TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE – SEPT. 30-OCT. 6

The S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index fared no better than any other exchange over the Sept. 30-Oct. 6 trading session. While the board saw a 33-point gain on the first day of the week, every other day saw a negative close, culminating with a whopping 166-point loss on Oct. 6. All told, the Venture board closed the week down 247.93 points, or 18% lower, at 1,134.1 points. Daily trading volumes averaged out at 71.4 million.

Not surprisingly, no mining juniors managed new share price highs over the session and 621 fell to new share price lows. According to Venture Exchange statistics, the board’s year-to-date value at the end of September sat at $21.9 billion, down from $33.6 billion a year ago. The market cap of listed companies is likewise down, to $30.2 billion now from $58.6 billion in September 2007.

A bonanza intercept from the Homestake Ridge property, near Smithers, in northwestern B. C., helped Bravo Ventures gain ground amidst the market turmoil. Hole 87 returned 73 metres (52metres true width) grading 20.99 grams gold per tonne, including 7.7 metres of 181.58 grams gold. The news lifted Bravo’s share price 30, but market pressures rescinded much of that gain, leaving the junior up 10 at 33 by the end of the week.

A long gold intercept also kept Oro Gold Resources afloat. The junior released drill results from its Trinidad project, in Mexico, the best of which was 8.5 grams gold over 61 metres. Oro closed the week up 20 at 38.

Sherwood Copper had a tough week. The copper producer, which recently announced plans to merge with Capstone Mining, lost 96 from its share price over the session to close at $2.55, without releasing any news. Another mid-tier producer that lost ground for no reason other than market mayhem was Bear Creek Mining, which saw its stock sink 68 to close the week at $1.35.

A perfect example of the havoc in the markets of late is Hathor Exploration. Hathor discovered a new zone of high-grade uranium mineralization at its Midwest Northeast project in Saskatchewan, which it dubbed the Roughrider zone. A new set of results from the zone last week included 46 metres grading 3.25% U₃O₈. Rather than gain on the good news, Hathor’s share price closed the week down 90 or 35% at $2.17.

In another example of the strain that global financial uncertainty is putting on juniors, Coro Mining was forced to drop plans to acquire the producing Cerro Negro copper mine in Chile. Coro cited several factors in its decision, the primary ones being credit uncertainties that make debt facilities difficult to negotiate and near-term weakness in the price of copper.

In its second hole of the fall season, Grizzly Diamonds intersected a new kimberlite at its Smoky the Bear property in northern Alberta. It’s the third kimberlite Grizzly has hit at the property this year. The 125-metre kimberlite intercept carried Grizzly’s share price through the sliding market; the junior closed the week up 16 at 91.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
KWG Res	KWG	8642	0.04	0.02	0.02	-0.01
Bravo Vent	BVG	6407	0.57	0.30	0.33	+ 0.10
Majescor Res	MAJ	4921	0.04	0.01	0.01	-0.01
Century Mining	CMM	4255	0.04	0.02	0.03	0.00
Spider Res	SPQ	4142	0.05	0.04	0.04	-0.02
Largo Res	LGO	3923	0.24	0.14	0.14	-0.12
Plexmar Res	PLE	3835	0.06	0.05	0.05	0.00
Typhoon Expl	TOO	3682	0.03	0.01	0.03	-0.01
Global Hunter	BOB	3154	0.10	0.06	0.06	-0.02
Bonaventure En	BVT	3047	0.05	0.03	0.03	-0.02

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Oro Gold Res	OGR	190	0.38	0.20	0.38	+111.1
Adroit Res	ADT	115	0.14	0.09	0.13	+ 85.7
Kivalliq Enrgy	KIV	27	0.28	0.15	0.28	+ 75.0
CZM Capital	CZM	16	0.08	0.07	0.07	+ 75.0
Metals Ck Res	MEK	14	0.19	0.06	0.19	+ 72.7
Amera Res	AMS	595	0.05	0.03	0.05	+ 66.6
Grenville Gold	GVG	41	0.08	0.05	0.08	+ 60.0
Intl Millm Mng	IMI	10	0.13	0.13	0.13	+ 44.4
Bravo Vent	BVG	6407	0.57	0.30	0.33	+ 43.4
Intl Chalice R	IRI	41	0.10	0.09	0.10	+ 42.8
Manson Creek	MCK	79	0.06	0.02	0.02	-71.4
Western Prospc	WNP	1735	0.80	0.32	0.43	-66.9
Gold Port Res	GPO	110	0.15	0.06	0.06	-64.7
Tearlach Res	TEA	292	0.05	0.02	0.02	-60.0
Tanqueray Res	TQY	124	0.06	0.04	0.05	-58.3
Knight Res	KNP	562	0.10	0.05	0.05	-58.3
Centurion Mnls	CTN	10	0.12	0.12	0.12	-55.5
Quest Uranium	QUC	25	0.13	0.05	0.06	-53.8
Savant Expl	SVT	19	0.10	0.08	0.09	-52.6
West High Yld	WHY	708	0.23	0.11	0.11	-52.1

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Oro Gold Res	OGR	189706	0.38	+ 0.20
Grizzly Diamnd	GZD	62550	0.91	+ 0.16
Kivalliq Enrgy	KIV	26920	0.28	+ 0.12
Bravo Vent	BVG	6406790	0.33	+ 0.10
Waratah Coal	WCI	358360	1.39	+ 0.09
Metals Ck Res	MEK	13500	0.19	+ 0.08
Adroit Res	ADT	114500	0.13	+ 0.06
Timmins Gold	TMM	300657	0.71	+ 0.06
Grayd Res	GYD	429600	0.35	+ 0.05
Intl Millm Mng	IMI	10000	0.13	+ 0.04
Sherwood Coppr	SWC	451056	2.55	-0.96
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	135948	4.25	-0.95
Hathor Expl	HAT	2850423	2.17	-0.90
Western Prospc	WNP	1735425	0.43	-0.87
Whitemud Res	WMK	17725	4.05	-0.80
Keegan Res	KGN	386250	1.28	-0.71
Bear Creek Mng	BCM	331218	1.35	-0.68
Antares Minls	ANM	93650	1.20	-0.63
Clifton Star	CFO	63800	2.44	-0.61
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	268400	9.50	-0.60