TSX Venture Exchange March 10-16

VANCOUVER — The S&P-TSX Venture composite index managed small gains almost every day of the Mar. 10-16 reporting period, finishing the week up 33.13 points at 847.32. Daily trading volumes remained on the low side, averaging 48.5 million.

Only three Venture-listed companies rose to new share-price highs over the week, while 87 fell to new share price lows.

Top trader status went to Silverstone Resources, which moved 15 million shares to gain 42¢ on news that fellow silver stream purchaser Silver Wheaton is taking it over. The deal will see each Silverstone share exchanged for 0.185 of a Silver Wheaton share, valuing the junior at $206 million. Silverstone has precious metal offtake agreements with Capstone Mining, Lundin Mining, and MTO Holdings, among others, and sold 1.7 million oz. silver in 2008.

Macarthur Minerals’ share price is still reeling after its Chinese partner at the Lake Giles iron ore project in Western Australia declined its right to pay $100 million to boost its project interest to 80% from 30%. Macarthur, which had promised to dividend out the majority of the payment, tried to regain shareholder favour with more drill results from the project but instead saw its share price lose another 66¢ to close at 54¢. In February, its shares traded above $2.

It seems investors wanted more than 11 grams gold per tonne over 2.2 metres, as Hawthorne Gold fell 13¢ on its latest drill results from the Cassiar gold project in northern British Columbia to close at 25¢. The company is driving an adit towards the East Bain vein system; the property is already home to a 300-ton-per-day gravity flotation mill, power plant, and licence tailings facility ready to take ore.

Chesapeake Gold had a good week, gaining 44¢ to finish at $3.70, even though the company did not release any news. Similarly, Antares Minerals added 34¢ to its share price to close at $1.10 without announcing news. On the flip side, Impact Silver lost 13¢ to close at 31¢ on no news.

Exeter Resource continued its slow share price climb, gaining 22¢ over the week to close at $2.91. The company has had a string of good news of late, including inking an agreement for an 80% interest in the property adjacent to its Cerro Moro project that covers the extension of the high-grade Escondida vein. Exeter also closed a $29-million financing and released more high-grade drill results from Escondida in late February.

And Anooraq Resources’ failing share price got a 15¢ lift over the week, bringing it to 49¢. In September 2007, Anooraq announced a deal to buy a 51% interest in the Lebowa platinum mines in South Africa from Anglo Platinum, of which Anglo American is the majority owner. Anooraq had pinned down much of the $467 million it needed for the acquisition through a combination of debt and equity when the global recession struck, leading the partners to renegotiate. Uncertainty over the drawn-out and still unfinished deal has pushed Anooraq’s share price down 90% since late 2007.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Silverstone Rs	SST	15007	1.51	1.01	1.50	+ 0.42
Buffalo Gold	BUF	14130	0.03	0.01	0.01	0.00
RomarcoMnrls	R	4424	0.41	0.32	0.36	+ 0.03
Mountain Captl	MCI	4313	0.12	0.08	0.10	+ 0.03
Hathor Expl	HAT	4133	2.22	1.77	2.09	+ 0.17
Forest Gate	FGT	3924	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.00
Simberi Gold	SAU	3600	0.01	1.0E8	0.01	0.00
Diamondex Res	DSP	3474	0.05	0.03	0.04	+ 0.01
Carmax Expl	CMX	3412	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.00
Largo Res	LGO	3346	0.09	0.07	0.08	+ 0.01

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
NQ Expl	NQE	20	0.15	0.09	0.15	+275.0
Messina Minls	MMI	314	0.09	0.04	0.06	+200.0
Lysander Minls	LYM	119	0.20	0.10	0.20	+185.7
G4G Res	GXG	11	0.14	0.13	0.13	+160.0
Stroud Res	SDR	277	0.05	0.03	0.05	+150.0
Centurion Mnls	CTN	43	0.10	0.07	0.10	+150.0
Silver Spruce	SSE	84	0.13	0.08	0.12	+140.0
Avanti Mng	AVT	221	0.20	0.10	0.19	+111.1
Gowest Amalg	GWA	325	0.08	0.04	0.08	+100.0
Am Creek Res	AMK	1543	0.22	0.10	0.22	+100.0
New Dimen Res	NDR	121	0.03	0.01	0.01	-66.6
Threegold Res	THG	23	0.10	0.06	0.06	-64.7
Superior Mng	SUI	109	0.08	0.05	0.05	-61.5
Kenai Res	KAI	67	0.06	0.04	0.05	-58.3
Macarthur Mnl	MMS	48	0.90	0.54	0.54	-55.0
Diamond Frank	DOD	174	0.04	0.01	0.01	-50.0
CZM Capital	CZM	205	0.02	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Paragon Minls	PGR	231	0.07	0.03	0.06	-50.0
Nebu Res	NBU	440	0.05	0.02	0.02	-50.0
Foran Mng	FOM	58	0.02	0.01	0.01	-50.0

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	22935	8.99	+ 1.24
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	165310	3.70	+ 0.44
Silverstone Rs	SST	15007026	1.50	+ 0.42
Antares Minls	ANM	119550	1.10	+ 0.34
New Pac Metals	NUX	34800	0.96	+ 0.23
Exeter Res	XRC	294025	2.91	+ 0.22
Hathor Expl	HAT	4133103	2.09	+ 0.17
Gleichen Res	GRL	195500	0.40	+ 0.17
Maudore Minls	MAO	67216	1.65	+ 0.15
Anooraq Res	ARQ	150500	0.49	+ 0.15
Macarthur Mnl	MMS	47550	0.54	-0.66
Pac Booker Min	BKM	10325	6.50	-0.50
Tsodilo Res	TSD	20500	0.31	-0.16
IMPACT Silver	IPT	199192	0.50	-0.13
Hawthorne Gold	HGC	1473819	0.25	-0.13
Andina Mnls	ADM	678362	1.49	-0.13
Intl Tower Hil	ITH	356998	2.82	-0.13
Threegold Res	THG	22874	0.06	-0.11
Antioquia Gold	AGD	10007	0.14	-0.11
Lions Gate Mtl	LGM	283007	0.72	-0.10