TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE JULY 22-28

Not much changed on the S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index during the July 22-28 trading session; the index shed 101 points to close at 2,186.5, average trading volumes puttered along at 62 million trades daily and coal continued to reign over the venture marketplace. Bears beat bulls by a fat margin with 372 new lows to a mere three new highs.

But there was one major difference. In the previous trading session, coal plays in Saskatchewan dropped on news of Goldsource Mines’ dismal drill results, but this week many of the same crew — again trading the highest volumes — recouped some losses. North American Gem and Cloudbreak Resources broke into the top two volume spots with 27.9 million and 16 million trades, respectively. Both made gains, with North American Gem ending 9 higher and Cloudbreak 5 better, while Wescan Goldfields’ share price more than doubled, adding 48 to close at 86.

Goldsource itself had some investors wondering. It jumped $4.74 on Friday, July 25, to close at $8.89 on no news until Monday — when it reported hitting 23.2 metres of coal at its Border property. The company made a point of denying that the market had caught wind of the impending results. Overall, it moved up $3.95 during the trading session.

Northern Gold Mining, up 182%, made waves with a grab sample grading 2,305.12 grams gold per tonne at its Kirana property, in Ontario. The full assay results, released a day later, tempered excitement, pushing down the company’s shares by 12 to 18. But confidence returned and Northern Gold crept back up to close the week at 31. Continental Nickel gained 38 to close at $2.40. The company was in its second week of a 15,000-metre drill program at its Nachingwea nickel and copper project, in Tanzania.

In a sure sign of a fickle market, Bear Creek Mining lost ground on news of promising silver intercepts from 27 drill holes at its Santa Ana property, in Peru. The stock dropped 61 to close at $3.70 on the results, which included one interval of 116 metres grading 103 grams silver per tonne. As for Oromin Explorations, it announced an inferred 1.4-million-oz. gold resource at its Sabodala project, in Senegal, but dropped 55 to close at $1.70.

Reopening for trading after a hiatus that’s lasted since May 28, Roscan Minerals shed 63.7% to close at 25. It announced that it will not take a 50% interest in the Prognoz silver property in Russia from Greenteck Enterprises as part of a reverse takeover.

Drilling in Albania hasn’t done much for Tirex Resources, which continued to lose value, closing down 44 at $1.05. The junior had announced cutting 21 metres grading 0.32% copper and 4.64% zinc in the Koshaj area of its Mirdita property, and is now punching holes in the Gurthi area.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
North Am Gem	NAG	27912	0.35	0.14	0.28	+ 0.09
Cloudbreak Res	CDB	16008	0.17	0.08	0.14	+ 0.05
NorthernGldM	NGM	14570	0.42	0.13	0.31	+ 0.20
Century Mining	CMM	11157	0.09	0.04	0.05	-0.02
Largo Res	LGO	9811	0.87	0.66	0.74	-0.11
Saturn Minls	SMI	8251	0.38	0.19	0.31	+ 0.09
Freewest Res	FWR	7327	0.35	0.25	0.31	+ 0.03
US Silver	USA	4769	0.34	0.28	0.34	+ 0.03
Sage Gold	SGX	4168	0.22	0.16	0.19	+ 0.02
AndeanAmM	AAG	4139	0.40	0.26	0.36	+ 0.05

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Northern Gld M	NGM	14570	0.42	0.13	0.31	+181.8
Wescan Goldfie	WGF	3178	1.10	0.35	0.86	+126.3
Orex Expl	OX	418	0.12	0.09	0.09	+ 80.0
Menika Mining	MML	191	0.14	0.09	0.14	+ 75.0
Sinchao Mtls	SMZ	10	0.34	0.34	0.34	+ 70.0
Goldsource Min	GXS	1949	14.65	3.77	9.95	+ 65.8
Cloudbreak Res	CDB	16008	0.17	0.08	0.14	+ 55.5
Conway Res	CWY	88	0.09	0.05	0.06	+ 50.0
Acrex Vent	AKV	14	0.09	0.08	0.09	+ 50.0
Westcan Uran	WCU	2390	0.12	0.06	0.09	+ 50.0
Reunion Gold	RGD	140	0.40	0.23	0.25	-64.7
Roscan Minls	ROS	50	0.42	0.25	0.25	-63.7
Nikos Expl	NIK	245	0.10	0.05	0.05	-58.3
Uranium Bay Rs	UBR	361	0.08	0.05	0.05	-44.4
Valencia Vent	VVI	75	0.18	0.14	0.14	-44.0
Azteca Gold	AZG	153	0.12	0.08	0.09	-43.7
Beartooth Plat	BTP	333	0.07	0.04	0.04	-42.8
Cadillac Mng	CQX	28	0.08	0.05	0.08	-42.8
SouthamptonVn	SV	317	0.20	0.14	0.14	-41.6
Goldmember Mnl	GMV	122	0.12	0.06	0.06	-40.0

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Goldsource Min	GXS	1948797	9.95	+ 3.95
Wescan Goldfie	WGF	3177661	0.86	+ 0.48
Contintl Nickl	CNI	12100	2.40	+ 0.38
Sacre-Coeur Ml	SCM	628330	1.59	+ 0.33
Kodiak Expl	KXL	2289490	2.27	+ 0.24
Rocky Mtn Res	RKY	14700	1.80	+ 0.20
Lucara Diam	LUC	20211	1.10	+ 0.20
NorthernGldM	NGM	14570265	0.31	+ 0.20
Sherwood Coppr	SWC	749909	4.86	+ 0.17
Reservoir Capt	REO	27750	0.84	+ 0.15
Pac Booker Min	BKM	14725	6.30	-0.70
Exeter Res	XRC	286755	3.22	-0.68
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	470140	3.70	-0.61
Oromin Expl	OLE	425652	1.70	-0.55
Reunion Gold	RGD	140225	0.25	-0.46
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	103961	6.61	-0.44
Tirex Res	TXX	497670	1.05	-0.44
Roscan Minls	ROS	50000	0.25	-0.44
Canplats Res	CPQ	726343	3.11	-0.44
Rainy River Rs	RR	590070	3.01	-0.42