TSX Venture Exchange – May 19-25

Over the May 19-25 reporting period, the S&P/TSX Venture composite index continued to regain some of last year’s lost ground. Four consecutive days of frugal gains were followed by a small 0.08-point loss on the final day of the period. The Venture board closed up 33.34 points at 1,096.43.

There were a modest number of 52-week highs and lows, with 17 companies reaching for the stars and 20 dragging bottom. Average daily trading volume during the five-day period was brisk at 97 million.

Upbeat trading substantially boosted several juniors that otherwise had little news to report. In fact, one, Rare Element Resources, which gained 51¢ to $1.35 during the reporting period, had to clarify that it did not have any undisclosed material news following a request from the Investment Industry Organization into why it had so climbed. Rare Element owns the Bear Lodge project in northeastern Wyoming, where it has outlined an inferred resource of about 9 million tonnes grading 4.07% rare earth oxides.

Another junior without news was Bear Creek Mining, up 45¢ to $2.40. Bear Creek’s last big news was an April scoping study of its Santa Ana silver deposit in southern Peru. In it, Bear Creek proposes an open-pit mine with capital costs of $51 million. Cash costs were pegged at $7.47 per oz. silver and Santa Ana’s measured and indicated resource came in at 67 million tonnes grading 45.5 grams silver per tonne, 0.33% lead and 0.57% zinc.

Canplats Resources also benefited from the market’s positive traction, increasing 44¢ to $2.13. Canplats holds the Camino Rojo project in Zacatecas state, Mexico, where it has outlined a measured and indicated resource of 163.39 million tonnes grading 0.66 gram gold, 11.56 grams silver, 0.37% zinc and 0.19% lead.

Canplats discovered the aptly named Camino Rojo project after its geologists saw reddish-brown aggregate on a road near Goldcorp’s Penasquito mine. Canplats tracked down the aggregate supplier and quarry site about 50 km away.

Drilling programs still generated gains for some. U3O8 Corp. jumped 50% to 69¢ on news of strong uranium intercepts at its Accori North C target in the Roraima basin of Guyana. Hole 11 hit 8 metres grading 0.119% U₃O₈starting 122 metres down-hole. The company says it will continue to drill Accori and other nearby targets.

For ICS Copper Systems, it was an acquisition that helped it gain 5¢ to close at 8¢. ICS announced it had taken a 49% stake in a Zambian company that holds title to 10 sq. km in the Luapula area. ICS says there are surface expressions of the copper oxide mineral malachite on the property.

Among others that saw solid gains were Anooraq Resources, up 25¢ to $1.24, San Gold, up 24¢ to $2.38, and Oro Gold Resources which closed the trading period out at 64¢, up 21¢.

Louvem Mines lost the most during the reporting period, down 17¢ to 99¢, followed by Energold Drilling, which shed 14¢ to close at $1.52.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Intl PBX Vent	PBX	12353	0.05	0.03	0.05	+ 0.02
Great Western	GWG	10217	0.10	0.08	0.10	+ 0.02
San Gold Res	SGR	9912	2.45	2.13	2.38	+ 0.24
Orex Expl	OX	9713	0.22	0.14	0.19	+ 0.03
Cypress Dev	CYP	8898	0.20	0.16	0.19	+ 0.01
Avion Res	AVR	8235	0.40	0.34	0.36	+ 0.03
TradeWindsVt	TWD	8053	0.09	0.07	0.08	-0.01
Merit Mng	MEM	7828	0.03	0.01	0.01	0.00
RomarcoMnrls	R	7079	0.79	0.64	0.72	+ 0.07
Vantex Res	VTX	6902	0.08	0.05	0.06	+ 0.01

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Trio Gold Corp	TGK	544	0.06	0.03	0.06	+500.0
Madison Minls	MMR	307	0.14	0.09	0.14	+250.0
ICS Copper Sys	ICX	2837	0.09	0.05	0.08	+166.6
Petromin Res	PTR	2110	0.30	0.10	0.22	+144.4
Cascade Res	CC	646	0.40	0.22	0.40	+100.0
Softrock Mnrl	SFT	33	0.06	0.05	0.06	+100.0
Canaf Group	CAF	57	0.04	0.02	0.04	+100.0
Sunridge Gold	SGC	802	0.39	0.22	0.37	+ 94.7
Northern Shiel	NRN	521	0.25	0.09	0.19	+ 90.0
Alder Res	ALR	60	0.20	0.15	0.20	+ 81.8
Trueclaim Expl	TRM	13	0.12	0.06	0.06	-45.4
Indico Res	IDI	51	0.22	0.16	0.16	-42.8
Devonshire Res	DSH	88	0.09	0.06	0.06	-40.0
Randsburg Intl	RGZ	112	0.11	0.06	0.06	-40.0
First Source R	FSR	175	0.05	0.05	0.05	-37.5
Zinccorp Res	ZN	141	0.08	0.05	0.05	-37.5
Dentonia Res	DTA	173	0.03	0.01	0.02	-33.3
EurOmax Res	EOX	100	0.17	0.12	0.12	-33.3
Chilean Gold	CHN	10	0.08	0.08	0.08	-33.3
Gee-Ten Vent	GTV	135	0.03	0.02	0.02	-33.3

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TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Rare Elemnt Rs	RES	1071761	1.35	+ 0.51
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	563256	2.20	+ 0.45
Canplats Res	CPQ	974492	2.13	+ 0.44
Anfield Vent	ANF	104800	1.70	+ 0.30
Anooraq Res	ARQ	416023	1.24	+ 0.25
San Gold Res	SGR	9911676	2.38	+ 0.24
U3O8 Corp	UWE	504618	0.69	+ 0.23
Anglo-Bomarc	ANB	33500	0.12	+ 0.21
Oro Gold Res	OGR	603622	0.64	+ 0.21
Lara Expl	LRA	96000	0.60	+ 0.21
Louvem Mines	LOV	28000	0.99	-0.17
Energold Drill	EGD	234959	1.52	-0.14
Dundarave Res	DDX	63234	0.45	-0.12
Indico Res	IDI	50835	0.16	-0.12
Sandstorm Res	SSL	1031812	0.41	-0.10
Intl Enexco	IEC	392385	0.44	-0.10
Clifton Star	CFO	119294	3.20	-0.10
Sienna Gold	SGP	78660	0.21	-0.09
Nordex	NXX	12200	0.21	-0.09
Quaterra Res	QTA	50100	0.55	-0.08