	36	0.25	0.18	0.25	+ 78.5
Abbastar Res	ABA	618	0.15	0.08	0.14	+ 75.0
Portal Res	PDO	16	0.14	0.13	0.14	+ 75.0
Claim Post Res	CPS	462	0.19	0.09	0.19	+ 72.7
Passport Metal	PPI	3427	0.14	0.08	0.12	+ 71.4
Pinestar Gold	PNS	137	0.09	0.06	0.08	+ 60.0
Virginia Engy	VAE	734	0.24	0.14	0.24	+ 60.0
Arian Silver	AGQ	6337	0.16	0.10	0.16	+ 60.0
Northern Tiger	NTR	8901	0.33	0.18	0.30	+ 57.8
Challenger Dev	CDQ	2977	0.44	0.25	0.28	-42.8
Searchgold Res	RSG	1837	0.02	0.01	0.02	-33.3
Aldrin Res	ALN	642	0.64	0.44	0.44	-32.3
McChip Res	MCS	12	1.04	0.80	0.80	-29.8
Teslin Rvr Res	TLR	80	0.05	0.05	0.05	-28.5
Gitennes Expl	GIT	16	0.06	0.05	0.05	-28.5
Jiminex	JIM	31	0.08	0.08	0.08	-27.2
Crown Mnls	CWM	25	0.08	0.05	0.06	-25.0
Mainstream Mnl	MJO	97	0.06	0.06	0.06	-25.0
Ashburton Vent	ABR	3918	0.09	0.06	0.06	-25.0

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Clifton Star	CFO	975431	4.82	+ 0.71
Amazon Mng	AMZ	463095	1.89	+ 0.47
Brett Res	BBR	380397	4.39	+ 0.34
Mirasol Res	MRZ	147620	1.84	+ 0.33
Canaco Res	CAN	7073674	1.99	+ 0.33
Alderon Res	ADV	418490	1.40	+ 0.30
Energold Drill	EGD	384755	2.34	+ 0.27
Universal Powr	UNX	2436473	1.93	+ 0.27
Callinan Mns	CAA	239380	1.60	+ 0.20
Timmins Gold	TMM	2912521	1.60	+ 0.19
Pac Booker Min	BKM	26030	7.66	-0.39
McChip Res	MCS	11840	0.80	-0.34
RareElemntRs	RES	473899	2.79	-0.28
Challenger Dev	CDQ	2977000	0.28	-0.21
Aldrin Res	ALN	642130	0.44	-0.21
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	40556	7.25	-0.20
Mega Precs Mtl	MGP	205115	0.38	-0.10
Centurion Mnls	CTN	158924	1.40	-0.08
North Country	NCG	1650400	0.29	-0.08
Midland Expl	MD	30098	1.27	-0.08