TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE -June 28-July 2

Canada’s birthday celebrations did little to lift the dark cloud hanging over the S&P/TSX Venture composite index over the June 28-July 2 trading period: the board lingered in positive territory for just one day, losing significant ground during the other three days of the shortened week. By the end of the week, the index was down 73.77 points at 1,384.95, marking the first time in seven months that the Venture finished below 1,400.

The market’s fall pushed 190 Venturelisted companies to new 52-week share price lows, while just nine managed to climb to new highs. Daily trading volumes were reasonable, averaging 88.4 million.

The battle for Spider Resources sparked a rush of trading for the junior, which moved 31.6 million shares over the week to rise 2.5¢ to 18.5¢. Its new price is just below the 19¢ Cliffs Natural Resources will now be paying for each share in a takeover. Spider shares a 53% stake in the Big Daddy chromite project in northwest Ontario with KWG Resources. The two agreed to merge in response to a hostile takeover bid for Spider from the third Big Daddy stakeholder, Cliffs. But then, Cliffs upped its offer from 13¢ to 16.5¢ to 19¢, eventually trumping KWG’s merger offer.

Two significant announcements kept Coltstar Ventures on positive ground all week, climbing 24.5¢ or 60% to reach 65¢. First the company inked a deal to acquire Ridge Exploration, an Australian company majority-owned by D’Aguilar Gold. Coltstar will issue 10 million shares at 35¢ apiece, to get Ridge’s 3,200 sq. km of iron ore and titanium prospective lands in Queensland. Then, the junior staked 958 sq. km of ground in the Northwest Territories, contiguous with Chevron Canada’s Crest iron deposit.

Another set of drill results from the Montauban property in Quebec returned promising mineralization for Excel Gold Mining, such as 8 metres of 3.13 grams gold per tonne and 13.7 grams silver per tonne, starting 5.5 metres in hole 38, including 3 metres carrying 3.8% zinc and 2.16% copper. And 9 metres of 4.1 grams gold and 16.49 grams silver, starting 10.5 metres in hole 40 and including 3 metres of 2.56% copper. The property is home to the historic Montauban mine.

An updated feasibility study on the AK6 diamond project in Botswana defined a 36.2-million-tonne reserve containing 6.3 million carats of diamonds within an open-pit shell extending to 32 metres depth. Lucara Diamond, which owns 60% of AK6, and partner African Diamonds will have to spend US$120 million to build the mine; the operation is expected to generate a 29% internal rate of return. The partners plan to start production at AK6 in 2012.

A new outcropping vein discovery, 4 km north of the construction-stage mill at the Casposo gold-silver project in Argentina’s San Juan province, failed to help Troy Resources’ share price, which fell 15¢ to $2.20.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Spider Res	SPQ	31560	0.19	0.19	0.19	+ 0.03
Golden Hope	GNH	11310	0.74	0.45	0.65	-0.05
KWG Res	KWG	11094	0.12	0.11	0.12	0.00
Am Cons Minls	AJC	8763	0.26	0.17	0.23	+ 0.06
Amador Gold	AGX	8226	0.03	0.01	0.02	0.00
Northern Star	NSM	6780	0.09	0.06	0.06	-0.02
Gold Bulln Dev	GBB	6161	0.69	0.53	0.55	-0.15
Medoro Res	MRS	5868	0.73	0.66	0.70	-0.01
Terrane Metals	TRX	5785	1.06	0.98	1.03	+ 0.02
Seafield Res	SFF	5581	0.23	0.17	0.17	-0.01

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Mill Bay Vent	MBV	15	0.28	0.28	0.28	+ 833.3
AndeanGold	AAU	94	0.02	0.01	0.02	+ 100.0
Sienna Gold	SGP	537	0.23	0.10	0.20	+ 81.8
Colstar Vent	CTR	72	0.65	0.47	0.65	+ 62.5
Rupert Res	RUP	68	0.33	0.23	0.33	+ 57.1
Peat Res	PET	524	0.17	0.11	0.17	+ 54.5
Crescent Res	CRC	472	0.03	0.03	0.03	+ 50.0
Am Cons Minls	AJC	8763	0.26	0.17	0.23	+ 35.2
Barker Mnrls	BML	45	0.04	0.03	0.04	+ 33.3
Goldbank Mng	GLB	31	0.20	0.17	0.20	+ 33.3
Tanqueray Res	TQY	29	0.03	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Manson Creek	MCK	25	0.08	0.05	0.05	-37.5
Highbank Res	HBK	118	0.07	0.05	0.05	-37.5
Jazz Res	JZR	14	0.39	0.29	0.29	-35.5
Newcastle Mnls	NCM	899	0.13	0.08	0.08	-33.3
AMI Res	AMU	24	0.10	0.07	0.07	-30.0
Goldrea Res	GOR	73	0.10	0.07	0.07	-30.0
G4G Res	GXG	31	0.20	0.17	0.17	-29.1
Strait Gold	SRD	584	0.06	0.05	0.05	-28.5
Mayen Mnls	MYM	38	0.62	0.55	0.55	-26.6

0.33

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Mill Bay Vent	MBV	14507	0.28	+ 0.25
Colstar Vent	CTR	72000	0.65	+ 0.25
Lumina Copper	LCC	569483	1.33	+ 0.22
Mega Precs Mtl	MGP	452600	0.59	+ 0.14
Rupert Res	RUP	68000	+ 0.12
Aldridge Minls	AGM	33966	0.77	+ 0.10
Minaurum Gold	MGG	965300	0.74	+ 0.10
Avino Silver	ASM	60270	0.85	+ 0.09
James Bay Res	JBR	11500	0.70	+ 0.09
Anfield Nickel	ANF	53500	3.09	+ 0.09
East Asia Mnls	EAS	800719	5.75	-0.94
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	555923	4.18	-0.45
Macarthur Mnl	MMS	41800	1.55	-0.38
Quest Rare Mnl	QRM	514893	1.77	-0.38
San Gold Res	SGR	3100445	4.30	-0.33
Brett Res	BBR	82596	3.78	-0.29
Hana Mng	HMG	701315	1.37	-0.27
Alderon Res	ADV	948309	0.98	-0.26
Energold Drill	EGD	332989	2.00	-0.25
Rainy River Rs	RR	1208917	6.40	-0.23