TSX Venture Exchange April 18-24

Metal and commodity prices held their strength over the April 18-24 trading session, which pushed the S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index up 4.54 points to 3,095.85. The spotlight was on juniors reporting positive exploration results from far-flung projects that seem to cover the gamut of commodities and metals, from diamonds to zinc.

Plexmar Resources retained its top spot on the most-active list after releasing highly encouraging results (up to 18.7 grams gold per tonne) from 209 samples collected in three different rock types (veins, volcanics and a recently uncovered intrusive unit) at the Bolsa del Diablo property in Peru. The company’s shares climbed 8 to 31.5.

Oil and gas company Paradym Ventures took second spot, followed by Consolidated Gold Win Ventures, which holds various gold and copper-gold-silver projects in North America. The company is also earning a 39.6% interest in the Ticho (Drybones 4 claims) diamond project near Yellowknife, N.W.T. A drilling and bulk-sampling program is under way at the property. Goldwin was up 6 at 18 over the period.

Yukon Zinc jumped another 3 to 78, based on ongoing investor interest in zinc assets. The company is developing its Wolverine zinc-rich polymetallic project in the Yukon.

Unigold, which is exploring various oxide gold properties in the Dominican Republic, was the largest percentage gainer over the session, posting a 64% gain to close at 73.

The biggest value gainer was Pacific Booker Minerals, up $1.25 at $7.50. The company is proposing to develop a 25,000-tonne-per-day mine at its Morrison copper-gold property north of Granisle, B.C., and within 30 km of the past-producing Bell and Granisle mines. At last report, resources stood at 86.89 million tonnes grading 0.45% copper and 0.26 gram gold per tonne. The proposed open-pit, conventional flotation mine is expected to produce 130,000 tonnes of concentrate per year containing 37,000 tonnes of copper.

Aurelian Resources also enjoyed a flurry of investor interest after reporting significant results from a new discovery at its Condor project in southeastern Ecuador. The highlights were 237 metres averaging 4.14 grams gold and 60 metres averaging 3.42 grams from the initial drill program. The company’s exploration success triggered a $10-million bought-deal private-placement financing, which also helped pushed its shares up 69 to $3.69.

Arizona Star Resource also added 69 to close at $12.35 as investors awaited news on what major development plans might be in the works for the junior’s 25%-held Cerro Casale gold-copper project in Chile.

On the downside of the trading session, ECU Silver Mining shed 33 to close at $2.72. The junior is exploring a silver prospect in Mexico’s Durango state.

Nevada gold explorer Staccato Gold slipped 15 to 65, while Adanac Moly, which is proposing to develop its Ruby Creek molybdenum project near Atlin in northwestern B.C., was off 63 at $2.02. One likely reason is that moly prices have eased to US$22-US$25 per lb. from US$30 a year ago.

TSX-V greatest percentage change

		Volume(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
Unigold	UGD	1449	0.77	0.42	0.73	+64.0
Electra Gold	ELT	1392	0.30	0.165	0.295	+63.8
Millstream Min	MLM	4240	0.32	0.175	0.31	+63.1
Committee Bay	CBR	6964	0.95	0.64	0.95	+61.0
Acrex Vent	AKV	1208	0.395	0.25	0.395	+58.0
Yale Res	YLL	1468	0.395	0.21	0.345	+56.8
Paradym Vent	PVI	26703	0.16	0.09	0.145	+52.6
BcMetals	C	1137	1.15	0.71	1.07	+50.7
Cons Gold Win	CGW	24703	0.185	0.115	0.18	+50.0
Maxy Gold	MXD	1932	1.55	0.97	1.44	+48.4
Q-Gold Res	QAU	57	0.40	0.26	0.27	-32.5
North Am Metal	NAM	288	0.40	0.30	0.30	-31.8
Avalon Vent	AVL	849	1.69	1.00	1.06	-29.3
Sur American	SUR	1031	1.16	0.77	0.83	-28.4
J.A.G. Mines	JML	204	0.24	0.18	0.18	-28.0
MBA Gold	MBA	73	0.33	0.275	0.275	-27.6
Stralak Res	SRK	16	0.21	0.18	0.18	-26.5
Donner Metals	DON	141	0.45	0.36	0.36	-25.0
Cons Gd Thun R	GHG	29	0.165	0.16	0.16	-23.8
Adanac Moly	AUA	2228	2.80	2.00	2.02	-23.7

TSX-V greatest value change

		Volume	Close	Change
Pac Booker Min	BKM	79886	7.50	+1.25
Northern Dyn M	NDM	1380638	8.11	+0.73
Arizona Star	AZS	317731	12.35	+0.69
Aurelian Res	ARU	1273680	3.69	+0.69
Energy Metals	EMC	1481293	7.96	+0.68
Pearl Ex & Pr	PXX	1112613	7.15	+0.65
Sacre-Coeur Ml	SCM	495219	2.67	+0.47
Maxy Gold	MXD	1931666	1.44	+0.47
Mosquito Cons	MSQ	486044	2.45	+0.46
Committee Bay	CBR	6963631	0.95	+0.36
Digger Res	DIG	17895	2.50	-0.69
Adanac Moly	AUA	2227582	2.02	-0.63
Mega Uranium	MGA	1189085	8.84	-0.61
Laramide Res	LAM	1088607	7.40	-0.60
Forsys Metals	FSY	1457825	2.30	-0.58
Intl Barytex	IBX	362884	2.30	-0.50
Nova Uranium	NUC	494846	2.96	-0.49
Exeter Res	XRC	428938	2.37	-0.48
Contl Precious	CZQ	632870	2.15	-0.45
Avalon Vent	AVL	849153	1.06	-0.44

TSX-V most active issues

		Volume(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Plexmar Res	PLE	32111	0.48	0.225	0.315	-0.08
Paradym Vent	PVI	26703	0.16	0.09	0.145	+0.05
Cons Gold Win	CGW	24703	0.185	0.115	0.18	+0.06
Spider Res	SPQ	15665	0.09	0.065	0.08	+0.015
Yukon Zinc	YZC	15398	0.87	0.71	0.78	+0.03
Coalcorp Mng	CCJ	15393	0.68	0.63	0.65	-0.03
ECU Silver Mng	ECU	11361	3.11	2.36	2.7 2	-0.33
VenCan Gold	VCG	8551	0.15	0.10	0.12	+0.02
Staccato Gold	CAT	8525	0.80	0.55	0.65	-0.15
Solitaire Mnls	SLT	8501	0.39	0.275	0.36	+0.09