TSX Venture Exchange May 16-19

Continued precious and base metal market weakness furthered the bloodletting on the junior board over the holiday-shortened May 16-19 trading session, with the TSX Venture Composite Index falling 8.5%, or 258.76 points, to close at 2,770.73. Strong selling led to average daily trading volumes of just over 100 million shares.

The sell-off was noticeable in the significant drop in companies hitting share-price highs. A greatly diminished 33 juniors managed to rise to new 52-week highs compared with the 17 explorers that slipped to new annual lows.

Top-trader honours for the week again went to Yukon Zinc. With over 57 million shares of volume, the stock continued to plummet, down 21.5, or 43%, to close at 28. Corrections to the company’s recently released feasibility study for the Wolverine zinc-copper-lead deposit, in the eastern Yukon, boosted projected mining costs by over 40% to $35.18 per tonne. The economics of the proposed mine, including a hefty 10% royalty on silver, spooked investors and triggered the exodus.

Coalcorp Mining also maintained its second-place position amongst most actives, trading 14.3 million shares and shedding 9 to close at 89. The coal developer is advancing its three projects and port facility in northern Colombia.

Grabbing third spot among volume leaders, upstart uranium producer UrAsia Energy traded 10.7 million shares, but slid 60 or 18% to close at $2.68. Production from the company’s Akdala mine in Kazakhstan is expected to reach 2.6 million lbs. U3O8 this year. The company recently secured a couple of supply contracts since acquiring its Kazak uranium projects in late 2005.

ECU Silver Mining closed up 6 at $2.95 per share, posting volume of over 6.8 million on the session. Stockwork zone-hosted silver and gold mineralization was encountered in an underground crosscut driven between two vein sets at its Santa Juana mine in Mexico’s Durango state.

Shares of Plexmar Resources dropped 15%, closing off 6 at 34 on volume of almost 6.3 million. Trenching continues at its Bolsa del Diablo project in Peru, where recent results delivered significant high-grade gold values.

Strateco Resources saw its shares slip further, dropping 9 to close at $1.02 on volume of 5.6 million. Recent drilling at its Matoush uranium project, in Quebec’s Otish Mountains region, intersected up to 5.2 metres of 2% U3O8.

Bravo Venture Group traded down 33% on volume of almost 1.5 million, to close the week at 49. Barrick Gold recently notified the junior that it is dropping its option on the South Lone Mountain project in Nevada’s Battle Mountain-Eureka trend.

Aurelian Resources saw its shares gain 60 apiece to close the session at $4.89 on volume of 1.4 million. It recently closed a $20-million financing that will be primarily used to continue exploration of its Condor copper-gold project area in southeastern Ecuador. The large land package contains more than 60 epithermal gold and porphyry copper deposits and targets.

TSX-V greatest percentage change

		Volume (000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
Marifil Min wt	MFM.WT	117	0.40	0.18	0.205	+57.6
Inter-Rock Mnl	IRO	10	0.095	0.095	0.095	+46.1
Marifil Mines	MFM	1562	0.88	0.53	0.75	+41.5
Luxor Ind	LRL	20	0.235	0.20	0.20	+33.3
Softrock Mnrl	SFT	589	0.35	0.18	0.25	+25.0
Logan Res	LGR	295	0.60	0.49	0.57	+18.7
Becker Gold M	BGD	113	0.40	0.325	0.40	+17.6
Lounor Expl	LO	25	0.275	0.235	0.275	+17.0
Niblack Mng	NIB	149	0.96	0.75	0.96	+17.0
Golden Odyss M	GOE	293	0.37	0.28	0.325	+16.0
Pac Imp Mines	PPM	30	0.25	0.25	0.25	-44.4
Yukon Zinc	YZC	57078	0.385	0.23	0.28	-43.4
Buchans River	BUV	77	0.25	0.18	0.18	-38.9
Tearlach Res	TEA	298	0.495	0.285	0.30	-38.7
Stratabd Mnr	SB	98	0.26	0.17	0.17	-37.0
Philex Gold	PGI	37	0.71	0.48	0.485	-35.3
Terra Nova Gld	TGC	163	0.13	0.085	0.085	-34.6
Conquest Res	CQR	244	0.18	0.12	0.12	-33.3
Bravo Vent	BVG	1452	0.67	0.43	0.49	-32.8
NFX Gold	NFX	314	1.81	1.17	1.30	-31.9

TSX-V greatest value change

		Volume	Close	Change
Aurelian Res	ARU	1419159	4.89	+0.62
Mega Uranium	MGA	3118063	6.89	+0.29
Marifil Mines	MFM	1561653	0.75	+0.22
Kenrich-Eskay	KRE	347458	1.79	+0.19
Asia Gold	ASG	175050	2.35	+0.14
Niblack Mng	NIB	149080	0.96	+0.14
Intl Barytex	IBX	565010	2.57	+0.12
Bandera Gold	BGL	306390	1.18	+0.11
Inspiration Mg	ISM	1440521	1.38	+0.10
Pan African Mg	PAF	199650	2.30	+0.10
Seabridge Gold	SEA	211511	9.75	-1.36
Coral Gold	CGR	69877	4.00	-1.27
Contl Precious	CZQ	914412	2.95	-1.05
Mexgold Res	MGR	419755	5.50	-0.85
Polymet Mng	POM	995845	3.95	-0.84
Pearl Ex & Pr	PXX	473816	5.30	-0.74
Dynasty Met&Mn	DMM	429721	5.00	-0.70
Randsburg Intl	RGZ	166055	2.10	-0.61
NFX Gold	NFX	313830	1.30	-0.61
Pac Booker Min	BKM	87965	5.60	-0.60

TSX-V most active issues

		Volume (000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Yukon Zinc	YZC	57078	0.385	0.23	0.28	-0.215
Coalcorp Mng	CCJ	14334	0.90	0.77	0.80	-0.09
UrAsia Energy	UUU	10707	3.43	2.54	2.68	-0.60
ECU Silver Mng	ECU	6804	3.06	2.28	2.95	+0.06
Plexmar Res	PLE	6267	0.45	0.305	0.34	-0.06
Strateco Res	RSC	5628	1.28	0.91	1.02	-0.09
Cons Gold Win	CGW	4809	0.19	0.13	0.165	-0.02
Mandorin Goldf	MGD	4091	0.135	0.08	0.09	-0.035
Spider Res	SPQ	3955	0.07	0.055	0.06	-0.005
Excellon Res	EXN	3665	1.10	0.82	0.97	-0.08