TSX Venture Exchange August 14-20

Market mayhem hit the S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index over the Aug. 14-20 trading session, with the junior board falling 11.6% to finish the week off 334.43 points lower at 2,548.45. On Aug. 16, the exchange sunk to 2,348.8 in daily trading, a low not seen since October last year. Average daily trading volume rose to 110.1 million shares.

The broad downturn in the junior board showed itself most prominently in the discrepancy between 52-week highs and lows. On Aug. 16 alone, 421 juniors sunk to new lows, while only eight reached an annual peak.

The market slaughter hit Genco Resources hard, its stock falling 39% over two days to close at $2.14 at its lowest. Genco runs the La Guitarra gold and silver mine in Mexico. Golden Chalice Resources had a tough week as well, falling as much as 69 or 34% to close at $1.34 during the week. The price rallied 10 at the end of the session.

Steadily declining NFX Gold nabbed top trader status, pulling in 3.5 million trades to close up 10 at 40. NFX peaked at around $2.75 in spring 2006 after acquiring the Larder Lake gold project in eastern Ontario. The company released news of strong drill results intersecting two new gold zones at Larder Lake in the middle of the week.

Toronto-based finance company Coventree caused headaches for many juniors this week. Coventree announced it was experiencing market disruptions related to the subprime mortgage woes in the U.S. and was unable to meet its repayment obligations on asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) (short-term investments) until its liquidity providers fund the repayments. Redcorp Ventures was one of the hardest hit, having placed $102.2 million into five separate trusts managed by Coventree after closing a $252-million debt and equity offering in early July. The news sent the company’s stock plummeting as much as 64% during the week, though the price rallied to close down 24%, or 9, at 28.

Another prospective B.C. mine developer, New Gold, dropped as much as 36% to $4.01 before taking back some ground to close at $5.10, down $1.16. The company announced that Coventree held $158.5 million of the company’s $420 million in cash holdings, including a $6.5-million note due to it on Aug. 13, and still outstanding.

A sudden ruling invalidating certain Mongolian exploration licences sent Khan Resources and Western Prospector Group tumbling. The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Authority of Mongolia cancelled 34 mineral licences issued to 18 entities because some of the previous exploration work was financed by the state. Khan shares closed down $1.33, or 48%, at $1.46 apiece on strong volume following the news, and Western Prospector was off 18%, down 61, at $2.79 per share prior to its trading halt.

Celtic Minerals managed to buck the trend, posting gains all week. The company announced the discovery of nickel-copper-cobalt-palladium massive sulphides in outcrop at the Kingurutik property, less than 100 km from the Voisey’s Bay mine in Labrador. Celtic’s share price climbed over 130%, to 93.

TSX-V greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Boxxer Gold	BXX	100	0.175	0.14	0.175	+	66.6
Lateegra Gold	LRG	273	0.355	0.225	0.34	+	58.1
Celtic Mnrls	CME	2995	0.95	0.72	0.93	+	43.0
Wealth Minls	WML	28	3.25	2.29	3.25	+	38.8
Great Quest Me	GQ	31	0.49	0.39	0.415	+	38.3
NFX Gold	NFX	3447	0.40	0.275	0.40	+	33.3
Rockgate Cap	RGT	232	1.10	0.91	1.10	+	29.4
North Arrow Mn	NAR	52	0.41	0.305	0.385	+	28.3
Luiri Gold	LGL	33	0.51	0.40	0.51	+	27.5
Ucore Uranium	UCU	54	0.70	0.65	0.65	+	22.6
RJK Explor	RJXA	127	0.12	0.08	0.08	–	38.4
Carlin Gold	CGD	52	0.135	0.10	0.10	–	28.5
Timmins Gold	TMM	136	0.54	0.42	0.42	–	25.0
Fortune Valley	FVX	10	0.40	0.40	0.40	–	23.0
Kent Expl	KEX	100	0.19	0.17	0.17	–	20.9
Bellhaven Cp&G	BHV	56	1.09	0.90	0.90	–	19.6
Torch Rvr Res	TCR	132	0.33	0.295	0.30	–	18.9
Contintl Nickl	CNI	15	1.15	1.10	1.10	–	18.5
Royal Roads	RRO	99	0.35	0.30	0.32	–	17.9
Sigma Vent	SVX	38	0.76	0.62	0.62	–	17.3

TSX-V greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Wealth Minls	WML	28250	3.25	+	0.91
BRC Diamond	BRC	116500	7.45	+	0.45
Salazar Res	SRL	58733	2.45	+	0.45
Intl Enexco	IEC	108114	2.30	+	0.37
Genco Res	GGC	162444	2.80	+	0.32
Tournigan Gold	TVC	179013	2.20	+	0.30
Celtic Mnrls	CME	2995300	0.93	+	0.28
Anooraq Res	ARQ	81580	2.70	+	0.25
Rockgate Cap	RGT	232238	1.10	+	0.25
U3O8 Corp	UWE	513059	1.25	+	0.22
Energold Drill	EGD	25032	2.85	–	0.29
Eurasian Minls	EMX	11750	1.72	–	0.27
Mansfld Mnrls	MDR	42335	2.51	–	0.26
Contintl Nickl	CNI	15000	1.10	–	0.25
Azimut Expl	AZM	21350	6.02	–	0.23
Bellhaven Cp&G	BHV	56050	0.90	–	0.22
Full Metal Mnl	FMM	114045	2.58	–	0.22
Seabridge Gold	SEA	28652	26.20	–	0.20
Cons Thomp Irn	CLM	156602	4.40	–	0.20
Linear Metals	LRM	56950	0.91	–	0.18

TSX-V most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
NFX Gold	NFX	3447	0.40	0.275	0.40	+	0.10
Celtic Mnrls	CME	2995	0.95	0.72	0.93	+	0.28
Crowflight Mnl	CML	2504	0.66	0.62	0.65	+	0.05
Yukon Zinc	YZC	24 92	0.20	0.185	0.19	–	0.005
RPT Uranium	RPT	1385	0.365	0.31	0.335	+	0.015
Blue Note Mng	BN	1325	0.50	0.47	0.49	+	0.01
Winslow Res	WLR	1097	0.11	0.09	0.105	+	0.015
Largo Res	LGO	979	0.64	0.50	0.55	+	0.07
Midlands Minls	MEX	914	0.35	0.34	0.35	+	0.01
Peak Gold	PIK	913	0.53	0.49	0.495	–	0.035