TSX Venture Exchange Feb. 10-13

It was modest gains on the S&P/TSX Venture composite index for the truncated Feb. 10-13 reporting period. The Venture board gained 24.54 points to close the week at 925.64 points. It posted gains on each of four trading days and saw a steady number of shares passing hands with daily volume averaging 64 million.

The icy hold on 52-week highs even thawed a little as seven companies reached year-long peaks. And 52-week lows were less prominent, with only 62 hitting the bottom. The period was also kinder to the Venture board than it was to the S&P/TSX composite index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which both closed the four-day period lower than where they started.

Although gold has caught many an investor’s eye lately as it pushes toward US$1,000 per oz., solid performers on the Venture board included companies with disparate mineral interests.

Coal-producer SouthGobi Energy Resources, for instance, continued to climb higher, gaining 99¢ to close at $8.50. Only a few months ago, it was trading below $5. Fuelling its share price rise during the Feb. 10-13 period was the release of a coal resource calculation at its 85%-owned Mamahak property in Indonesia. SouthGobi has so far outlined 12.2 million measured and indicated tonnes of what it has shown to be coal of metallurgical coking quality. SouthGobi also owns the Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in Mongolia, where it began shipments of the black stuff to China in the fall.

Hathor Exploration was another non-gold company that performed well during the period. Its share price climbed 31¢ to close at $2.91. Although the company did not release any major news to fuel the gain, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported it might be “ripe for the picking” at its current share price.

Not that it hurt to have gold assets and news to boot. International Tower Hill Mines saw its share price increase 25¢ to $2.82 during a week that it raised at least $5 million in a private placement. Tower Hill’s main asset is the Livengood property in Alaska, where it has calculated an indicated resource of 128.6 million tonnes grading 0.83 gram gold per tonne.

Likewise, Exeter Resource got a 48¢ boost to $3.09 during the period. It recently reported a whopping 930-metre drill intercept grading 0.89 gram gold and 0.31% copper at its Caspiche property in Chile. Also with a gold exploration property in Chile, Andina Minerals got a solid 33¢ boost to $1.75.

One of the harder-hit companies this week was coal explorer Goldsource. Its share price shed 39¢ to close the period at $1.05. Investors may have reacted negatively to drill results from its Border coal property. Although it reported an intercept with 50 metres of coal, Goldsource also closed off other areas where it didn’t hit significant coal mineralization.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Slam Exploratn	SXL	14234	0.04	0.02	0.03	-0.01
Cloudbreak Res	CDB	10952	0.09	0.06	0.08	0.00
San Gold Res	SGR	8954	1.74	1.60	1.72	+ 0.09
Rusoro Mng	RML	7894	0.74	0.65	0.72	-0.02
US Silver	USA	7633	0.17	0.14	0.16	0.00
Committee Bay	CBR	7382	0.08	0.05	0.06	+ 0.02
Mountain Captl	MCI	5972	0.16	0.06	0.16	+ 0.11
Canasia Indust	CAJ	5113	0.21	0.17	0.19	0.00
KWG Res	KWG	4809	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.00
Carmax Expl	CMX	3820	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.00

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Mountain Captl	MCI	5972	0.16	0.06	0.16	+220.0
Wildcat Silver	WS	3446	0.25	0.08	0.25	+212.5
Kent Expl	KEX	368	0.16	0.06	0.16	+128.5
GoldenOdyssM	GOE	394	0.09	0.04	0.09	+125.0
Rodinia Minls	RM	158	0.13	0.06	0.13	+116.6
Northrock Res	NRK	27	0.06	0.03	0.06	+100.0
Galway Res	GWY	1417	0.20	0.09	0.16	+100.0
Dot Res	DOT	58	0.05	0.04	0.04	+100.0
Endurance Gold	EDG	85	0.04	0.04	0.04	+100.0
Alturas Minls	ALT	84	0.10	0.06	0.08	+100.0
Savant Expl	SVT	20	0.05	0.02	0.02	-71.4
E-Energy Vent	EEV	279	0.05	0.02	0.02	-60.0
Typhoon Expl	TOO	523	0.03	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Lakota Res	LAK	59	0.06	0.03	0.03	-50.0
Garrison Intl	GAU	125	0.02	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Canaf Group	CAF	1321	0.04	0.02	0.02	-50.0
Metalex Vent	MTX	278	0.07	0.04	0.04	-42.8
Tarsis Capital	TCC	61	0.14	0.10	0.10	-41.1
First Point	FPX	124	0.05	0.03	0.03	-40.0
Prophecy Res	PCY	10	0.03	0.03	0.03	-40.0

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	18400	8.50	+ 0.99
Clifton Star	CFO	142821	2.55	+ 0.61
Pac Booker Min	BKM	11006	7.20	+ 0.54
Exeter Res	XRC	703300	3.09	+ 0.48
Andina Mnls	ADM	2564998	1.75	+ 0.33
Canplats Res	CPQ	1152862	2.41	+ 0.31
Hathor Expl	HAT	1072399	2.95	+ 0.31
Silverstone Rs	SST	3275229	1.17	+ 0.27
Intl Tower Hil	ITH	212716	2.82	+ 0.25
Whitemud Res	WMK	47095	1.69	+ 0.24
Aldridge Minls	AGM	18425	1.83	-0.71
Goldsource Min	GXS	1370879	1.05	-0.39
Cadiscor Res	CAO	372620	0.30	-0.18
Rare Elemnt Rs	RES	56450	0.62	-0.18
Mosquito Cons	MSQ	152914	0.44	-0.13
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	41635	3.00	-0.12
McVicar Res	MCV	29800	0.34	-0.11
Grizzly Diamnd	GZD	28400	0.30	-0.10
Azimut Expl	AZM	70500	0.60	-0.09
Antares Minls	ANM	377050	0.68	-0.09