TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE -May 31-June 4

It was a week in the red for the S&P/TSX Venture composite index over the May 31-June 4 trading period, as investor uncertainty over everything from the Eurozone to the summer doldrums pushed the board down 34.77 points over the week to close at 1,453.23. And it seems many investors just stayed away: trading volumes were down considerably, averaging just 87 million.

Nowhere was the negative market sentiment clearer than in comparing juniors reaching new share price highs versus falling to new lows: only 25 Venture-listed companies rose to new 52-week highs, but 167 dropped to new lows.

One of those bears was Fire River Gold, which lost 2¢ to start the week at a new low of 36¢. But then the junior released more results from its Nixon Fork gold mine project in Alaska and news of intercepts such as 12.3 metres grading 23.2 grams gold per tonne and 5 metres of 19 grams gold prompted an 8¢ gain by the end of the week. Fire River is assaying drill cores from 2007, when a previous operator drilled 9,400 metres from underground drill stations but never reported the results.

The Ring of Fire in the James Bay lowlands of northern Ontario has been generating considerable news of late. Spider Resources, locked in a tug-of-war between merging with KWG Resources and being acquired by Cliffs Natural Resources, was the most traded exploration and mining stock on the Venture board, moving 26.8 million shares to gain a penny to close at 14¢. KWG also saw high trading volume, moving 14 million shares to remain unchanged at 14¢.

Sandspring Resources updated the resource estimate for its Toroparu gold-copper prospect in Guyana. Its president Abraham Drost describes it as sufficiently robust to consider advancing the project to a feasibility study. Toroparu is now home to 105 million indicated tonnes grading 0.86 gram gold and 0.12% copper plus 38.8 million inferred tonnes averaging 0.72 gram gold and 0.08% copper, all contained within an open-pit shell. The company’s share price fell 11¢ over the week to $1.26.

Western Potash investors were slightly more satisfied with their company’s new resource estimate, lifting the company’s share price 2¢ to 46¢. The Milestone potash project hosts 409 million measured tonnes of 31% potassium chloride (KCl), 1.4 billion indicated tonnes of 30.8% KCl, and 7 billion inferred tonnes of 30.9% KCl, in three intervals amenable to solution mining.

Another set of encouraging drill results from the Kenieba gold property in Mali could not save Avion Gold from the falling tide. Avion reported such intercepts as 12 metres of 5.79 grams gold, 2.3 metres of 29.8 grams gold, and 4.7 metres of 7.77 grams gold but still lost 9¢ to close at 51¢. Kenieba is adjacent to Avion’s producing Tabakoto gold project.

TSX-V most active issues
	VOLUME		WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Spider Res SPQ	26824	0.14	0.12	0.14	+ 0.01
Medoro Res MRS	23134	0.81	0.67	0.71	-0.00
KWG Res KWG	13886	0.14	0.13	0.14	0.00
MacDonald Mns BMK	12863	0.25	0.16	0.20	+ 0.05
Canaco Res CAN	10894	0.87	0.73	0.79	+ 0.05
Habanero Res HAO	9761	0.16	0.12	0.15	+ 0.04
NorthernGldMNGM	9608	0.16	0.12	0.14	+0.01
MountainBoyMMTB	8644	0.25	0.19	0.23	+0.01
Everett Minls EAR	6315	0.08	0.05	0.06	+ 0.01
Great Western GWG	6077	0.22	0.18	0.19	0.00

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Landdrill Int	LDI	195	0.15	0.09	0.14	+ 75.0
New Island Res	NIS	2032	0.09	0.05	0.08	+ 60.0
Santa Fe Metls	SFM	307	0.12	0.07	0.12	+ 50.0
Colibri Res	CBI	65	0.07	0.06	0.06	+ 50.0
Canuc Res	CDA	618	0.32	0.20	0.30	+ 50.0
Zinco Mng	ZIM	12	0.28	0.22	0.28	+ 47.3
Jiminex	JIM	111	0.11	0.08	0.10	+ 42.8
Rome Res	RMR	36	0.44	0.35	0.44	+ 41.9
Golden Hope	GNH	3252	0.29	0.20	0.28	+ 40.0
Petro Horizon	PHE	644	0.28	0.17	0.28	+ 40.0
Savant Expl	SVT	342	0.13	0.06	0.08	-52.9
Tanqueray Res	TQY	102	0.05	0.02	0.02	-50.0
Upper Can Gold	UCC	404	0.41	0.25	0.27	-44.9
Cadillac Mng	CQX	11	0.04	0.03	0.03	-40.0
Mukuba Res	MKU	81	0.37	0.22	0.32	-37.2
Waseco Res	WRI	149	0.10	0.08	0.08	-33.3
Bonterra Res	BTR	2283	0.14	0.08	0.08	-33.3
Pinestar Gold	PNS	502	0.10	0.07	0.09	-30.7
Logan Res	LGR	651	0.08	0.05	0.05	-28.5
Kent Expl	KEX	3179	0.17	0.13	0.13	-27.7

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
AfricanAuraM	AUR	17067	1.35	+ 0.20
Kaminak Gold	KAM	4271016	1.50	+ 0.18
Atac Res	ATC	1356700	1.56	+ 0.17
Olivut Res	OLV	1318893	0.70	+ 0.15
Titanium Corp	TIC	133900	1.30	+ 0.15
Golden Alli Rs	GLL	37230	0.83	+ 0.13
Callinan Mns	CAA	247200	1.73 < /td>	+ 0.13
Rome Res	RMR	36000	0.44	+ 0.13
Grayd Res	GYD	130670	0.90	+ 0.12
AM Gold	AMG	1029789	0.46	+ 0.11
Rainy River Rs	RR	955225	6.04	-0.55
East Asia Mnls	EAS	676692	7.13	-0.43
Alderon Res	ADV	122300	1.30	-0.38
Quest Rare Mnl	QRM	526835	2.20	-0.36
Clifton Star	CFO	336647	4.42	-0.33
Tasman Metals	TSM	262698	0.77	-0.23
Antares Minls	ANM	714121	2.10	-0.22
Upper Can Gold	UCC	403600	0.27	-0.22
Pac Booker Min	BKM	18371	6.98	-0.21
Mukuba Res	MKU	81497	0.32	-0.19