TSX Venture Exchange -Jan. 6-12

VANCOUVER — It was an up-and-down week for the S&P/TSX Venture composite index over the Jan. 6-12 trading session. The board started the week by climbing above the 900-point mark, a height it hasn’t seen since Nov. 10, but it ended the week down 34.76 points at 878.35. Daily trading volumes were moderate, averaging 69.6 million.

In a sign that the intensely tumultuous Venture trading may be abating, only 51 junior mining companies fell to new share price lows over the week. In recent months, the number of new lows has typically been as much as 10 times higher. Two juniors climbed to new share price highs.

A string of misfortunes have finally turned around for Gold Hawk Resources. Operations have been suspended at the company’s Coricancha gold-silver-lead-zinc mine in Peru since May because of ground movement. The cause — an over-active irrigation system — was dealt with but Gold Hawk had been facing the prospect of having to relocate its entire plant and tailings facility. Last week, the Peruvian government granted Gold Hawk a permit to build a new tailings facility 30 km away and said it does not have to move the plant. The company’s lenders also extended its debt repayment date. Gold Hawk traded 14.7 million shares to close up 2¢ at 4¢.

Noront Resources also had a busy trading week, though it didn’t release any news. The James Bay lowlands explorer gained 20¢ on 10 million trades to close at 98¢. And top trader status didn’t do much to help Mac-Donald Mines Exploration, which gained just two pennies over the week to close at 8¢ on almost 25 million shares traded. The company, which is exploring several early-stage projects in Saskatchewan and Ontario, did not release any news.

A proposed 10-to-1 share rollback and a new technical report recommending exploration at it Saint Urbain titanium property in Quebec combined to leave Gravity West Mining’s share price unchanged. The proposed rollback would reduce Gravity West’s outstanding shares to just 8.6 million, but management says the move is needed “to position the corporation to raise equity funds in an exceptionally difficult market.”

A permit allowing SouthGobi Energy Resources to start surface mining of the Southwest deposit at the Mamahak coal project in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, gave the junior a nice share price boost. The company plans to start mining the deposit’s high-fluidity metallurgical coking coal in the next few months. SouthGobi gained 85¢ to close the week at $7.35.

News of a 58-metre intercept grading 3.42 grams gold per tonne at the Donchester property in Quebec failed to lift Clifton Star Resources’ share price. Instead, the junior lost 29¢ over the week to close at $1.26.

And even though a feasibility study indicates positive economics for Western Prospector Group’s Gurvanbulag Central uranium deposit in Mongolia, investors were unimpressed. Western Prospector’s shares closed the session down 19¢ at 31¢. The main issue was likely a capital cost of US$280 million, which is US$149 million more than estimated in a 2007 preliminary economic assessment.

TSX-V most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
MacDonald Mns BMK	24970	0.10	0.06	0.08	+ 0.02
Gold Hawk Res CGK	14719	0.05	0.01	0.04	+ 0.02
KWG Res KWG	11830	0.04	0.02	0.03	+ 0.01
Noront Res NOT	10134	1.35	0.82	0.98	+ 0.20
Gravity West GRW	9483	0.04	0.02	0.03	0.00
Goldeye Expl GGY	7502	0.06	0.02	0.04	+ 0.03
Spider Res SPQ	6368	0.05	0.04	0.05	+ 0.01
Simberi Gold SAU	5982	0.02	0.01	0.02	0.00
Forest Gate FGT	5950	0.03	0.01	0.02	+ 0.01
Action Minls ATM	5878	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.00

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
New Horizon Ur	NHU	10	0.04	0.04	0.04	+300.0
Goldeye Expl	GGY	7502	0.06	0.02	0.04	+300.0
First Gold Exp	EFG	52	0.20	0.11	0.19	+216.6
Britannica Res	BRR	355	0.06	0.04	0.06	+200.0
Augen Gold	AUJ	195	0.10	0.06	0.08	+166.6
CZM Capital	CZM	10	0.05	0.05	0.05	+150.0
Stroud Res	SDR	77	0.10	0.04	0.10	+150.0
Gee-Ten Vent	GTV	51	0.05	0.03	0.05	+150.0
Petromin Res	PTR	35	0.12	0.05	0.12	+140.0
Cascadero Copp	CCD	10	0.07	0.07	0.07	+133.3
Valencia Vent	VVI	17	0.05	0.01	0.01	-75.0
Randsburg Intl	RGZ	14	0.05	0.03	0.03	-70.0
Northern Plat	NTH	12	0.28	0.23	0.25	-64.7
Rockcliff Res	RCR	50	0.21	0.08	0.11	-64.5
Uranium Power	UPC	2470	0.25	0.10	0.11	-54.1
Durango Cap	DGO	158	0.03	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Bayswater Uran	BAY	3147	0.19	0.09	0.09	-50.0
La Quinta Res	LAQ	84	0.03	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Tearlach Res	TEA	19	0.04	0.01	0.02	-50.0
Savant Expl	SVT	80	0.06	0.01	0.06	-45.4

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Pac Booker Min	BKM	24590	6.01	+ 1.51
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	188 40	7.35	+ 0.85
Antares Minls	ANM	101275	1.00	+ 0.32
Whitemud Res	WMK	135712	1.36	+ 0.22
Avino Silver	ASM	86675	0.71	+ 0.21
Intl Tower Hil	ITH	1612245	1.96	+ 0.21
Andina Mnls	ADM	2404061	1.29	+ 0.21
Magellan Minls	MNM	333278	0.60	+ 0.20
Noront Res	NOT	10133586	0.98	+ 0.20
Contintl Nickl	CNI	15500	0.74	+ 0.19
Northern Plat	NTH	12100	0.25	-0.46
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	125910	2.60	-0.43
Clifton Star	CFO	82630	1.26	-0.29
Goldsource Min	GXS	536862	2.38	-0.26
Rockcliff Res	RCR	50280	0.11	-0.20
Lions Gate Mtl	LGM	12300	0.60	-0.20
Western Prospc	WNP	2730300	0.31	-0.19
JNR Res	JNN	1116730	0.31	-0.17
Digger Res	DIG	21250	0.35	-0.15
Pitchstone Exp	PXP	255655	0.30	-0.15