TSX Venture Exchange -Dec. 22-Jan. 4

The S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index enjoyed a happy holidays, gaining 115.76 points between Dec. 22 and Jan. 4 to close the first trading day of 2010 at 1543.93. Daily trading volumes were down, averaging 84 million.

Behind the board’s considerable gain were 104 companies that rose to new 52-week share price highs in the last two weeks of 2009. Only 26 Venture-listed companies fell to new lows during the holiday period.

The biggest story of the Christmas season was the back-and-forth battle for Canplats Resources. Goldcorp had inked an all-share deal worth $238 million with the junior in November but on Dec. 23, Penmont Minera, a company jointly owned by Fresnillo and Newmont Mining, proposed a mostly-cash deal worth $254 million. Within days, Goldcorp exercised its right to match Penmonts offer. Then the stakes were raised again, with Penmont upping its offer to $4.60 in cash plus a share in a new exploration company for each Canplats share. Again, Goldcorp matched the new offer, which values Canplats at $317 million. Canplats shares gained $1.95 during the battle to close at $5.10, up from $2.50 before the original Goldcorp deal.

The price of gold remained above US$1,080 per oz. over the trading period and that strength continued to propel Chesapeake Gold’s share price upwards. The junior, which is advancing the large Metates deposit in Mexico to economic studies, gained $1.23 to close at $8.75. Metates is one of the largest undeveloped gold-silver projects in the world, with a measured and indicated resource containing 14.7 million oz. gold, 396 million oz. silver, and 2.6 billion lbs. zinc.

East Asia Minerals also rose on the strength of gold and a promising project, gaining 53¢ to reach $4.50. The company is exploring the Miwah gold project in Indonesia’s Aceh province, where it has pulled such intercepts as 58 metres of 1.95 grams gold per tonne, 184 metres of 1.28 grams gold, and 51 metres of 4.31 grams gold.

Without releasing any news, Quaterra Resources saw its share price gain 57¢ or 34% to close at $2.25. Quaterra is exploring half a dozen properties in the United States and, in mid-December, signed an option agreement whereby Goldcorp can earn into its three Mexican properties by investing $10 million in Quaterra over two years.

Taking advantage of a share price that has gained more than 200% since April, Brett Resources spent December closing a private placement that eventually grew to $5.3 million. Brett is drilling its Hammond Reef gold project in northwestern Ontario and in December reported results from infill work, such as 186 metres grading 1.12 grams gold and 43.5 metres of 2.09 grams gold.

Rare earth elements have also generated interest. Rare Element Resources has gained 750% since April, rising from 50¢ to $4.25, on the strength of its Bear Lodge project in Wyoming. Bear Lodge has produced promising intercepts, including 40 metres of 6.78% rare element oxide equivalents.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Avion Res	AVR	25925	0.71	0.47	0.67	+ 0.18
Canplats Res	CPQ	14089	5.21	3.11	5.10	+ 1.91
Sandstorm Res	SSL	13891	0.63	0.51	0.58	+ 0.06
KWG Res	KWG	10911	0.08	0.07	0.08	0.00
Century Mining	CMM	10788	0.44	0.31	0.43	+ 0.09
Encore Ren Res	EZ	9625	0.18	0.14	0.17	0.00
Amador Gold	AGX	7709	0.09	0.07	0.09	+ 0.02
Freewest Res	FWR	7035	0.98	0.97	0.97	0.00
Medoro Res	MRS	7015	0.56	0.43	0.54	+ 0.08
TagishLkGold	TLG	6619	0.04	0.03	0.04	0.00

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Indico Res	IDI	165	0.45	0.28	0.45	+125.0
Western Troy C	WRY	285	0.69	0.32	0.69	+122.5
Cadillac Mng	CQX	110	0.04	0.02	0.04	+100.0
Rockhaven Res	RK	217	0.35	0.17	0.28	+100.0
Mountain-WstR	MWR	250	0.40	0.21	0.35	+ 84.2
Tsodilo Res	TSD	489	1.04	0.44	0.80	+ 81.8
Bison Gold Res	BGE	184	0.32	0.20	0.25	+ 78.5
Samex Mng	SXG	1334	0.52	0.30	0.52	+ 73.3
Island Arc Exp	IAX	218	0.12	0.08	0.12	+ 71.4
Hudson Res	HUD	4777	1.67	0.75	1.31	+ 67.9
Adroit Res	ADT	118	0.10	0.06	0.08	-42.8
Savant Expl	SVT	17	0.16	0.12	0.12	-40.0
Queensland Mnl	QML	52	0.09	0.07	0.07	-36.3
Tiex	TIX	15	0.10	0.10	0.10	-33.3
Module Res	MLE	70	0.08	0.06	0.08	-27.2
Vangold Res	VAN	469	0.56	0.16	0.40	-27.2
Am Cons Minls	AJC	1615	0.10	0.08	0.08	-27.2
Hansa Res	HRL	199	0.09	0.06	0.08	-27.2
Firesteel Res	FTR	443	0.08	0.05	0.08	-27.2
Foran Mng	FOM	38	0.03	0.03	0.03	-25.0

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Canplats Res	CPQ	14088934	5.10	+ 1.91
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	225608	8.75	+ 1.33
RareElemntRs	RES	794129	4.24	+ 0.72
Quaterra Res	QTA	711258	2.25	+ 0.57
Quest Uranium	QUC	1117248	3.62	+ 0.56
Pac Booker Min	BKM	21205	7.00	+ 0.55
Mosquito Cons	MSQ	1797534	1.47	+ 0.53
East Asia Mnls	EAS	3440280	4.50	+ 0.53
Hudson Res	HUD	4777085	1.31	+ 0.53
Canadn Shield	EXP	299294	2.43	+ 0.49
Tasman Metals	TSM	28779	0.70	-0.17
Terrane Metals	TRX	5741971	1.39	-0.16
Vangold Res	VAN	469168	0.40	-0.15
Sunridge Gold	SGC	1431428	0.46	-0.11
Contintl Nickl	CNI	45229	0.70	-0.10
Goldsource Min	GXS	306319	1.80	-0.09
African Metals	AFR	39000	0.32	-0.09
Troon Vent	TVN	33000	0.62	-0.08
Savant Expl	SVT	17058	0.12	-0.08
TintinaGold Rs	TAU	72812	0.38	-0.07