TSX Venture Exchange February 20-26

The sustained gold price rally was well reflected by a strong S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index that gained 5% over the Feb. 20-26 trading session, closing up 151.71 points at 3,274.64. Average daily trading volumes soared to almost 125 million shares, a level not seen for almost a year.

The market enjoyed a strong bullish trend over the week with 90 junior explorers rising to new 52-week highs against 28 that set yearly lows.

A wide molybdenum-mineralized drill intercept propelled Bard Ventures to top volume honours with 49 million shares changing hands on the week. The stock closed up 260%, or 35, at 48.5 per share. The first hole at its Lone Pine project near Houston, B.C., averaged 0.05% MoS2 over its entire 490-metre length and included a higher-grade interval of 0.08% MoS2 across 102.3 metres.

Majescor Resources delivered a 29% gain on the week, closing up 8 at 35.5 per share on volume of almost 34 million shares. It recently announced a plan to sell its Brazilian diamond interests to Vaaldiam Resources for $3.75 million plus a production royalty. It also recently optioned out a two-thirds interest in its Lac Laparre uranium project in Quebec’s Otish Mountain region.

Recent high-grade gold values from Searchgold Resources’ Mandiana project in Guinea, West Africa, continued to drive strong trading in the junior. On trading volume of over 31 million shares, the stock closed up 12, a gain of 46%, at 38 per share. Drilling returned up to 22 metres grading 9.8 grams gold per tonne including two separate 1-metre intervals of 76.9 grams gold and 110.8 grams gold.

Uranium market-darling UrAsia Energy continued its rally to close the session up 46 at $7.90 per share on volume of 26.6 million shares. With production coming from its operations in Kazakhstan, the company recently entered into an agreement to merge with SXR Uranium One to form a new uranium major.

Shares of Cypress Development perked up, gaining 8, or 27%, to 38 apiece on trading volume of 16.4 million shares. The explorer has been focused on its Red Lake, Ont.-area gold projects, but also recently completed geophysical surveys on a Nevada zinc project.

Consolidated Pacific Bay Minerals saw its shares soar 80% to close the session up 31.5 at 71 per share on trading volume of 16.2 million. Interest stems from its prospective uranium ground in the Otish Mountain area of Quebec, near some significant discoveries, where drilling is planned.

Record uranium prices also spurred Ditem Explorations to a gain of 130%, closing up $1.30 at $2.30 per share on trading volume of 13.8 million shares. Geophysics programs have begun on the company’s Athabasca basin projects, with expected follow-up drilling.

Northern Dynasty Minerals closed the week on a 13% boost, up $1.39 to $11.93 per share on volume of 12.8 million shares. An updated inferred resource estimate for its Pebble East copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in Alaska showed a 90% increase to 3.4 billion tonnes of 0.57% copper, 0.36 gram gold and 0.036% molybdenum.

TSX-V greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Bard Vent	CBS	48953	0.49	0.135	0.485	+	259.2
Cons AGX Res	CSX	111	2.35	0.50	2.01	+	235.0
Ditem Explor	DIT	13777	2.48	0.91	2.30	+	130.0
Terra Nova Gld	TGC	529	0.15	0.065	0.145	+	123.0
Zappa Res	ZPA	6265	0.18	0.075	0.175	+	118.7
Cons Pac Bay	CBP	16248	0.72	0.375	0.71	+	79.7
Hinterland Mtl	HMI	7891	0.36	0.19	0.355	+	77.5
Norwood Res	NRS	4570	3.62	2.07	3.59	+	70.9
Zeox	ZOX	1166	0.73	0.39	0.63	+	63.6
Matamec Expl	MAT	6716	0.28	0.16	0.26	+	62.5
Arcturus Res	AZN	50	0.085	0.05	0.05	–	33.3
Micrex Devel	MIX	84	0.32	0.25	0.275	–	32.1
Vast Expl	VST	47	0.37	0.255	0.255	–	31.0
Harte Res	HRT	145	0.30	0.23	0.28	–	24.3
Eagle Rock Ex	ERX	458	0.58	0.46	0.46	–	23.3
Tanqueray Res	TQY	137	0.115	0.085	0.10	–	23.0
Alexandria Mnl	AZX	600	0.305	0.235	0.235	–	22.9
Happy Ck Minls	HPY	131	0.53	0.41	0.41	–	22.6
Newcastle Mnls	NCM	246	0.145	0.105	0.105	–	22.2
Midasco Gold	MGC	111	0.195	0.18	0.195	–	22.0

TSX-V greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Seabridge Gold	SEA	251464	19.40	+	3.65
Norwood Res	NRS	4570181	3.59	+	1.49
Cons AGX Res	CSX	111275	2.01	+	1.41
Northern Dyn M	NDM	12812416	11.93	+	1.39
Aurelian Res	ARU	930727	30.97	+	1.38
Ditem Explor	DIT	13776666	2.30	+	1.30
BRC Diamond	BRC	50900	4.50	+	1.00
Mawson Res	MAW	1864324	3.37	+	0.77
Genco Res	GGC	839044	3.40	+	0.70
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	1126284	8.50	+	0.68
Western Prospc	WNP	552642	5.57	–	0.43
Esperanza Silv	EPZ	561479	3.90	–	0.28
Aranka Gold	ARK	56425	4.10	–	0.28
Hudson Res	HUD	1137365	1.93	–	0.26
Sunridge Gold	SGC	382799	3.06	–	0.24
Arizona Star	AZS	232622	13.66	–	0.24
Messina Minls	MMI	1142894	1.40	–	0.18
Titanium Corp	TIC	200425	2.60	–	0.18
Strategic Nev	SNS	863830	1.55	–	0.16
Metalcorp	MTC	517550	1.51	–	0.15

TSX-V most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Bard Vent	CBS	48953	0.49	0.135	0.485	+	0.35
Majescor Res	MAJ	33922	0.44	0.26	0.355	+	0.08
Searchgold Res	RSG	31315	0.40	0.25	0.38	+	0.12
UrAsia Energy	UUU	28655	8.15	7.03	7.90	+	0.46
Cypress Dev	CYP	16386	0.385	0.28	0.38	+	0.08
Cons Pac Bay	CBP	16248	0.72	0.375	0.71	+	0.315
Ditem Explor	DIT	13777	2.48	0.91	2.30	+	1.30
Northern Dyn M	NDM	12812	13.00	10.49	11.93	+	1.39
Melkior Res	MKR	10882	0.495	0.39	0.48	+	0.09
Murgor Res	MUG	10135	0.55	0.32	0.48	+	0.155