The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) lost 22.75 points this week to close at 545.22. Meanwhile, the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) was down 564.75 points to finish at 22,781.43.
Statistics Canada’s August labor force survey, released on Friday (September 6), shows the unemployment rate ticked up by 0.2 percent from July to hit 6.6 percent. The rate is the highest it’s been since 2017, not including the pandemic.
The Canadian economy added 22,000 jobs in August, with 66,000 part-time job gains being offset by 44,000 full-time job losses. With the country’s overall employment rate ticking down just 0.1 percent to reach 60.8 percent, the underlying shift shows employment growth is being outpaced by a rising population in Canada.
South of the border, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released its August employment situation summary on Friday. The data shows 142,000 jobs were added, with unemployment ticking down to 4.2 percent from 4.3 percent in July.
With 7.1 million people unemployed, the release shows a clear cooling in the economy from a year ago, when the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent and the number of unemployed people was at 6.3 million.
In a speech at the University of Notre Dame on Friday, Christopher J. Waller, a member of the US Federal Reserve’s board of governors, said “the time has come” to cut interest rates, echoing Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s recent remarks in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Waller also opened the door for multiple cuts before the end of 2024.
Friday’s news did little to move equity markets, which trended downward this week. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) declined to 5,408.43 points, while the Nasdaq 100 (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX) was off by 5.56 percent to 18,421 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) fell 2.47 percent to close the week at 40,345 points.
Commodities were also down, with the S&P GSCI (INDEXSP:SPGSCI) shedding 6.07 percent to finish the week at US$511.05. As of 5:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, gold was at US$2,496.09 per ounce and silver was at US$27.91 per ounce.
Against that backdrop, which TSX- and TSXV-listed resource stocks rose the most? Find out below.
1. American Creek Resources (TSXV:AMK)
Weekly gain: 93.94 percent; market cap: C$85.32 million; share price: C$0.32
American Creek Resources is a junior exploration company with a 20 percent interest in the Treaty Creek project, located within the Golden Triangle in BC, Canada. The remainder of the project is owned by Tudor Gold (TSXV:TUD,OTC Pink:TDRRF) with a 60 percent stake, and Teuton Resources (TSXV:TUO,OTCQB:TEUTF) with 20 percent.
The current focus at the project is the Goldstorm zone. In February, Tudor announced a resource estimate showing indicated quantities of 21.66 million ounces of gold grading 0.92 grams per metric ton (g/t), 128.73 million ounces of silver at 5.48 g/t and 2.87 billion pounds of copper at 0.18 percent from 730.2 million metric tons (MT).
The most recent news from the project came on August 14, when American Creek reported that Tudor had produced assay results from the first four holes of a 10,000 meter 2024 exploration program. Highlights from the program include 4.25 g/t gold, 224.59 g/t silver and 5.96 percent copper over 6.3 meters.
American Creek saw significant gains on Friday after it announced it has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement to be acquired by Cunningham Mining. Under the terms, Cunningham will pay C$0.43 per common share of American Creek, a 274 percent premium over the company’s June 5 closing price of C$0.115.
2. Patagonia Gold (TSXV:PGDC)
Weekly gain: 40 percent; market cap: C$13.95 million; share price: C$0.035
Patagonia Gold is a precious metals exploration, development and production company primarily focused on advancing its Cap-Oeste and Calcatrau underground projects in Argentina. Located in Santa Cruz province, Cap-Oeste hosted open-pit mining operations until 2018. While Patagonia is working on the exploration and development of the underground resource at the site, it has been able to recover gold and silver from residual leaching on site.
A 2018 resource estimate for Cap-Oeste shows measured and indicated values of 704,300 ounces of gold and 21.43 million ounces of silver from 10.56 million MT with average grades of 2.07 g/t gold and 63.2 g/t silver.
In the company’s management discussion and analysis, released on August 28, it reported production of 889 ounces of gold and 42,363 ounces of silver from Cap-Oeste during the first six months of 2024.
For its part, Calcatreu is located in Argentina’s Rio Negro province and covers approximately 90,000 hectares. A 2018 resource estimate outlines measured and indicated values of 669,000 ounces of gold and 6.28 million ounces of silver from 9.84 million MT with average grades of 2.11 g/t gold and 19.8 g/t silver.
Patagonia’s latest news came on Tuesday (September 3), when it said it has reached the final stage of permitting approval for Calcatreu and has received public support and recommendations from the Secretariats of Mining and the Environment and Climate Change of Rio Negro. The final permitting decision is expected in the next two months.
3. Petro Victory Energy (TSXV:VRY)
Weekly gain: 38.89 percent; market cap: C$25.58 million; share price: C$1.25
Petro Victory Energy is an oil and gas developer and producer advancing properties in Brazil. The company’s assets consist of 38 fully owned licenses covering a total of 257,604 acres in Brazil’s Portiguar and Barreirinhas basins.
