TSX Venture Exchange – Feb. 24 -Mar. 2

The Feb. 24-Mar. 2 reporting period on the S&P/TSX Venture composite index began and ended poorly. The first and last days of the period saw the heaviest losses, 25.35 and 33.42 points, respectively. Overall during the five days of trading, the Venture board shed 50.7 points to end the week at 828.24 points. The average daily trading volume was a modest 60.6 million.

Bears continued to outpace bulls with 106 companies reaching 52-week lows and only four reaching highs.

One of the most noticeable forces pressing down upon the Venture Exchange during the reporting period was the price of gold, which fell about US$60 per oz. in New York. Though gold still traded above US$900 per oz., its descent may have dimmed the lustre of juniors with gold assets that in recent months have appeared especially attractive to investors.

In fact, it was coal exploration that generated some of the biggest gains on the Venture Exchange during the period. Goldsource Mines topped the list, with a new coal discovery in Saskatchewan catapulting its share price from $1.42 to $2.40. The company reported intercepting 35 metres of coal at its Split Leaf target on its Border property, where it has outlined significant coal intervals in other areas. Goldsource says it plans more drilling at Split Leaf.

Playing off of Goldsource’s success in the area, juniors Alix Resources and Geo Minerals saw their share prices nearly double after the two companies announced taking an 80% option from NuCoal for a potential coal prospect between Goldsource’s Border property in Saskatchewan and its Pine River property in Manitoba. Alix’s share price gained 6.5¢ to close at 14¢ and Geo’s jumped 6.5¢ to 12¢.

Uranium plays propelled others, for instance Forum Uranium. Its share price gained 4¢ to 8¢ after it announced that Hathor Exploration had taken a 60% option on its Henday project in the Athabasca basin. Hathor agreed to spend $3.5 million in exploration over three years and give Forum 150,000 Hathor shares. As part of the option agreement, Hathor must spend $500,000 within a year and it also has the right to increase its interest by 10% if it produces a feasibility study for the project. Forum says drilling last year found that “uranium ore-forming fluids have been at work on the Henday property.”

If the dipping price of gold didn’t propel hot gains, it didn’t appear to incite heavy losses either.

One of the hardest hit during the period was Macarthur Minerals after its $100-million sale of its Giles Lake iron project in Australia fell through. Its share price was almost cut in half, down 95¢ to close the week out at $1.20, after it announced MinMetals had decided not to purchase an 80% stake in the project. And poor diamond results hurt Diamonds North Resources. It fell to 12¢ from 26¢ on news of disappointing grades at its Tuktu and Qavit kimberlite targets, in Nunavut.

TSX-V most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Cloudbreak Res CDB	11810	0.08	0.05	0.06	0.00
Diamonds North DDN	10436	0.17	0.10	0.12	-0.14
San Gold Res SGR	7541	1.68	1.40	1.50	-0.18
Century Mining CMM	7479	0.09	0.06	0.08	+ 0.01
Sage Gold SGX	7411	0.09	0.06	0.06	-0.01
US Silver USA	6866	0.14	0.10	0.10	-0.01
Slam Exploratn SXL	6604	0.05	0.02	0.04	+ 0.01
North Am Gem NAG	5182	0.09	0.05	0.08	+ 0.03
Goldsource Min GXS	4947	2.93	0.92	2.40	+ 1.42
Canadn Mining CNG	4240	0.05	0.03	0.04	0.00

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Plato Gold	PGC	115	0.04	0.02	0.04	+300.0
Midasco Cap	MGC	85	0.04	0.04	0.04	+300.0
Forum Uranium	FDC	2837	0.09	0.04	0.08	+166.6
Golden Dory Rs	GDR	308	0.09	0.04	0.08	+166.6
Tatmar Vent	TAT	64	0.31	0.25	0.31	+158.3
Nebu Res	NBU	93	0.05	0.03	0.05	+150.0
Goldsource Min	GXS	4947	2.93	0.92	2.40	+144.9
Geo Minerals	GM	4095	0.14	0.05	0.12	+140.0
Garrison Intl	GAU	11	0.02	0.02	0.02	+100.0
Alix Res	AIX	1696	0.16	0.08	0.14	+100.0
Gold Bulln Dev	GBB	779	0.05	0.01	0.01	-85.7
Orsa Vent	ORN	16	0.04	0.01	0.01	-83.3
Yankee Hat Ind	KHT	11	0.04	0.01	0.01	-75.0
Stroud Res	SDR	31	0.04	0.01	0.01	-75.0
Whetstone Mnls	WMI	30	0.03	0.01	0.01	-75.0
Harvest Gold	HVG	356	0.04	0.01	0.01	-75.0
Solid Res	SRW	26	0.04	0.01	0.01	-66.6
Silver Shield	SSR	55	0.05	0.03	0.03	-62.5
IGC Res	IGC	89	0.08	0.05	0.05	-61.5
Grande Portage	GPG	18	0.05	0.02	0.02	-60.0

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Goldsource Min	GXS	4947340	2.40	+ 1.42
Pac Booker Min	BKM	16200	7.20	+ 0.20
Tatmar Vent	TAT	64000	0.31	+ 0.19
Maudore Minls	MAO	47050	1.68	+ 0.14
Olivut Res	OLV	30700	0.30	+ 0.10
Kootenay Gold	KTN	230900	0.82	+ 0.09
Louvem Mines	LOV	227900	0.77	+ 0.09
Uruguay Mnl Ex	UME	229150	0.42	+ 0.09
Grayd Res	GYD	626500	0.48	+ 0.08
Titanium Corp	TIC	49642	0.46	+ 0.08
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	16480	7.75	-1.30
Macarthur Mnl	MMS	313613	1.20	-0.95
Northern Plat	NTH	17000	0.35	-0.40
Andina Mnls	ADM	1983547	1.55	-0.35
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	1479026	1.52	-0.31
Canplats Res	CPQ	1095756	1.90	-0.30
Intl Tower Hil	ITH	291280	2.68	-0.27
Silverstone Rs	SST	1646043	1.00	-0.24
Rainy River Rs	RR	629472	1.73	-0.23
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	45115	3.04	-0.23