Over the trading session covering Dec. 19-22, the S&P/TSX Venture composite index lost 8.43 points to close at 692.02. Daily trading volumes were good, averaging out to 109 million.
Once again, no junior companies rose to new 52-week highs over the session, while 338 fell to new 52-week lows.
African Aura Resources was the volume leader over the two-day week, moving 5.1 million shares to gain a penny and close at 6¢. The company, which managed the volume without releasing any news, released some promising initial results from drilling at its Kambele gold project in Cameroon in early December, including 9 metres grading 3.77 grams gold per tonne.
Another volume leader was Southern Arc Minerals, which lost 3¢ to close at 6¢ on 5 million trades. The flurry of activity came after the Indonesian government approved a long-delayed mining law that many experts think will make exploration and development even more difficult in the unstable country. The key change is that permits known as contracts of work, which came from the federal government and lasted 30 years, will be replaced by licences issued by district governments. All of Southern Arc’s six mineral properties are in Indonesia.
With copper and gold projects in Indonesia, East Asia Minerals also felt repercussions from the move. East Asia fell 3¢ to close at 14¢ on volume of 3.9 million.
It was a good two days for Tirex Resources, the Vancouver-based junior exploring the Mirdita volcanogenic massive sulphide project in northern Albania. Tirex has not released news of late, but recently closed its “Golden Slogan” contest, asking for help in creating a new slogan for its project, which has been returning higher gold grades than expected. The winner, to be announced in mid-January, will receive 5 oz. of gold. Tirex gained 20¢ to close at 50¢.
International Tower Hill Mines also enjoyed the short session as its share price gained 15¢ to close at $1.60. The junior did not release any news, but investors are awaiting an updated resource estimate for the Livengood gold project in Alaska, due out in February. The last estimate, released in October, pegged indicated resources at 69.5 million tonnes grading 0.83 gram gold and inferred resources at 87.9 million tonnes averaging 0.77 gram gold.
In the midst of its now-heated hostile takeover bid for Gold Reserve, Rusoro Mining’s share price rose 13¢ to close at 42¢. Rusoro has stronger ties to the Venezuelan government than any other foreign mining company in the country and is hoping to grab hold of Gold Reserves’ Brisas project, home to more than 14 million oz. gold and almost 2 billion lbs. copper.
And despite many aggregate companies feeling a boost following U. S. president-elect Barack Obama’s plans for infrastructure investment, Whitemud Resources fell 15¢ to 85¢. The company mines kaolin to produce meta-kaolin, a concrete additive.
| TSX-V most active issues | |||||
| VOLUME | WEEK | ||||
| (000s) | HIGH | LOW | CLOSE | CHANGE | |
| African Aura AAZ | 5142 | 0.06 | 0.05 | 0.06 | + 0.01 |
| Southern Arc SA | 4989 | 0.09 | 0.06 | 0.06 | -0.03 |
| MBMI Res MBR | 4310 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.04 | + 0.01 |
| East Asia Mnls EAS | 3896 | 0.17 | 0.14 | 0.14 | -0.03 |
| NWT Uranium NWT | 3766 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.04 | 0.00 |
| Wescan Goldfie WGF | 3385 | 0.15 | 0.11 | 0.13 | 0.00 |
| Copper Canyon CPY | 3370 | 0.13 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.00 |
| Merit Mng MEM | 3293 | 0.00 | 1.0E8 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Lakota Res LAK | 3117 | 0.06 | 0.05 | 0.05 | 0.00 |
| Abacus Mng&Ex AME | 2910 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.04 | 0.00 |
| TSX-V greatest percentage change | ||||||
| VOLUME | WEEK | |||||
| (000s) | HIGH | LOW | CLOSE | CHANGE | ||
| Mazorro Res | MZO | 41 | 0.05 | 0.03 | 0.05 | +400.0 |
| Fortune Valley | FVX | 369 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.02 | +100.0 |
| Terraco Gold | TEN | 248 | 0.07 | 0.04 | 0.06 | +100.0 |
| Commander Res | CMD | 588 | 0.06 | 0.04 | 0.06 | +100.0 |
| Black Bull Res | BBS | 437 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.02 | +100.0 |
| Millstream Min | MLM | 203 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.04 | +100.0 |
| Skybridge Dev | SBD | 318 | 0.13 | 0.09 | 0.13 | + 85.7 |
| Cons Puma Minl | CPW | 512 | 0.08 | 0.05 | 0.07 | + 75.0 |
| Shoreham Res | SMH | 113 | 0.07 | 0.05 | 0.07 | + 75.0 |
| Richmond Mnls | RMD | 214 | 0.06 | 0.04 | 0.05 | + 66.6 |
| Lorraine Coppr | LLC | 11 | 0.04 | 0.01 | 0.01 | -66.6 |
| Athabasca Mnls | ABM | 12 | 0.15 | 0.10 | 0.10 | -50.0 |
| Solid Res | SRW | 68 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.02 | -50.0 |
| Orestone Mng | ORS | 75 | 0.03 | 0.03 | 0.03 | -50.0 |
| Conway Res | CWY | 30 | 0.05 | 0.03 | 0.03 | -50.0 |
| Prospctr C Res | PRR | 130 | 0.03 | 0.01 | 0.01 | -50.0 |
| Romios Gold Rs | RG | 2395 | 0.14 | 0.07 | 0.07 | -50.0 |
| Bluerock Res | BRD | 1013 | 0.03 | 0.01 | 0.01 | -50.0 |
| AMI Res | AMU | 141 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | -50.0 |
| Century Mining | CMM | 870 | 0.03 | 0.01 | 0.01 | -50.0 |
| TSX-V greatest value change | ||||
| WEEK | ||||
| VOLUME | CLOSE | CHANGE | ||
| Tirex Res | TXX | 532324 | 0.50 | + 0.20 |
| Intl Tower Hil | ITH | 81200 | 1.60 | + 0.15 |
| Hathor Expl | HAT | 685374 | 2.65 | + 0.14 |
| Rusoro Mng | RML | 1210957 | 0.42 | + 0.13 |
| Eurasian Minls | EMX | 119026 | 0.75 | + 0.10 |
| Uruguay Mnl Ex | UME | 32580 | 0.30 | + 0.08 |
| Timmins Gold | TMM | 172900 | 0.44 | + 0.08 |
| Kootenay Gold | KTN | 468000 | 0.40 | + 0.07 |
| Canplats Res | CPQ | 296687 | 1.50 | + 0.06 |
| McVicar Res | MCV | 18500 | 0.22 | + 0.06 |
| Whitemud Res | WMK | 26445 | 0.85 | -0.15 |
| McChip Res | MCS | 15200 | 0.85 | -0.15 |
| Rocky Mtn Res | RKY | 50000 | 0.26 | -0.14 |
| Noront Res | NOT | 883391 | 0.56 | -0.13 |
| Andina Mnls | ADM | 775678 | 0.79 | -0.11 |
| Athabasca Mnls | ABM | 12000 | 0.10 | -0.10 |
| Oromin Expl | OLE | 791040 | 0.38 | -0.10 |
| Midway Gold | MDW | 93500 | 0.32 | -0.09 |
| Dundarave Res | DDX | 45104 | 0.11 | -0.09 |
| Taranis Res | TRO | 15500 | 0.10 | -0.08 |
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