TSX Venture Exchange december 12-18

Despite some weakness in gold, silver and copper spot prices, the S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index eked out a 15.53-point gain over the Dec. 12-18 trading session to close at 2,821.05. However, average daily trading volumes retracted over the week to around 73 million shares.

A continued bullish market sentiment was evident in the weekly tally of new highs versus lows: 53 junior board mineral companies touched new 52-week highs compared with 39 that dropped to yearly lows.

Record high uranium prices spurred UrAsia Energy to new highs on strong volume of over 19.1 million shares over the week, closing up 60 at $4.80 per share. The company recently boosted resources by 69% at its South Inkai uranium project in Kazakhstan, where it also operates the Akdala uranium mine.

IBI Corp saw 18.2 million shares change hands on the week to close down a penny at 4 per share. The company is selling its Ugandan vermiculite mine to Rio Tinto and is gearing up to explore its gold and uranium projects, also in Uganda.

Shares of Consolidated Gold Win Ventures continued their rally, up 34% to 19.5 apiece on trading volume of over 14 million. After an initial market boost based on positive visual description of drill core from its South Dolly Varden gold-copper project, in Elko Cty., Nev., the company’s president confirmed he would invest $1 million into Consolidated Gold Win.

Surface grab sampling by King’s Bay Gold returned extremely high-grade values up to 2,942.7 grams gold per tonne from its Bobjo mine project in northwestern Ontario’s Red Lake area. It traded down 9 at 63 on volume of almost 13.3 million shares.

Noront Resources remained an active trader with 13 million shares of volume, but shed 21% to close at 76 per share. Recent drilling at its Windfall project in Quebec returned a high-grade 4.8-metre intercept of 1,792.9 grams gold. It has also recently arranged a $15-million brokered financing.

Uranium junior Ditem Explorations posted trading volume of over 10 million shares on the week, gaining 13 to close at 78 per share. It recently closed almost $3 million in financing for its projects in Quebec’s Otish Mountain area and in the Athabasca basin.

Plexmar Resources notched up a couple of pennies to close the week at 56 per share on volume of 8.8 million shares. The company is awaiting surface assay results from sampling on its recently acquired claims in southern Ecuador.

Shares of Phoenix Matachewan Mines gained 29%, closing up 4.5 at 16 apiece on volume of almost 7.2 million. It recently optioned its Swanson gold project in northwestern Quebec to Agnico-Eagle Mines.

Trading in Blue Note Mining perked up, with its shares gaining 3 to close at 45 apiece on volume of over 7.1 million. The company acquired the Caribou and Restigouche lead-zinc mines in New Brunswick earlier this year and is advancing them back towards production.

TSX-V greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Serengeti Res	SIR	4973	0.67	0.27	0.62	+93.7
Midasco Gold	MGC	100	0.25	0.19	0.25	+72.4
Trigon Expl Cn	TEL	6424	0.85	0.51	0.80	+68.4
Noble Metal Gr	NMG	271	0.22	0.16	0.22	+46.6
Lakewood Mng	LKW	73	0.10	0.08	0.10	+42.8
Menika Mining	MML	75	0.10	0.075	0.10	+42.8
Sparton Res	SRI	1580	0.21	0.135	0.185	+42.3
Torch Rvr Res	TCR	925	0.245	0.14	0.21	+40.0
Beta Minerals	BMI	403	0.105	0.08	0.105	+40.0
Phoenix Mat	PMM	7192	0.18	0.105	0.16	+39.1
Kettle River	KRR	1223	0.24	0.11	0.135	-44.9
Exeter Res	XRC	1490	3.02	1.71	1.90	-36.6
Discovery-Corp	DCY	49	0.275	0.18	0.18	-35.7
Marifil Min wt	MFM.WT	54	0.06	0.06	0.06	-33.3
Verona Dev	VDC	826	0.36	0.21	0.24	-29.4
New Cantech Vn	NCV	3472	0.90	0.62	0.66	-29.0
Cream Mnrls	CMA	416	0.64	0.40	0.46	-26.9
Nautilus Minls	NUS	1655	6.50	4.66	4.85	-25.3
Newstrike R wt	NR.WT	15	0.10	0.06	0.06	-25.0
Canadn Imp Vnt	CQV	6404	0.14	0.10	0.105	-25.0

TSX-V greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Aurelian Res	ARU	2035058	32.25	+4.25
Altius Mnrls	ALS	485941	10.80	+1.74
Triex Minerals	TXM	289798	4.85	+1.08
UrAsia Energy	UUU	19129114	4.80	+0.60
Aquila Res	AQA	1292409	2.42	+0.51
Sutcliffe Res	SR	1606639	1.88	+0.48
Powertech Uran	PWE	2283971	2.59	+0.44
Urbana Corp	URB	19600	3.15	+0.44
Aranka Gold	ARK	117533	3.70	+0.44
Nevada Copper	NCU	119370	1.60	+0.42
Nautilus Minls	NUS	1655265	4.85	-1.65
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	535417	8.91	-1.63
Seabridge Gold	SEA	44955	14.95	-1.43
Exeter Res	XRC	1490016	1.90	-1.10
Arizona Star	AZS	53090	14.20	-0.50
Coral Gold	CGR	13500	3.55	-0.48
Thunder Sword	THU	132300	1.75	-0.46
Macarthur Mnl	MMS	19827	2.15	-0.36
Keegan Res	KGN	218224	2.85	-0.35
Midway Gold	MDW	167053	2.85	-0.35

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
UrAsia Energy	UUU	19129	4.80	3.81	4.80	+0.60
IBI Corp	IBI	18201	0.055	0.035	0.04	-0.01
Cons Gold Win	CGW	14090	0.20	0.145	0.195	+0.05
Kings Bay Gold	KBG	13286	0.77	0.58	0.63	-0.09
Noront Res	NOT	13063	0.92	0.71	0.76	-0.20
Ditem Explor	DIT	10349	0.82	0.56	0.78	+0.13
Plexmar Res	PLE	8827	0.61	0.52	0.56	+0.02
Phoenix Mat	PMM	7 192	0.18	0.105	0.16	+0.045
Blue Note Mng	BN	7156	0.49	0.41	0.45	+0.03
Novawest Res	NVE	6721	0.28	0.21	0.245	+0.015