TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE -Sept. 20-24

The S&P-TSX Venture composite index enjoyed another strong week between Sept. 20 and 24, closing at 1,699.55, an advance of 37.59 points or 2.3%. Over the period, 108 Venture-listed companies reached new 52-week share price highs while 85 fell to new lows.

Companies in the red-hot rare earths sector took the top two spots on the list of value gains with Rare Element Resources jumping $2.09 to close at $7.95 per share and Quest Rare Minerals adding 93¢ to $4.61 per share. Another rare earths junior, Tasman Metals, was up 62¢ to $1.82 on no news, claiming the fourth spot.

Rare Element Resources made a presentation on its Bear Lodge rare-earths project to the Wyoming Legislature’s joint minerals, business and economic development interim committee, whose goals are to diversify Wyoming’s economy. In the company’s presentation to the committee, president and chief executive officer Donald Ranta noted that there was an increasing likelihood for the advanced-exploration stage Bear Lodge project in Crook County to become the second primary rare-earths mine in the U.S. and said management planned to reach another milestone shortly with a forthcoming scoping study.

Montreal-based Quest Rare Minerals, meanwhile, put out the results of a positive preliminary economic assessment of its Strange Lake B Zone project, about 175 km northeast of Schefferville, Que. Wardrop’s financial analysis considered a total of 33.9 million tonnes of mineralized materal, to be mined for a mine life of 25 years. Using an operating cost of $101.94 per tonne of ore, Wardrop estimated a pretax internal rate of return of 36.36%. Overall, total capital and operating expenditures were pegged at $563.4 million and $3.53 billion, respectively. Additionally, total revenue before taxes from metal sales were calculated at $7.97 billion during the life of mine. The study also concluded that the project would have a positive payback in its fourth year, and would realize positive cash flow from its second year.

On the precious metals front, Bear Creek Mining was up 67¢ at $5.97 on no news, backed by strong silver prices that are up by about 30% since the start of the year. (At presstime, the December contract for silver was $21.47 an oz., a 30-year high.) Bear Creek’s Corani and Santa Ana projects in Peru contain more than 500 million oz. silver, plus byproduct base metals, and provide near-term production potential and excellent leverage to silver prices, the company believes. A prefeasibility study for its flagship Corani project estimated average annual production of 10 million oz. for the first six years of a 27-year mine life, with low cash costs, while a scoping study for Santa Ana examined a proposed, low-cost pure silver mine producing 5 million oz. annually in the first six years of an estimated 12-year mine life.

							TSX-V most active issues
			VOLUME					WEEK
			(000s)			HIGH			LOW			CLOSE			CHANGE
	TagishLkGold			TLG			22807			0.15			0.10			0.11			-0.03
	US Silver			USA			20033			0.38			0.29			0.36			+ 0.09
	Sacre-Coeur Ml			SCM			18444			1.57			1.08			1.56			+ 0.21
	NorthernGldM			NGM			17501			0.46			0.31			0.42			+0.12
	Golden Hope			GNH			16625			0.98			0.63			0.64			-0.17
	RomarcoMnrls			R			14606			2.71			2.35			2.39			+0.09
	Metanor Res			MTO			13584			0.71			0.47			0.48			-0.15
	Allana Res			AAA			11725			0.50			0.40			0.43			-0.05
	Arian Silver			AGQ			11635			0.30			0.18			0.28			+ 0.08
	Tyhee Dvlpmnt			TDC			11557			0.14			0.07			0.09			-0.04

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							TSX-V greatest percentage change
			VOLUME					WEEK
			(000s)			HIGH			LOW			CLOSE			CHANGE
	Apogee Minls			APE			6885			0.17			0.09			0.16			+ 100.0
	Lomiko Res			LMR			3014			0.09			0.05			0.08			+ 100.0
	Mineral Hill			MHI			2565			0.08			0.03			0.04			+ 100.0
	RJK Explor			RJXA			2742			0.10			0.06			0.06			+ 100.0
	Orestone Mng			ORS			316			0.08			0.05			0.08			+ 100.0
	Tanqueray Res					345			0.02			0.01			0.02			+ 100.0
	Strongbow Expl			SBW			3859			0.28			0.15			0.27			+ 92.8
	Arco Res			ARR			7176			0.10			0.05			0.09			+ 80.0
	Crescent Res			CRC			3779			0.09			0.04			0.09			+ 80.0
	BE Res			BER			2333			1.20			0.61			1.05			+ 69.3
	New Island Res			NIS			39			0.10			0.06			0.06			-40.0
	Taranis Res			TRO			297			0.26			0.15			0.15			-40.0
	Solid Res			SRW			1361			0.15			0.09			0.10			-33.3
	Tyhee Dvlpmnt			TDC			11557			0.14			0.07			0.09			-30.7
	Bear Lake Gold			BLG			933			0.38			0.23			0.25			-30.5
	Goldbrook Vent			GBK			5513			0.38			0.19			0.27			-28.9
	Finlay Minrls			FYL			14			0.14			0.10			0.10			-28.5
	Dalton Res Ltd			DAL			49			0.11			0.10			0.10			-28.5
	Capella Res			KPS			1144			0.17			0.12			0.13			-27.7
	Rainy Mtn Royl			RMO			61			0.09			0.08			0.08			-27.2

					TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
			VOLUME			CLOSE			CHANGE
	RareElemntRs			RES			1567189			7.95			+ 2.09
	Quest Rare Mnl			QRM			2261121			4.61			+ 0.93
	Bear Creek Mng			BCM			2628570			5.97			+ 0.67
	Tasman Metals			TSM			3647471			1.82			+ 0.62
	Universal Powr			UNX			3618562			3.00			+ 0.59
	Pac Booker Min			BKM			23651			8.25			+ 0.52
	BE Res			BER			2333321			1.05			+ 0.43
	AfricanAuraM			AUR			70179			1.90			+ 0.40
	Clifton Star			CFO			842505			4.82			+ 0.30
	Antares Minls			ANM			1411930			4.45			+ 0.28
	Lumina Copper			LCC			737669			2.29			-0.50
	Rugby Mng			RUG			15500			0.60			-0.20
	Canaco Res			CAN			4720604			3.79			-0.19
	Esperanza Res			EPZ			539382			1.85			-0.18
	Golden Hope			GNH			16624945			0.64			-0.17
	Metanor Res			MTO			13583915			0.48			-0.15
	Olivut Res			OLV			315302			0.80			-0.13
	Typhoon Expl			TYP			1051590			1.53			-0.13
	Dundarave Res			DDX			91883			0.57			-0.12
	Goldbrook Vent			GBK			5513493			0.27			-0.11