Tsx Venture Exchange – DEC. 16-18

The TSX Venture composite index slipped another 16.39 points over the Dec. 16-18 trading period, closing at 700.45 points. The three weekdays only included two trading days, however, as the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange were unexpectedly closed due to technical problems on Dec 17. Trading volumes on the two open days were high, averaging 122 million.

The short session did not herald new 52-week share price highs for any junior companies, while 307 Venture-listed companies sank to new lows.

The two top traders each moved almost twice as many shares as any other company over the period. War Eagle Mining moved 16.5 million shares in two days to close up just a penny at 5.5¢ and MacDonald Mines Exploration traded 16.3 million shares to fall a penny to 5¢.

The interest in War Eagle stemmed from news that the junior is going to test fly ash from coal-fired power plants in Saskatchewan for germanium. War Eagle is already advancing a germanium-gallium recovery project from fly ash in Spain and recently showed that simple acid and alkaline leaching recovers both metals reasonably well. That project is now moving to the feasibility stage; in Saskatchewan, the junior will start by extracting a 1-tonne fly ash sample over 12 months to test for germanium content.

The trading rush for MacDonald Mines came just before the company announced its acquisition of a new land package in the James Bay lowlands area of Ontario. The junior already holds several properties in the area but became interested in the new landholding because of proximal mines, mineral showings, and new geophysical survey data.

Macarthur Minerals’ share price took a 41¢ hit, falling to $1.98 after the company extended the closing date of a $100-million deal. LPD Holdings is still planning to raise its interest in Internickel — Macarthur’s subsidiary and the holder of its Lake Giles iron ore project in Australia — to 80% from 30%. The deal was supposed to close Dec. 18, but LPD and its investment partner, Minmetals Mining, failed to figure out the documentation in time.

The partners have until Dec. 23; after that, they have to pay a $5-million deposit on the $100-million payment. Macarthur is planning on handing over most of the $100 million to shareholders as a dividend.

Hathor Exploration also had a down week, losing 24¢ to close at $2.51. The junior announced a contract with Team Drilling of Saskatoon, Sask., to have four drills turning on the Roughrider uranium discovery over the winter. Hathor has permits to drill 60 holes totalling 22,000 metres; the company is now just waiting for the lakes and marshes covering some of its prospective terrain to freeze over thoroughly.

And a 24-metre intercept carrying 5.88 grams gold per tonne from its Tequila project in Jalisco state, Mexico, gave Timmins Gold a tidy boost. The company’s shares gained 15¢ to close at 36¢. Recent drilling results have traced the Veta Grande vein over 350 metres of strike.

TSX-V most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
WarEagleMg WAR	16471	0.06	0.05	0.05	0.00
MacDonald Mns BMK	16335	0.07	0.05	0.05	-0.01
Stealth Mnls SML	7035	0.00	1.0E8	0.00	0.00
Gold Hawk Res CGK	6169	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.00
Global Minls CTG	5163	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.00
Buffalo Gold BUF	4779	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.00
San Gold Res SGR	4706	1.23	1.10	1.19	-0.01
Unigold UGD	4384	0.06	0.05	0.05	-0.01
Avion Res AVR	4120	0.09	0.05	0.07	-0.03
Emgold Mng EMR	3818	0.04	0.02	0.03	0.00

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Latin Am Mnls	LAT	2433	0.12	0.04	0.12	+200.0
Cornerstone Ca	CGP	268	0.09	0.05	0.05	+150.0
Menika Mining	MML	125	0.05	0.01	0.05	+150.0
Amseco Expl	AEL	211	0.05	0.03	0.05	+150.0
Meritus Mnls	MER	200	0.11	0.11	0.11	+120.0
Anglo Swiss	ASW	237	0.15	0.10	0.13	+ 85.7
Galore Res	GRI	274	0.10	0.04	0.07	+ 75.0
Timmins Gold	TMM	397	0.39	0.25	0.36	+ 71.4
Castillian Res	CT	543	0.07	0.03	0.05	+ 66.6
Canstar Res	ROX	56	0.05	0.04	0.05	+ 66.6
Black Bull Res	BBS	172	0.03	0.01	0.01	-66.6
Arcturus Res	AZN	10	0.01	0.01	0.01	-66.6
Lund Gold	LGD	298	0.06	0.02	0.02	-60.0
Adroit Res	ADT	194	0.12	0.05	0.07	-53.3
Silver Shield	SSR	20	0.03	0.03	0.03	-50.0
Acrex Vent	AKV	34	0.01	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Midasco Cap	MGC	297	0.01	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Huntington Exp	HEI	17	0.01	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Alpha Gold	ALQ	15	0.05	0.04	0.04	-42.8
Lysander Minls	LYM	14	0.04	0.01	0.04	-42.8

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	41608	3.16	+ 0.21
Timmins Gold	TMM	397224	0.36	+ 0.15
Clifton Star	CFO	56250	1.40	+ 0.15
Noront Res	NOT	2238356	0.69	+ 0.13
Keegan Res	KGN	326002	0.89	+ 0.10
Kinbauri Gold	KNB	181284	0.33	+ 0.10
Silverstone Rs	SST	638677	0.69	+ 0.10
Xemplar Energy	XE	1345800	0.26	+ 0.09
Midway Gold	MDW	93500	0.41	+ 0.09
Latin Am Mnls	LAT	2433000	0.12	+ 0.08
Macarthur Mnl	MMS	16900	1.98	-0.41
Hathor Expl	HAT	968940	2.51	-0.24
Sacre-Coeur Ml	SCM	89516	0.40	-0.15
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	180505	1.06	-0.14
Contintl Nickl	CNI	53700	0.41	-0.13
Gobimin	GMN	67500	0.58	-0.11
Pro-Or Mng Res	POI	41500	0.12	-0.09
Adroit Res	ADT	194150	0.07	-0.08
Terra Vent	TAS	551827	0.49	-0.07
African Queen	AQ	263849	0.18	-0.06