TSX Venture Exchange – Feb. 17-23

It was a red week for the S&P-TSX Venture composite index as the junior board posted a loss every day of the Feb. 17-23 trading period to close the week down 46.7 points at 878.94. Daily trading volumes averaged out to 64.7 million.

Notably, the junior board dodged the massive losses that hit other exchanges on Feb. 23. Still, over the week 80 junior companies fell to new share prices lows, while only seven managed new share price highs.

Romarco Minerals is still a hot commodity, two weeks after a feasibility study gave the company’s Haile gold project in South Carolina a US$164-million net present value. Since then, the company has been working to close a US$24-million bought-deal private placement. Romarco started the week at a new high of 45¢ and closed the week at 40¢.

News that U. S. Silver produced twice as much silver in the first six weeks of 2009 as in 2008 pushed the company to second on the list of volume leaders. U. S. Silver, which operates the Galena mine and mill in Shoshone Cty., Idaho, produced 311,140 oz. silver up to mid-February as well as 791,660 lbs. lead and 127,990 lbs. copper. The company moved 6.6 million shares to lose 3¢, closing at 12¢.

Bear Creek Mining’s share price seems to be slowly recovering. The junior had lost more than $9 from March to mid-November, hitting a low of 64¢, but has since been gradually climbing; last week, the explorer gained 34¢ to close at $1.83. Bear Creek is advancing its flagship Corani silver-lead-zinc project in Peru towards a prefeasibility study.

It seems investors were expecting more from Xemplar Energy’s drill program at the Warmbed uranium project in Namibia. The best intercept from the latest set of results was 1 metre grading 0.065% U₃O₈, but on the news Xemplar lost 25¢ to close at 36¢.

Once-hot Noront Resources continued to struggle, losing another 23¢ over the trading week to close at 73¢. The company did not release any news. Similarly, Maudore Minerals did not release any news but saw its share price fall 36¢ to $1.54. Maudore is exploring the Comtois gold project in Quebec.

News that Avino Silver & Gold Mines plans to keep working aggressively to bring the Avino mine in Durango state, Mexico, back into operation with 9,000 metres of drilling, bulk sampling for metallurgical work, and completion of mill rehabilitation, nudged its share price up 22¢ to 81¢.

The company previously operated the mine for 27 years, closing it in 2001 due to low silver prices and closure of a key smelter.

And International Tower Hill Mines continued to shine, gaining another 13¢ over the week to close at $2.95. The company is currently working to close a $10.5-million bought-deal financing, which it needs to fund another round of drilling at its Livengood gold project in Alaska.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Forest Gate	FGT	8448	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.00
US Silver	USA	6616	0.17	0.10	0.12	-0.03
Silverstone Rs	SST	6492	1.30	1.08	1.24	+ 0.07
San Gold Res	SGR	6024	1.84	1.66	1.68	-0.04
Spider Res	SPQ	5888	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.00
Dynamite Res	DNR	5258	0.18	0.14	0.16	+ 0.02
Apogee Minls	APE	5099	0.08	0.05	0.06	0.00
Largo Res	LGO	4972	0.09	0.08	0.08	-0.01
Goldeye Expl	GGY	4968	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.00
Mountain Captl	MCI	4894	0.15	0.10	0.10	-0.05

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
IGC Res	IGC	14	0.12	0.08	0.12	+300.0
Superior Mng	SUI	117	0.14	0.09	0.14	+180.0
Yale Res	YLL	1016	0.10	0.05	0.08	+166.6
Global Minls	CTG	255	0.06	0.04	0.05	+150.0
Am Creek Res	AMK	818	0.17	0.05	0.15	+150.0
Aldrin Res	ALN	151	0.18	0.15	0.18	+125.0
Intl KRL Res	IRK	100	0.02	0.01	0.02	+100.0
El Nino Vent	ELN	802	0.09	0.06	0.08	+100.0
Pencari Mng	PMC	40	0.07	0.04	0.04	+100.0
Vault Minerals	VMI	954	0.21	0.12	0.17	+ 88.8
Dot Res	DOT	14	0.04	0.01	0.01	-85.7
Roscan Minls	ROS	163	0.05	0.01	0.01	-80.0
Diamond Frank	DOD	162	0.05	0.02	0.03	-76.9
Savant Expl	SVT	13	0.04	0.02	0.02	-75.0
Quest Uranium	QUC	79	0.06	0.02	0.02	-66.6
Uranium Bay Rs	UBR	275	0.02	0.01	0.01	-66.6
Midasco Cap	MGC	10	0.01	0.01	0.01	-66.6
Fortune Valley	FVX	343	0.05	0.01	0.01	-66.6
Zinccorp Res	ZN	197	0.06	0.02	0.03	-62.5
NQ Expl	NQE	30	0.05	0.04	0.04	-60.0

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	1037510	1.83	+ 0.34
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	106360	3.27	+ 0.27
Macarthur Mnl	MMS	101341	2.15	+ 0.25
Avino Silver	ASM	30660	0.81	+ 0.22
Andina Mnls	ADM	2874328	1.90	+ 0.15
Louvem Mines	LOV	118800	0.68	+ 0.15
Magellan Minls	MNM	391862	0.77	+ 0.14
Coral Gold	CLH	606823	0.75	+ 0.13
Intl Tower Hil	ITH	296750	2.95	+ 0.13
Bralorne Gold	BPM	28200	0.72	+ 0.11
Maudore Minls	MAO	70640	1.54	-0.36
Xemplar Energy	XE	1528336	0.36	-0.25
Exeter Res	XRC	544705	2.85	-0.24
Clifton Star	CFO	155521	2.31	-0.24
Noront Res	NOT	2746784	0.73	-0.23
Canplats Res	CPQ	1112062	2.20	-0.21
Pac Booker Min	BKM	12920	7.00	-0.20
Rainy River Rs	RR	1062938	1.96	-0.17
SilverCrest Mn	SVL	425200	0.52	-0.16
Azimut Expl	AZM	179422	0.45	-0.15