TSX Venture Exchange august 1-4

On the back of steady precious and base metal prices, the S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index chiselled out a modest gain of 32.85 points to close at 2,646.62 over the midsummer holiday-shortened Aug. 1-4 trading session. Average daily trading volumes of 43.6 million shares were posted.

Decliners prevailed over gainers with 28 companies slipping to new yearly lows versus 21 explorers rallying to 52-week highs.

Plexmar Resources again topped the volume-leader chart with almost 5.5 million shares traded, gaining 1.5 to close the week at 48.5 per share. The company announced it has received approvals from the Peruvian government to operate in the border zone with Ecuador, where its Bolsa del Diablo gold project lies.

With more than 4.5 million shares of Cash Minerals changing hands over the week, the stock gained 18% to close at $1.48. A second drill is to be added at the company’s Lumina uranium project in the Wernecke Mountain area of the Yukon to step up testing of IOCG targets.

Patrician Diamonds gained a couple of pennies to close the trading session at 29 per share on volume of 4.1 million. Drilling continues on its Sahtu diamond project in the Northwest Territories, where possible kimberlite was recently recovered and sent for analysis.

Saskatchewan diamond hunter Forest Gate Resources bounced up a few pennies, off a more than 1-year low, to close at 22 per share on volume of almost 3 million. The company struck out in drilling of its South Side property in the Fort la Corne area, failing to hit any kimberlite. However, drilling at its East Side project turned up kimberlite intercepts in a couple of holes collared near a previous successful hole.

Shares of ECU Silver Mining closed down 15, to $2.29 apiece, on volume of almost 2.5 million over the week. Underground sampling on vein sets at its Santa Juana mine, in Mexico’s Durango state, continues to show significant gold and silver mineralization.

Following its recent rally, UrAsia Energy slipped 11% to close at $2.65 per share on trading volume of 1.8 million. It recently entered into two additional supply contracts for U3O8 produced from its Akdala uranium mine in Kazakhstan.

Shares of Bear Creek Mining rose to new highs, closing the week up 12%, or 85, at $7.75 apiece. The company continues its drill program at the Corani silver project in southern Peru and plans an updated resource estimate.

Following a 6-metre intercept grading 5 grams platinum group metals plus gold per tonne at its Marathon project, in northwestern Ontario, Marathon PGM gained 23% to finish the trading session up 84, at $4.49 per share, on volume of over 155,000.

Aurelian Resources traded up 70 to close at $23.50 on volume of more than 518,000 shares. Two additional diamond drill rigs are being added to further test and confirm high-grade mineralization encountered at its Fruta del Norte epithermal gold-silver project in southeastern Ecuador.

TSX-V greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Regent Vents	REV	1876	0.48	0.28	0.47	+70.9
Temex Res	TME	945	0.57	0.27	0.56	+64.7
Arianne Res	DAR	576	0.24	0.145	0.21	+50.0
Aldershot Res	ALZ	1518	0.39	0.27	0.375	+44.2
Rare Elemnt Rs	RES	189	0.72	0.455	0.72	+44.0
Probe Mines	PRB	66	0.27	0.24	0.27	+42.1
Young-Shan Gld	GYS	59	0.155	0.125	0.155	+40.9
Gossan Res	GSS	61	0.30	0.25	0.28	+40.0
Blackstone Res	BLV	638	0.68	0.54	0.65	+39.7
Trivalence Mng	TMI	15	0.25	0.24	0.25	+38.8
Tribute Res	TRB	10	0.31	0.305	0.305	-29.8
Northern Crown	CXP	326	0.08	0.06	0.06	-25.0
Golden Tag	GOG	759	0.31	0.25	0.255	-22.7
Kakanda Dev	KDC	46	0.225	0.17	0.17	-22.7
Argent Mng	AMG	153	0.19	0.15	0.155	-22.5
Tom Expl	TUM	40	0.215	0.21	0.215	-21.8
Golden Odyss M	GOE	71	0.285	0.23	0.23	-19.3
Luzon Minls	LZN	166	0.175	0.155	0.155	-18.4
Tyler Res	TYS	1066	0.67	0.46	0.49	-18.3
African Metals	AFR	19	0.55	0.49	0.50	-18.0

TSX greatest value change

		VOLUME(000s)	CLOSE	CHANGE
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	404621	7.75	+0.85
Marathon PGM	MAR	155726	4.49	+0.84
Aurelian Res	ARU	518719	23.50	+0.70
Seabridge Gold	SEA	160153	15.48	+0.48
Birch Mountn	BMD	884325	5.27	+0.43
Digger Res	DIG	29500	1.97	+0.42
Pan Oce Exp	POE	1508036	4.40	+0.41
Dynasty Met&Mn	DMM	166517	5.98	+0.36
Mexgold Res	MGR	46452	7.70	+0.34
Full Metal Mnl	FMM	686616	2.60	+0.30
UrAsia Energy	UUU	1812097	2.65	-0.34
Peregrine Diam	PGD	47150	2.75	-0.30
Altius Mnrls	ALS	170406	7.84	-0.26
Gobimin	GMN	391300	1.56	-0.24
Cons Thomp-Lnd	CLM	35095	2.26	-0.24
Alhambra Res	ALH	32789	2.17	-0.23
Quaterra Res	QTA	327085	1.51	-0.23
Mega Uranium	MGA	457903	7.73	-0.20
Brazauro Res	BZO	157100	0.91	-0.19
ECU Silver Mng	ECU	2455802	2.29	-0.15

TSX-V most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Plexmar Res	PLE	5479	0.49	0.45	0.485	+0.015
Cash Minerals	CHX	4517	1.73	1.24	1.48	+0.23
Patrician Diam	PXC	4102	0.33	0.24	0.29	+0.02
Forest Gate	FGT	2932	0.26	0.18	0.22	+0.03
ECU Silver Mng	ECU	2456	2.50	2.15	2.29	-0.15
Arctic Star Di	ADD	2377	0.28	0.16	0.215	+0.055
Verena Minrls	VML	2357	0.23	0.185	0.225	+0.055
Strateco Res	RSC	2340	1.14	1.03	1.10	-0.04
Goldmarca	GML	2295	0.68	0.61	0.63	-0.07
Northern Star	NSM	2203	1.19	1.05	1.15	+0.06