On Thursday (September 5), Petro Victory reported oil sales of 5,814 barrels from its Sao Joao field in Q2, a 99 percent increase in volume year-on-year. A workover campaign was completed at the asset in April.
The company’s proven and probable reserves currently stand at 6.87 million barrels of oil equivalent at a net present value of US$257.7 million at a discount rate of 10 percent. The operations update also outlines a partnership with Azevedo Travassos Petroleo (ATP) to develop the Andorinha field and block 281. The partnership will see ATP fund a workover program at the CR-2 well at block 281, as well as the drilling of two in-field wells at Andorinha. Once costs are recovered, the companies will see a 50/50 split of income generated from production.
4. Mkango Resources (TSXV:MKA)
Weekly gain: 30 percent; market cap: C$32.21 million; share price: C$0.13
Mkango Resources is a rare earths exploration and development company focused on the advancement of rare earths mining and recycling projects. Shares of the company have seen gains since it reported on August 29 that HyProMag will be participating in an 8 million euro GREENE project that is intended to re-engineer rare earths permanent magnets to be more resource-efficient and offer improved magnetic performance.
GREENE is an initiative funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe program, and will see 15 industry and academic partners work to advance the performance of rare earths batteries for electric motors.
HyProMag is owned by Maginito, in which Mkango holds a 79.4 percent stake. The remaining 20.6 percent interest is held by CoTec Holdings (TSXV:CTH,OTCQB:CTHCF). The August 29 news was followed on Tuesday by an update indicating that Maginito has entered into a binding and exclusive agreement with Inserma Anoia for the pre-processing of hard disc drives, loudspeakers and electric motors. The company said it will provide a scalable solution for the removal and recovery of magnets contained within the electronic devices, and will provide a steady neodymium feed to HyProMag.
5. Panoro Minerals (TSXV:PML)
Weekly gain: 26.47 percent; market cap: C$55.52 million; share price: C$0.215
Panoro Minerals is a copper explorer focused on the advancement of its flagship Cotabambas project in the Apurimac region of Southern Peru. Consisting of two primary mineralized zones, exploration on the property dates back to the mid-1990s and has largely been focused on an 18 square kilometer area in the northeast portion of the property.
The most recent resource estimate for the project was published in January, and outlines indicated values of 3.75 billion pounds of copper, 3.29 million ounces of gold, 39.45 million ounces of silver and 24.02 million pounds of molybdenum from 507.3 million MT, with average grades of 0.33 percent copper, 0.2 g/t gold, 2.42 g/t silver and 0.002 percent molybdenum. The company saw gains this past week, but has not published a news release.
FAQs for TSXV stocks
What is the difference between the TSX and TSXV?
The TSX, or Toronto Stock Exchange, is used by senior companies with larger market caps, while the TSXV, or TSX Venture Exchange, is used by smaller-cap companies. Companies listed on the TSXV can graduate to the senior exchange.
How many companies are listed on the TSXV?
As of June 2024, there were 1,630 companies listed on the TSXV, 925 of which were mining companies. Comparatively, the TSX was home to 1,806 companies, with 188 of those being mining companies.
Together the TSX and TSXV host around 40 percent of the world’s public mining companies.
How much does it cost to list on the TSXV?
There are a variety of different fees that companies must pay to list on the TSXV, and according to the exchange, they can vary based on the transaction’s nature and complexity. The listing fee alone will most likely cost between C$10,000 to C$70,000. Accounting and auditing fees could rack up between C$25,000 and C$100,000, while legal fees are expected to be over C$75,000 and an underwriters’ commission may hit up to 12 percent.
The exchange lists a handful of other fees and expenses companies can expect, including but not limited to security commission and transfer agency fees, investor relations costs and director and officer liability insurance.
These are all just for the initial listing, of course. There are ongoing expenses once companies are trading, such as sustaining fees and additional listing fees, plus the costs associated with filing regular reports.
How do you trade on the TSXV?
Investors can trade on the TSXV the way they would trade stocks on any exchange. This means they can use a stock broker or an individual investment account to buy and sell shares of TSXV-listed companies during the exchange’s trading hours.
Data for this 5 Top Canadian Mining Stocks article was retrieved at 1:00 p.m PST on September 6, 2024, using TradingView’s stock screener. Only companies trading on the TSX and TSXV with market capitalizations greater than C$10 million are included. Companies within the non-energy minerals and energy minerals sectors were considered.
Article by Dean Belder; FAQs by Lauren Kelly.
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Securities Disclosure: I, Lauren Kelly, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.