TSX Venture Exchange Jan. 8-14

Despite bullion prices soaring to new records above the US$900-per-oz. level, the S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index dipped a modest 1.42 points to close the Jan. 8-14 trading session at 2,818.56. Daily trading volumes for the week averaged 99.5 million shares — a substantial increase over the previous period.

The junior market maintained its bearish sentiment, with only 15 companies eking out new annual highs while 83 dropped to 52-week lows.

Continued market anticipation regarding pending drill assays from Gravity West Mining’s Voltaire Lake project, in northwestern Ontario’s Sibley basin region, pushed the company’s stock up a nickel to 30 on over 42 million shares traded. The junior has been showcasing photos of the core on its website.

Shares of Geoinformatics Exploration soared 89%, or 12.5, to 26.5 apiece on volume of 41 million shares, on the release of a resource estimate at its Whistler project in Alaska. The project contains about 840,000 oz. gold classified as indicated, plus 2.74 million inferred oz. gold.

With 32.6 million shares changing hands and closing down a penny at $1.55 per share, Tyler Resources remained a strong trader on a recent $1.60-per-share takeover bid by Chinese firm Jinchuan. Last year, Tyler tabled a significant resource estimate for its Bahuerachi polymetallic project in northern Mexico.

Diamonds North Resources saw its shares post a strong 83% gain over the session, closing up 65 at $1.43 on volume of 26.8 million shares. The company announced the recovery of 550 microdiamonds from an 82-kg sample taken from the Tuktu-1 kimberlite, on the Amaruk property in Nunavut.

Carmax Explorations gained a nickel, closing the week at 20.5 per share on trading volume of over 25 million shares. Recent drilling on its Eaglehead property, in northern B.C.’s Quesnel Trough, returned up to 203 metres of 0.35% copper, 0.015% molybdenum and 0.1 gram gold per tonne.

Sage Gold continued as a strong trader over the session with 14.4 million shares changing hands, but gave up 4.5 to finish at 45.5. It recently closed a $5.5-million financing and plans 22,000 metres of drill- ing for its projects in the Beardmore- Geraldton greenstone belt region of northern Ontario.

Buoyed by a surging gold price, shares of Rainy River Resources posted a 70 gain over the week to close at $5.10 apiece on trading volume of 1.3 million shares. The company is advancing its namesake gold project, located south of Kenora in northwestern Ontario, and plans a resource estimate for the first quarter of the year.

Xemplar Energy’s share price continued to retract, down 85 to $6.40 per share. The stock recently rallied as high as $8.50 on rumours of a possible takeover by mining giant Rio Tinto, or others. Xemplar is exploring the Warmbad uranium project in Namibia, and is expecting assay results from recent drilling soon.

TSX-V greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Century Mining	CMM	5979	0.57	0.27	0.56	+	107.4
Geoinformatics	GXL	41041	0.415	0.20	0.265	+	89.2
Diamonds North	DDN	26750	2.07	1.03	1.43	+	83.3
Inter-Rock Mnl	IRO	139	0.25	0.15	0.25	+	66.6
Venturex Expl	CVA	201	0.09	0.06	0.06	+	50.0
Young-Shan Gld	GYS	204	0.16	0.135	0.16	+	45.4
Riverstone Res	RVS	1064	0.42	0.28	0.405	+	44.6
Rolling Rock	RLL	4618	0.31	0.175	0.215	+	43.3
Universal Powr	UNX	98	0.485	0.23	0.485	+	42.6
Groundstar Res	GSA	1386	1.11	0.80	1.11	+	40.5
X-Ore Res	XOR	3858	0.12	0.07	0.07	–	50.0
Quest Uranium	QUC	437	0.355	0.23	0.24	–	39.2
Diamcor Mng	DMI	92	0.66	0.40	0.40	–	38.4
Noble Metal Gr	NMG	26	0.18	0.16	0.17	–	37.0
Newmac Res	NER	928	1.22	0.75	0.76	–	36.1
Agau Res	AGS	19	0.395	0.255	0.255	–	35.4
Carlin Gold	CGD	60	0.13	0.095	0.095	–	32.1
St Eugene Mng	SEM	120	0.10	0.065	0.065	–	31.5
Lyra Res	LYR	127	0.06	0.035	0.035	–	30.0
Wealth Minls	WML	277	1.80	1.24	1.30	–	28.9

TSX-V greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	145734	10.75	+	1.25
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	496042	8.25	+	0.80
Rainy River Rs	RR	1293087	5.10	+	0.70
Diamonds North	DDN	26750297	1.43	+	0.65
Andina Mnls	ADM	1589588	5.05	+	0.50
First Majestic	FR	1290846	5.10	+	0.48
AuEx Vent	XAU	1105957	2.82	+	0.47
Midway Gold	MDW	732159	4.45	+	0.45
Evolving Gold	EVG	1657934	1.38	+	0.38
SilverStone Rs	SST	1358846	3.14	+	0.35
Seabridge Gold	SEA	139305	27.28	–	3.25
Xemplar Energy	XE	3165420	6.40	–	0.85
Exeter Res	XRC	395735	4.30	–	0.75
Anglo Mnrls	ALM	981353	5.91	–	0.54
Wealth Minls	WML	277225	1.30	–	0.53
Triex Minerals	TXM	195050	1.97	–	0.48
Kodiak Expl	KXL	3346885	3.75	–	0.48
Pearl Ex & Pr	PXX	4647858	2.20	–	0.48
Newmac Res	NER	927995	0.76	–	0.43
Pac Booker Min	BKM	19910	11.05	–	0.40

TSX-V most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Gravity West	GRW	42248	0.385	0.245	0.30	+	0.05
Geoinformatics	GXL	41041	0.415	0.20	0.265	+	0.125
Tyler Res	TYS	32647	1.57	1.55	1.55	–	0.01
Diamonds North	DDN	26750	2.07	1.03	1.43	+	0.65
Carmax Expl< /td>	CMX	25209	0.26	0.155	0.205	+	0.05
Opact Res	OPA	16807	0.76	0.56	0.72	+	0.08
Sage Gold	SGX	14407	0.55	0.45	0.455	–	0.045
MacDonald Mns	BMK	14003	0.68	0.45	0.58	+	0.01
Arctic Star Di	ADD	13142	0.23	0.145	0.145	+	0.005
Intl Samuel Ex	SAZ	11931	0.175	0.13	0.15	+	0.025