TSX Venture Exchange – April 14-20

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index flirted heavily with the 1,000-point mark during the April 14-20 trading period. The Venture board closed up 5.43 points to 980.86 points with daily volume averaging a modest 73.4 million. The closest it came to breaking 1,000 was 989.23 points on the second last day of the period.

Gains and losses during the week appeared to be less related to the ups and downs of precious metal prices than they have been in recent months. Instead, many of the biggest gainers and losers had notable news to report. Bears continued to outnumber bulls over the trading period, which saw 11 companies reach 52-week highs and 59 companies plumb 52-week lows.

For Tsodilo Resources, exploration results curried favour among investors. Tsodilo’s share price jumped 19¢ to close at 57¢ on an update of its activities in northwestern Botswana. The company reported that 18 of 25 drill holes hit disseminated and massive sulphides in its Newdico/Gcwihaba licence areas. These, it said, contained significant copper, cobalt and nickel values, according to in-field XRF analysis using a Niton gun. Tsodilo said lab analysis of the intercepts is ongoing.

Rodinia Minerals gained on lithium exploration plans. It saw its share price almost double to 31¢, up 14¢, on news that it would conduct a two-dimensional reflective seismic survey at its Clayton Valley project in Nevada to confirm a lithium-brine target previously drilled by the U. S. Geological Survey. No doubt Rodinia’s gains can in part be attributed to buzz that more sources of lithium will be needed to meet production demand as technology, some forecast, becomes increasingly dependent on lithium-containing batteries.

High-grade gold intercepts supported a 30¢ gain to $1.90 for San Gold. At the beginning of the five-day trading period, the company reported hitting as much as 2.3 metres grading 207 grams gold per tonne; then on the period’s last day, it reported another 2.3 metres grading 82 grams gold. The drilling was in the Hinge zone, an area that is accessible from the underground workings of its operating Rice Lake mine, 1.5 km away. The property is in Manitoba, 230 km northeast of Winnipeg.

Also posting significant gains was Louvem Mines, up 31¢ to $1.35.

Two of the hardest hit during the trading period were Noront Resources and Fortuna Silver Mines, respectively down 15¢ and 14¢ to 79¢ and 94¢. Noront fell on news that it had reached an agreement with the Marten Falls First Nation concerning exploration work Noront has conducted in the Ring of Fire area and its effect on First Nation trap-lines.

Fortuna’s poor showing stemmed from news that as many as 50 protesters were blocking access to its San Jose project in Mexico. Fortuna did not report the reason for the protest, but said it was in talks with state and federal authorities to resolve the blockade.

TSX-V most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
San Gold Res SGR	17064	2.04	1.66	1.90	+ 0.30
Monroe Minls MMX	12365	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.00
Freewest Res FWR	8838	0.35	0.26	0.32	+ 0.06
Cypress Dev CYP	8667	0.43	0.29	0.31	-0.01
MacDonald Mns BMK	8347	0.09	0.08	0.08	+ 0.01
Skyharbour Res SYH	6129	0.16	0.10	0.11	0.00
Hathor Expl HAT	6062	2.33	1.85	1.85	-0.15
Largo Res LGO	5921	0.13	0.08	0.09	+ 0.01
Roca Mines ROK	5586	0.32	0.22	0.22	-0.02
Brilliant Mng BMC	5535	0.17	0.14	0.16	+ 0.01

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
First Point	FPX	203	0.06	0.03	0.04	+300.0
First Narrows	UNO	2984	0.04	0.02	0.03	+200.0
Terrax Minls	TXR	96	0.14	0.10	0.14	+180.0
Gold Summit	GSM	163	0.14	0.01	0.14	+180.0
Alhambra Res	ALH	135	0.19	0.11	0.17	+112.5
BCM Res	B	273	0.06	0.04	0.04	+100.0
Dentonia Res	DTA	51	0.02	0.01	0.02	+100.0
Beartooth Plat	BTP	2000	0.03	0.01	0.02	+100.0
CZM Capital	CZM	105	0.03	0.02	0.02	+100.0
Bonterra Res	BTR	1315	0.25	0.18	0.20	+100.0
Island Arc Exp	IAX	21	0.05	0.01	0.01	-85.7
Whetstone Mnls	WMI	14	0.07	0.02	0.02	-77.7
Manson Creek	MCK	21	0.03	0.01	0.03	-70.0
Adventure Gold	AGE	100	0.10	0.07	0.10	-67.7
Gold Port Res	GPO	40	0.05	0.01	0.01	-66.6
New Horizon Ur	NHU	244	0.06	0.02	0.02	-66.6
Rugby Mng	RUG	50	0.21	0.20	0.20	-62.9
Valencia Vent	VVI	182	0.06	0.03	0.04	-60.0
Northrock Res	NRK	11	0.09	0.06	0.06	-57.1
New Dimen Res	NDR	123	0.06	0.03	0.05	-50.0

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Louvem Mines	LOV	86045	1.35	+ 0.31
San Gold Res	SGR	17064078	1.90	+ 0.30
Tsodilo Res	TSD	15000	0.57	+ 0.19
Rodinia Minls	RM	539054	0.31	+ 0.14
Sacre-Coeur Ml	SCM	54300	0.70	+ 0.14
Andover Vent	AOX	800000	0.36	+ 0.12
Intl Tower Hil	ITH	437690	3.02	+ 0.12
SilverCrest Mn	SVL	150750	0.68	+ 0.12
Energold Drill	EGD	2063486	1.35	+ 0.12
Max Minls	MJM	488438	0.25	+ 0.11
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	10080	10.60	-0.84
Rugby Mng	RUG	50000	0.20	-0.34
Exeter Res	XRC	336435	3.24	-0.33
Canplats Res	CPQ	468204	1.68	-0.27
Adventure Gold	AGE	100167	0.10	-0.21
Orko Silver	OK	4130371	0.80	-0.20
Antares Minls	ANM	197685	1.20	-0.18
Noront Res	NOT	4429120	0.79	-0.15
Hathor Expl	HAT	6062210	1.85	-0.15
Fortuna Silver	FVI	615014	0.94	-0.14