TSX Venture Exchange – March 17-23

It has to be called a good five days. Over the March 17-23 reporting period, the S&P/TSX Venture composite index appreciated 9.1%, gaining 76.71 points to close at 924.02. There wasn’t any startlingly good news to drive the Venture board up, but neither was there any terribly bad news to drive it down. To be sure, there was continuing economic gloom, but the force of its bite on the market — at least in the past two weeks — seems to have slackened.

During the period, trading was modest with an average daily volume of 55.7 million. Bears continued to outnumber the bulls with 92 companies reaching 52-week lows and only three reaching highs.

Gold ennui and copper curiosity? Although the price of gold did well during the week, gaining around US$20 in New York to close near US$960 per oz., it was the price of copper continuing its now month-long march upwards that appeared to have the greater effect. Over the reporting period, it climbed just over US10¢ to US$1.81 per lb. In mid-February, it was still trading below US$1.50 per lb.

Translation: Some of the most consistent gainers of the reporting period had relatively advanced properties in the copper category. Antares Minerals climbed 43¢ to close at $1.53. Apoquindo Minerals rode a new resource estimate to leap from 22¢ to 46¢. And Inca Pacific Resources got a 9¢ boost to 23¢.

Each has in common large copper porphyries in South America. Antares recently reported drilling as much as 937 metres grading 1.14% copper at its Haquira East zone on its Haquira property in Peru. In May, Antares pegged indicated resources at the zone at 134 million tonnes grading 0.53% copper. To earn a 100% option on the property, it must pay Mineral Phelps Dodge del Peru US$15 million over five years, of which it has doled out US$6.5 million so far. There is also a US$5-million final payment due in 2010.

On March 17, Apoquindo reported a measured and indicated resource estimate for its namesake property in Chile. It pegged resources at Apoquindo’s two deposits, Elenita and Madrugador, at 32 million tonnes grading 0.8% copper in the measured and indicated categories.

Likewise, Inca Pacific has reported a 196-million-tonne measured and indicated resource grading 0.51% copper and 0.052% molybdenum at its Magistral property in Peru. Inca has produced a feasibility study on the project and had ordered some equipment, including a ball mill last August. But that was before the copper price collapsed and Inca Pacific later cancelled those orders to preserve its resources.

Beyond copper, coal also appears to have sparked interest. SouthGobi Energy Re-sources had a good five days, reaching a share price height it has not seen since September. SouthGobi, despite reporting it had vastly overstated a resource estimate in the West Field of its Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in Mongolia, gained $2 to close at $10.99. And with its Border coal property in Saskatchewan, Goldsource Mines gained 55¢ to close at $2.35. At Border, it recently drilled a 133-metre coal intercept.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Inca Pac Res	IPR	24885	0.26	0.16	0.25	+ 0.09
Stealth Mnls	SML	8053	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.00
Silverstone Rs	SST	6791	1.93	1.41	1.80	+ 0.30
US Silver	USA	6391	0.14	0.10	0.12	0.00
Sage Gold	SGX	5689	0.08	0.05	0.06	0.00
Buffalo Gold	BUF	5516	0.01	0.01	0.01	+ 0.01
San Gold Res	SGR	4927	1.84	1.58	1.73	+ 0.13
Gold Hawk Res	CGK	4709	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.00
Dynamite Res	DNR	4638	0.17	0.14	0.16	0.00
Westar Res	WER	4410	0.22	0.12	0.14	-0.08

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Hana Mng	HMG	139	0.09	0.05	0.09	+800.0
Whetstone Mnls	WMI	30	0.12	0.05	0.12	+500.0
Conway Res	CWY	396	0.05	0.03	0.04	+300.0
Gee-Ten Vent	GTV	1493	0.04	0.01	0.03	+200.0
High Ridge Res	HRR	344	0.07	0.03	0.05	+150.0
Confedertn Mls	CFM	85	0.05	0.04	0.05	+150.0
Softrock Mnrl	SFT	63	0.05	0.04	0.05	+150.0
MBMI Res	MBR	231	0.08	0.05	0.05	+150.0
MPH Vent	MPS	146	0.09	0.06	0.09	+125.0
Altair Vent	AVX	407	0.12	0.05	0.11	+120.0
E-Energy Vent	EEV	50	0.04	0.01	0.01	-75.0
Carlin Gold	CGD	74	0.03	0.01	0.01	-66.6
Cons Puma Minl	CPW	30	0.05	0.02	0.02	-66.6
Arcus Dev Grp	ADG	76	0.06	0.02	0.02	-66.6
Pinnacle Mines	PNL	97	0.05	0.02	0.02	-60.0
Bonanza Res	BRS	217	0.05	0.02	0.02	-60.0
Quest Uranium	QUC	58	0.12	0.02	0.05	-54.5
Intl Northair	INM	27	0.05	0.02	0.04	-50.0
Golden Dawn Ml	GOM	131	0.09	0.05	0.05	-50.0
Atlas Minls	AMR	25	0.03	0.01	0.01	-50.0

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TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	49520	10.99	+ 2.00
Goldsource Min	GXS	941200	2.35	+ 0.55
Antares Minls	ANM	59638	1.53	+ 0.43
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	168051	4.10	+ 0.40
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	556300	1.75	+ 0.38
Exeter Res	XRC	224435	3.28	+ 0.37
Clifton Star	CFO	73595	2.35	+ 0.30
Silverstone Rs	SST	6791367	1.80	+ 0.30
Hathor Expl	HAT	2107762	2.36	+ 0.27
Apoquindo Mnls	AQM	215500	0.46	+ 0.24
Pac Booker Min	BKM	12765	5.80	-0.70
Maudore Minls	MAO	32100	1.51	-0.14
Coral Gold	CLH	158500	0.57	-0.14
Titanium Corp	TIC	104626	0.26	-0.10
Am Creek Res	AMK	781668	0.13	-0.09
Westar Res	WER	4410100	0.14	-0.08
Avino Silver	ASM	14460	0.56	-0.08
Northern Plat	NTH	20000	0.27	-0.08
Mansfld Mnrls	MDR	57825	0.40	-0.07
New Pac Metals	NUX	45100	0.89	-0.07