TSX Venture Exchange – July 7-13

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index continued to lose a bit of steam in the July 7-13 reporting period, dropping 17 points to close at 1,047.63. A mild month-long slide has effectively erased gains achieved between mid-May and mid-June on the Venture board. A deflating price of gold, which has fallen about US$30 since the start of July, hasn’t helped. That combined with continued risk aversion and summer doldrums may help account for lacklustre investor interest.

During the week, 15 companies reached 52-week highs, while 38 scratched bottom. The five-day period saw trading volume averaging a moderate 57.2 million shares a day.

The three explorers gearing down the most on the Venture board during the trading period were: Tirex Resources, down 55¢ to 83¢; Chesapeake Gold, off 49¢ at $3.81; and International Tower Hill Mines, which lost 36¢ to close at $3.10.

None of the companies announced negative news regarding their primary assets. In fact, for Tirex it was quite the opposite. It reported a healthy copper-gold drill intercept at its Mirdita property in Albania. Chesapeake Gold, which owns the Metates gold project in Mexico, where it has outlined a 703-million-tonne measured and indicated resource grading 0.65 gram gold per tonne and 17.5 grams silver, did not report any news. International Tower Hill’s drop may be accounted for by AngloGold Ashanti exercising a top-up right at the discounted price of $2.68 a share.

Topping the share volume standings during the reporting period and also continuing to drop precipitously was Azteca Gold. The company saw 8.6 million of its shares trade hands and it closed down 9¢ to 14¢ following worse losses the week before. Azteca is drilling the Two Mile property in Idaho, where starting at a down-hole depth of 2,404 metres, it has intersected as much as 26 metres grading 9.2% zinc, 2% lead and 33 grams silver per tonne. The falling share price likely stems from recent disappointing drill-hole results.

On the upside, SouthGobi Energy Resources experienced a combination of the Chrtien effect and record June coal sales. SouthGobi gained $2.75 to $12.75 on news Ivanhoe Mines, its parent company, had brought the little guy from Shawinigan (former prime minister Jean Chrtien) on board as a special adviser to bolster its standing in Asia. SouthGobi also announced that it had sold 231,566 tonnes of coal in June, the most it has ever sold, from its Ovoot Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.

Another company riding successful news was Atac Resources. It was up 17¢ to 61¢ on news it drilled 28 metres grading 24.07 grams gold at its Rau Gold property, 55 km northeast of Keno City in the Yukon. The intercept included a 3-metre section grading 162 grams gold. Mountain Lake Resources was also a solid gainer, up 7¢ to 25¢ as it signalled the start of an exploration program at the Little River gold property in Newfoundland.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Azteca Gold	AZG	8622	0.22	0.13	0.14	-0.09
US Silver	USA	7802	0.16	0.10	0.12	-0.02
Quest Uranium	QUC	7102	0.58	0.29	0.43	+ 0.12
Western Potash	WPX	6088	0.49	0.40	0.43	-0.01
Atac Res	ATC	5915	0.73	0.58	0.61	+ 0.17
Noront Res	NOT	5442	0.70	0.59	0.61	-0.08
Gold Hawk Res	CGK	4439	0.05	0.04	0.04	-0.01
Molycor Gold	MOR	3865	0.10	0.06	0.09	+ 0.01
Bonaventure En	BVT	3776	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.00
RomarcoMnrls	R	3772	0.80	0.69	0.72	-0.07

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Roscan Minls	ROS	42	0.12	0.08	0.12	+100.0
Gee-Ten Vent	GTV	102	0.04	0.03	0.03	+ 50.0
Ginguro Expl	GEG	1574	0.18	0.08	0.09	+ 50.0
Arcturus Res	AZN	52	0.03	0.03	0.03	+ 50.0
Finlay Minrls	FYL	540	0.03	0.02	0.03	+ 50.0
Aldrin Res	ALN	10	0.22	0.22	0.22	+ 46.6
Atocha Res	ATT	689	0.16	0.10	0.16	+ 45.4
Tri Origin Exp	TOE	84	0.23	0.17	0.23	+ 43.7
Dot Res	DOT	11	0.10	0.05	0.10	+ 42.8
Getty Copper	GTC	75	0.07	0.06	0.07	+ 40.0
IGC Res	IGC	77	0.05	0.05	0.05	-54.5
Waymar Res	WYM	22	0.06	0.06	0.06	-40.0
Tirex Res	TXX	2123	1.35	0.76	0.83	-39.8
Azteca Gold	AZG	8622	0.22	0.13	0.14	-39.1
Meritus Mnls	MER	36	0.05	0.05	0.05	-37.5
Noble Metal Gr	NMG	45	0.05	0.05	0.05	-37.5
Triex Minerals	TXM	952	0.27	0.18	0.19	-36.6
Solomon Res	SRB	101	0.40	0.20	0.20	-35.4
Gold Port Res	GPO	265	0.05	0.04	0.04	-33.3
Laurion Mnl Ex	LME	373	0.03	0.02	0.02	-33.3

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	117020	12.75	+ 2.75
Pac Booker Min	BKM	10000	5.75	+ 0.50
Contintl Mnls	KMK	472858	1.10	+ 0.19
Atac Res	ATC	5914570	0.61	+ 0.17
Carat Expl	CRZ	198500	0.47	+ 0.12
Quest Uranium	QUC	7102404	0.43	+ 0.12
Gleichen Res	GRL	126000	0.58	+ 0.08
Titanium Corp	TIC	1261980	0.74	+ 0.08
Mountain Lake	MOA	85100	0.25	+ 0.07
Aldrin Res	ALN	10000	0.22	+ 0.07
Tirex Res	TXX	2122508	0.83	-0.55
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	136669	3.81	-0.49
Intl Tower Hil	ITH	1040059	3.10	-0.36
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	224567	1.55	-0.29
Canadn Shield	EXP	54750	0.89	-0.28
Energold Drill	EGD	894915	1.65	-0.25
Coniagas Res	CNY	365695	1.50	-0.23
Maudore Minls	MAO	259077	1.98	-0.22
Rainy River Rs	RR	807500	1.79	-0.20
Anfield Vent	ANF	18500	1.80	-0.20