TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE DECEMBER 13-17

The TSX composite index came off a bit as the holiday season approached. The index fell roughly 160 points to finish at 13,201 for the Dec. 13-17 week.

The weaker market came despite positive economic news as manufacturing sales were up almost 2% and home sales climbed over 5%, and forward-looking indicators pointed to continued strength in the coming months. On the less optimistic side of things, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney said that the level of household indebtedness was concerning.

The gold sector felt some downward pressure also, as the debt issues in Europe had investors fleeing the euro and moving into the greenback. That meant a stronger U.S. dollar which had the yellow metal down US$20 to US$1,368.50 per oz.

The Global Gold index slumped 15 points to 416.90.

The Capped Metals & Mining index was off, as it fell 50 points to 1,446.31. That move came despite underlying base metals holding on to their value as copper stayed above US$4 per lb., and nickel and tin prices gained slightly while lead and zinc prices were flat.

Claude Resources enjoyed the highest percentage gain on the back of historical assays from its Amisk gold property in Saskatchewan. A section of historical drill core returned 241 metres of 2.16 grams gold per tonne and 18.9 grams silver per tonne. The company says it is outlining an extensive, bulk-mineable gold system that is open along strike to the northeast, southwest, southeast and downdip. The company saw its shares move up 34%.

Claude says that the previous holders of the property failed to detect such wide stretches of mineralization because they focused on high-grade vein systems, leaving broad envelopes of mineralization largely unsampled.

Treasury Metals enjoyed a strong period as its shares were up 28% to 96¢. The increase was likely tied to optimism around its planned 20,000-metre diamond drill program at its Goliath gold project near Dryden, Ont. The program will look to upgrade inferred resources into the measured and indicated so that a feasibility study can get underway.

With silver prices riding high, optimism gathered around United Mining Group’s shares. The company announced it had increased its land holding at its Crescent Mine silver project in Idaho’s silver belt by 265% to 3.79 sq. km. The company’s land package is bounded on the east by the Sunshine mine property and to the west by the Bunker Hill deposit. Silver Valley is the second largest silver-producing district in the world.

As for Talon Metals, the company’s drill results failed to impress, pushing its share price down 13% to 99¢. The results came from the Target Area 1 at its Trairao iron project in Brazil’s Para state. The drop came despite intercepts ranging between 7 metres grading 42.27% iron and 50 metres of 48.7% iron.

TSX most active issues
	VOLUME		WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Baffinland Irn BIM	88486	1.32	1.12	1.32	+ 0.18
Uranium One UUU	42255	4.84	4.25	4.35	-0.50
GoldWheatonGGLW	37535	5.20	4.97	5.10	+0.72
Denison Mines DML	31481	3.60	3.13	3.24	-0.14
Eastern Platin ELR	29726	1.84	1.72	1.75	+ 0.04
Semafo SMF	28671	12.30	10.52	11.65	-0.67
KinrossGold K	28565	18.95	18.22	18.70	+0.10
Claude Res CRJ	22181	2.15	1.57	2.15	+ 0.55
Lundin Mng LUN	21535	7.34	6.65	6.87	-0.27
Goldcorp G	20617	47.12	44.72	44.97	-1.53

TSX greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Claude Res	CRJ	22181	2.15	1.57	2.15	+ 34.3
Zazu Metals	ZAZ	4780	0.33	0.20	0.28	+ 33.3
Ursa Major Min	UMJ	5413	0.19	0.14	0.17	+ 30.7
Treasury Metal	TML	1020	0.98	0.72	0.96	+ 28.0
Canarc Res	CCM	1240	0.22	0.16	0.20	+ 25.0
United Mng Grp	UMG	1664	1.10	0.90	1.09	+ 21.1
South Am Gld&C	SAG	4016	0.06	0.05	0.06	+ 20.0
Thundermin Res	THR	953	0.12	0.11	0.12	+ 20.0
Starfield Res	SRU	12081	0.08	0.05	0.06	+ 20.0
NGEx Res	NGQ	3935	1.49	1.20	1.43	+ 19.1
Polaris Minls	PLS	226	1.55	1.15	1.26	-21.7
Niocan Inc	NIO	54	0.42	0.32	0.33	-21.4
Anaconda Mng	ANX	3200	0.18	0.14	0.14	-17.6
Powertech Uran	PWE	687	0.36	0.25	0.30	-14.2
Crowflight Mnl	CML	10439	0.07	0.05	0.06	-14.2
Grandview Gld	GVX	243	0.08	0.06	0.06	-14.2
TriAusMin	TOR	343	0.16	0.12	0.13	-13.3
Talon Metals	TLO	427	1.20	0.92	0.99	-13.1
Homeland Enrgy	HEG	1062	0.08	0.07	0.07	-12.5
Spur Ventures	SVU	181	0.48	0.42	0.43	-12.2

TSX greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Teck A	TCKA	13697	59.21	+ 1.51
Fronteer Gold	FRG	6240335	12.01	+ 1.34
Cameco Corp	CCO	9166627	39.94	+ 1.29
Russell Metals	RUS	1506960	23.01	+ 1.25
Ivanhoe Mines	IVN	7169113	25.45	+ 1.21
Altius Mnrls	ALS	688997	13.74	+ 1.16
Labdr Iron Mns	LIM	930257	10.67	+ 0.83
Teck B	TCKB	12236987	58.39	+ 0.79
Cons Thomp Irn	CLM	10484475	12.97	+ 0.78
ExtorreGoldM	XG	1646411	6.80	+ 0.75
First Quantum	FM	4032734	111.23	-7.71
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	7152791	76.46	-7.20
Inmet Mining	IMN	2818977	75.02	-3.24
Newmont Mng	NMC	35068	60.07	-1.91
Silver Std Res	SSO	697374	26.53	-1.76
HudBay Minls	HBM	3306757	17.19	-1.70
Golden Mnls	AUM	107936	25.41	-1.64
Goldcorp	G	20616990	44.97	-1.53
Barrick Gold	ABX	16107897	52.37	-1.46
Detour Gold	DGC	1968973	29.71	-1.26