TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE SEPT. 9-15

The S&P-TSX Venture Composite Index has not been spared from the market slaughter of late, losing 236.82 points over the Sept. 9-15 trading session to close at 1,534.81. For reference: less than a year ago, the Venture board almost hit 3,200 points and in early July, it was still above 2,600. Deteriorating conditions at least prompted a surge in trading volumes, which averaged 76.8 million.

The market’s slide is perhaps best summarized by the juxtaposition of new 52-week highs and new lows. Only one company — Lions Gate Metals — reached a new share price high, while 671 fell to new lows.

Lions Gate’s only news over the week was the staking of close to 80 sq. km of additional ground around its Poplar copper-molybdenum project, near Smithers, B. C. The company says its ground now covers the entire potential porphyry body in the region.

Top-trader status went to US Silver, which moved 19.7 million shares to close down 2 at 13. The silver producer has ramped up production at its Galena silver mine in the Silver Valley of North Idaho, producing 191,400 oz. silver in August. Management says production will reach 250,000 oz. silver per month by the end of the year.

San Gold had a tough week, falling 31 to $1.06 on nearly 11 million shares traded. The junior announced drill results from its Rice Lake project, including 2.7 metres of 51.4 grams gold per tonne. The results came from the two recently discovered deposits on the project, which also includes the deep underground Rice Lake mine and the near-surface San Gold deposit. The company expects to have the latter two in production by the end of the year.

The Australian government’s rejection of Waratah Coal’s proposed rail line and coal port continued to tamp the junior’s share price this week. Waratah lost 13 to close at $1.19 on more than 9 million trades.

Drill results including 24 metres of better than 0.1% U₃O₈ from two projects in eastern Slovakia failed to help Tournigan Energy, which lost 16 over the week to close at 28.

Tournigan is expanding and upgrading the high-grade resource at Kuriskova and delineating a resource at Novoveska Huta.

A 69-metre intercept grading 1.83 grams gold from the Esaase project in Ghana, plus positive geochemistry results from new ground to the northeast, were enough to lift Keegan Resources 20 to $1.90. The junior is finding success in expansion drilling at Esaase, where Keegan has already defined a 1.7-million-oz. gold resource.

Several juniors managed share price gains on no news, quite the feat given the prevailing market conditions. Bralorne Gold Mines gained 15 to close at 90, Belvedere Resources climbed 14 to 85.

Falling share prices were more the theme, however, evidenced by SouthGobi Energy Resources’ loss of $1.80 to close at $11.50, and Goldsource Mines’ fall to $2.44 from $3.90.

TSX-V most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
US Silver	USA	19723	0.17	0.10	0.13	-0.02
San Gold Res	SGR	10758	1.34	0.95	1.06	-0.31
Largo Res	LGO	9434	0.38	0.28	0.30	0.00
Waratah Coal	WCI	9316	1.50	1.09	1.19	-0.13
Tournigan Engy	TVC	8869	0.45	0.25	0.28	-0.16
TagishLkGold	TLG	8231	0.03	0.02	0.02	-0.01
Cooper Mnls	CQ	6894	0.09	0.05	0.06	-0.03
IMA Exploratn	IMR	6051	0.38	0.29	0.32	+ 0.05
Century Mining	CMM	5879	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.00
Medoro Res	MRS	4935	0.15	0.10	0.13	0.00

TSX-V greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Azteca Gold	AZG	272	0.10	0.05	0.10	+150.0
NorthArrowMn	NAR	136	0.21	0.10	0.21	+ 90.9
Kansai Mining	KAN	80	0.05	0.03	0.05	+ 66.6
Gossan Res	GSS	82	0.19	0.10	0.17	+ 54.5
Axmin Inc	AXM	510	0.21	0.13	0.20	+ 53.8
Medallion Res	MDL	155	0.26	0.17	0.26	+ 52.9
Kettle River	KRR	170	0.09	0.06	0.09	+ 50.0
MountainBoyM	MTB	174	0.16	0.12	0.16	+ 45.4
Celeste Copper	C	122	0.16	0.09	0.16	+ 45.4
Diamondex Res	DSP	723	0.10	0.06	0.10	+ 42.8
Union Gold	UN	14	0.11	0.11	0.11	-78.0
Abitibi Mng	ABB	122	0.04	0.01	0.01	-75.0
Roscan Minls	ROS	19	0.15	0.04	0.04	-73.3
Fancamp Expl	FNC	1717	1.26	0.34	0.38	-71.8
Gowest Amalg	GWA	1749	0.08	0.04	0.04	-71.4
Prospctr C Res	PRR	632	0.06	0.02	0.02	-71.4
Tearlach Res	TEA	222	0.08	0.03	0.03	-66.6
Gold World Res	GDW	81	0.08	0.03	0.03	-62.5
Viking Gold	VGC	232	0.07	0.04	0.04	-60.0
GoldenOdyssM	GOE	960	0.06	0.03	0.03	-57.1

TSX-V greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Keegan Res	KGN	397600	1.90	+ 0.20
Lions Gate Mtl	LGM	358667	1.50	+ 0.18
Bralorne Gold	BPM	122484	0.90	+ 0.15
Belvedere Res	BEL	49500	0.85	+ 0.14
Polar Star Mng	POS	354012	0.80	+ 0.10
NorthArrowMn	NAR	136080	0.21	+ 0.10
Medallion Res	MDL	154754	0.26	+ 0.09
WesternTroyC	WRY	29500	0.32	+ 0.09
Sabina Silver	SBB	1273234	0.83	+ 0.08
Axmin Inc	AXM	509760	0.20	+ 0.07
SouthGobi Engy	SGQ	420384	11.50	-1.80
Goldsource Min	GXS	795996	2.44	-1.46
Fancamp Expl	FNC	1716899	0.38	-0.97
Chesapeake Gld	CKG	90541	4.58	-0.82
Exeter Res	XRC	436620	1.80	-0.80
Whitemud Res	WMK	154900	4.50	-0.75
Sherwood Coppr	SWC	901953	3.95	-0.69
Andina Mnls	ADM	1647950	1.29	-0.62
Rocky Mtn Res	RKY	89250	1.50	-0.60
Hathor Expl	HAT	3272020	3.35	-0.48