TSX Venture Exchange September 2-8

The modest gains picked up by the S&PTSX Venture Exchange during the past two weeks were more than erased in the Sept. 2-8 trading session. Closing down for five consecutive days, the Venture board lost 212.01 points to finish at 1,771.63 — the lowest in more than three years. Volumes averaged 57.7 million trades a day.

Soit came as no surprise thatbears outnumbered bulls, with 447 companies sinking to new lows and only two reaching new highs.

In a sure sign of capital flight from the market, juniors incurred sizable losses whether they released good news, no news or bad news.

SouthGobi Energy Resources announced that it had increased its stake in its Mamahak coal property in Indonesia to 86% from 56% by paying out US$13.2 million to Score Resources, with US$8 million in cash and 320,000 SouthGobi shares. It also announced approval of expedited development of coal mining in the APL block on its 50-sq.-km MCM concession, where it has confirmed four 0.4-to 1.25-metre coal seams. But on the news, SouthGobi still lost $1.67 to close at $13.30.

Likewise, Canplats Resources announced a hefty 445.3-metre intersection — from surface — grading 0.73 gram gold, 17.13 grams silver, 0.33% lead and 0.63% zinc at its Camino Rojo property in Zacatecas state, Mexico. With more than 38,000 metres of drilling completed, the company says it plans to release a resource by the end of the year. But on news of the drill results, Canplats lost $1.09 to close at $1.90.

And Largo Resources, which reported modestly higher-grade molybdenum drill results from its Northern Dancer project in the Yukon, shed 15 to close at 30.

As for losers that fell without a word, New Pacific Metals dropped 70 to close at 80; Chesapeake Gold fell $1.09 to close at $5.40; and U. S. Silver lost 14 to close at 16.

Still, some fell the old-fashioned way. Waratah Coal dropped 85 to close at $1.32 after the federal environment minister rejected Waratah’s multibillion-dollar proposal to build a coal port in Queensland.

There were still a lucky few who made some gains over the trading session. Advanced Explorations gained 13 to close at 74 on news of its banded iron formation drill results — cutting as much as 326 metres grading 25.31% iron at its Roche Bay project in Nunavut.

Asian Mineral Resources gained 10 to close at $1.01 on an update of its Ban Phuc nickel-copper project in Vietnam. With plant and infrastructure earthworks complete and a ball mill set to arrive in a few months, Asian Mineral Resources says it’s still on schedule for a mid-2009 commission date.

TSX-V most active issues

		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Century Mining	CMM	19038	0.05	0.03	0.04	+ 0.01
US Silver	USA	12367	0.30	0.15	0.16	-0.14
Waratah Coal	WCI	7832	2.16	0.40	1.32	-0.85
Largo Res	LGO	6245	0.44	0.28	0.30	-0.15
Sidon Intl Res	SD	5090	0.09	0.07	0.07	-0.02
North Am Gem	NAG	4639	0.23	0.19	0.20	-0.02
Goldbrook Vent	GBK	4291	0.14	0.09	0.10	-0.02
Gold Hawk Res	CGK	4111	0.08	0.05	0.05	0.00
Hathor Expl	HAT	3574	4.34	3.80	3.83	-0.54
Crowflight Mnl	CML	3527	0.36	0.25	0.26	-0.07

TSX-V greatest percentage change

		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Conway Res	CWY	78	0.08	0.05	0.06	+ 50.0
Viking Gold	VGC	44	0.09	0.07	0.09	+ 50.0
Canstar Res	ROX	626	0.12	0.09	0.10	+ 42.8
Darnley Bay	DBL	42	0.30	0.19	0.29	+ 38.1
Adroit Res	ADT	16	0.15	0.12	0.15	+ 36.3
C2C Gold	CCN	107	0.15	0.11	0.15	+ 36.3
Golden Arch	GAI	10	0.04	0.04	0.04	+ 33.3
Black Bull Res	BBS	53	0.08	0.08	0.08	+ 33.3
Century Mining	CMM	19038	0.05	0.03	0.04	+ 33.3
Klondike Gold	KG	450	0.07	0.04	0.04	+ 33.3
Midasco Cap	MGC	140	0.06	0.04	0.04	-55.5
Cascadia Intl	CJ	980	0.06	0.05	0.05	-54.5
Prospctr C Res	PRR	258	0.09	0.06	0.06	-53.8
Icon Industrs	ICN	1037	0.26	0.13	0.13	-53.5
Petromin Res	PTR	31	0.21	0.12	0.12	-52.0
Dundee Mines	DUN	255	0.12	0.08	0.08	-50.0
Gold Bulln Dev	GBB	375	0.09	0.05	0.05	-50.0
US Silver	USA	12367	0.30	0.15	0.16	-46.6
New Pac Metals	NUX	80	1.42	0.79	0.80	-46.6
Azteca Gold	AZG	138	0.06	0.03	0.04	-42.8

TSX-V greatest value change

WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Argentex Mng	ATX	19000	0.90	+ 0.14
Advanced Expl	AXI	536815	0.74	+ 0.13
Academy Vent	ACV	107200	2.12	+ 0.12
Asian Minl Res	ASN	61300	1.05	+ 0.10
Evolving Gold	EVG	803300	0.49	+ 0.08
Darnley Bay	DBL	42425	0.29	+ 0.08
Lions Gate Mtl	LGM	39076	1.32	+ 0.07
Penteco Res	PEN	168000	0.53	+ 0.07
Champion Bear	CBA	107500	0.55	+ 0.06
EurOmax Res	EOX	160000	0.36	+ 0.06
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	73493	13.30	-1.67
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	65676	5.40	-1.09
Canplats Res	CPQ	1178667	1.90	-1.09
Waratah Coal	WCI	7831849	1.32	-0.85
New Pac Metals	NUX	80000	0.80	-0.70
Keegan Res	KGN	458793	1.70	-0.64
Energold Drill	EGD	466725	2.85	-0.60
Hathor Expl	HAT	3574426	3.83	-0.54
Azimut Expl	AZM	76600	1.60	-0.54
Clifton Star	CFO	120780	3.13	-0.53