TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE January 4-7

The shortened first week of trading in the New Year saw the S&P-TSX Venture composite index drop 62.46 points between Jan. 4 and 7 to end at 2,225.39.
Volumes were back to a brisk pace, averaging 164 million shares traded daily. Despite the dip, only 22 Venture-listed juniors fell to new 52-week lows, while 153 hit new highs.
New Millennium Capital had the biggest value gains, climbing 58¢ to $2.58. The gains, however, in part simply offset a 40¢ dip on Dec. 31, when the company announced it would seek to extend an exclusivity period with Tata Steel on the development of its taconite projects in Labrador. The new week saw the exclusivity period firmed up until the end of February, but more significantly, the company received provincial approval on its environmental impact statement for phase 1 of the direct shipping ore project, with production expected by the second quarter of 2012. Federal agencies confirmed that no federal-level environmental assessment is required.
Great Western Minerals was the most active company for the second week in a row, with 29.1 million shares traded, but its shares stayed at 58¢. Great Western is still working to acquire Rare Earth Extraction, having mailed out the official offer documents to shareholders the week before. Rare Earth Extraction holds a 74% stake in the Steenkampskraal monazite mine in South Africa, on which Great Western already has the exclusive rights to all rare earth products produced there.
Brookemont Capital announced that work has started on its Tanzania property and it had acquired a contiguous 73-sq.-km land package in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. The company saw 14.8 million shares traded as it climbed 13¢ to 36¢. Brookemont’s 63.4-sq.-km Handeni North gold project in Tanzania borders Canaco Resources’ gold project to the northeast. The company is conducting early stage work to prepare the project for drilling. It acquired the Cariboo property for $15,000 and 3 million shares.
Loncor Resources climbed 40¢ to $2.50 after releasing drill results from its Ngayu gold project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Results from the Makapela prospect, focusing on a quartz vein being mined by artisanal miners in the pits, included 4.3 metres of 64 grams gold per tonne from 85 metres and 5.9 metres of 5.14 grams gold from 30 metres, both true widths. At the Yindi prospect, a single drill result returned 10.3 metres of 1.54 grams gold and then 16.5 metres at 3.66 grams gold.
Pele Mountain Resources gained 21¢ to reach 54¢. The company announced that it would soon be releasing an initial rare earth oxide resource estimate for its wholly-owned Eco Ridge uranium and rare earth minerals project in Elliot Lake, Ont.

TSX-V most active issues
    VOLUME    WEEK
    (000s)    HIGH    LOW    CLOSE    CHANGE
Great Western    GWG    29114    0.70    0.53    0.58        -0.00
Pele Mtn Res    GEM    23207    0.67    0.34    0.54    +    0.21
Encore Ren Res    EZ    18401    0.08    0.06    0.08        0.00
Northern Star    NSM    18283    0.06    0.03    0.05    +    0.01
Brookemnt  Cpt    BKT    14788    0.40    0.21    0.35    +    0.12
Silver Shield    SSR    13744    0.10    0.07    0.09    +    0.03
Bonaventure En    BVT    12891    0.04    0.01    0.03        0.00
Woulfe Mng    WOF    12510    0.37    0.28    0.30    +    0.02
Sidon Intl Res    SD    10162    0.23    0.18    0.20    +    0.02
Cobalt Coal    CBT    9515    0.17    0.09    0.14    +    0.05

TSX-V greatest percentage change
    VOLUME    WEEK
    (000s)    HIGH    LOW    CLOSE    CHANGE
Celeste Copper    C    2213    0.19    0.08    0.17    +    183.3
Leeward Capitl    LWC    3403    0.16    0.09    0.13    +    85.7
Pele Mtn Res    GEM    23207    0.67    0.34    0.54    +    63.6
Cobalt Coal    CBT    9515    0.17    0.09    0.14    +    55.5
Brookemnt  Cpt    BKT    14788    0.40    0.21    0.35    +    52.1
Silver Shield    SSR    13744    0.10    0.07    0.09    +    50.0
Gee-Ten Vent    GTV    225    0.60    0.40    0.59    +    47.5
Maxim Res    MXM    131    0.35    0.23    0.35    +    45.8
Canadn Orebods    CO    5665    0.18    0.10    0.14    +    40.0
Appleton Expl    AEX    3693    0.12    0.08    0.11    +    37.5
Megastar Dev    MDV    7487    0.15    0.06    0.08    –    46.6
Central Iron O    CIO    262    0.20    0.13    0.14    –    39.1
Condor Res    CN    739    0.64    0.47    0.47    –    26.5
Intl Millm Mng    IMI    490    0.14    0.10    0.12    –    25.0
Greencastle Rs    VGN    614    0.34    0.28    0.28    –    24.3
Sniper Res    SIP    650    0.32    0.22    0.26    –    23.5
Alturas Minls    ALT    482    0.30    0.22    0.23    –    23.3
D Arianne Res    DAN    1616    0.48    0.34    0.36    –    23.4

Valley High Vt    VHV    512    2.09    1.50    1.58    –    23.3
Prescient Mng    PMC    100    0.13    0.10    0.10    –    23.0

TSX-V greatest value change
        WEEK
    VOLUME    CLOSE    CHANGE
New Millen Cap    NML    5480198    2.58    +    0.58
Amazon Mng    AMZ    1231693    6.83    +    0.51
Great Quest Me    GQ    982184    2.69    +    0.46
Loncor Res    LN    512400    2.50    +    0.40
Fortress Mnls    FST    47666    4.70    +    0.35
Chesapeake Gld    CKG    136105    12.90    +    0.35
Aldridge Minls    AGM    296660    2.12    +    0.25
Foran Mng    FOM    337385    1.10    +    0.24
Zimtu Capital    ZC    64043    1.95    +    0.23
Pele Mtn Res    GEM    23206716    0.54    +    0.21
Rare Elemnt Rs    RES    1957205    14.38    –    1.57
Mirasol Res    MRZ    396685    4.99    –    1.07
Rainy River Rs    RR    1409262    11.79    –    0.83
Cayden Res    CYD    91555    4.00    –    0.75
Atac Res    ATC    615382    5.61    –    0.66
Canaco Res    CAN    2632486    5.36    –    0.65
Bear Creek Mng    BCM    1222278    8.90    –    0.60
Hana Mng    HMG    5399036    4.16    –    0.60
Clifton Star    CFO    506023    4.78    –    0.59
Richfield Vent    RVC    382629    4.20    –    0.54