The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) recorded a slight gain in the new year’s first full week of trading, picking up 4.84 points to close at 556.18 this past Friday (January 12).
The latest US inflation data, released on Thursday (January 11), shows the Federal Reserve’s battle with high prices is far from over. The consumer price index ticked up 3.4 percent year-on-year in December, up from November’s 3.1 percent.
Meanwhile, Statistics Canada shared data this past Tuesday (January 9) indicating that the country’s merchandise trade surplus with the world shrunk in November to C$1.6 billion, down from C$3.2 billion in October. Despite the contraction, November was the fourth consecutive month that Canada was in a trade surplus, which experts believe could boost the nation’s fourth quarter GDP and help it continue avoiding a technical recession.
Globally, fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spill over into a broader conflict became more real this past Friday, when a coalition tasked with providing security in the Red Sea attacked Houthi targets. While equities moved little on the news, oil prices spiked 4 percent as companies began to divert shipments away from the region.
It’s unclear whether the actions will stem attacks on shipping vessels, or whether the situation will continue to escalate and further disrupt movement through the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for 12 percent of global trade.
Against this backdrop, how have TSXV mining stocks fared? Read on to find which performed best this past week.
1. Standard Uranium (TSXV:STND)
Weekly gain: 44.44 percent; market cap: C$10.52 million; current share price: C$0.065
Standard Uranium is an exploration company and project generator with a portfolio focused on the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada. It holds interests in 80,571 hectares of mineral claims.
The largest of its operations is the Davidson River project, which consists of 10 mineral claims over 30,737 hectares. Since 2020, the company has completed 16,561 meters of drilling across 39 holes at Davidson River and identified four conductive corridors hosting several high-grade uranium targets. In addition to Davidson River, Standard Uranium owns the Sun Dog project, which consists of nine claims over 19,603 hectares, along with the Atlantic, Canary, Ascent, Corvo and Rocas projects, which are comprised of 23 mineral claims covering 29,520 hectares.
Shares of Standard Uranium rose this past week after the company signed a term sheet with Summit Fusion on Thursday; under the deal, Summit will have the option to earn a 75 percent interest in the Ascent project in the Eastern Athabasca Basin. Standard Uranium now has more than C$22 million committed to exploration programs over the next three years.
The company also outlined its exploration plans for 2024 on Friday. Standard Uranium said it will be operating a minimum of three drill programs across three projects, with two funded by partners that will provide operator fees to Standard Uranium. Additionally, the company said it will complete initial testing at its recently acquired Rocas and Corvo projects.
2. Chakana Copper (TSXV:PERU)
Weekly gain: 44.44 percent; market cap: C$11.25 million; current share price: C$0.065
Chakana Copper is an exploration company focused on developing its Soledad project in Peru’s Ancash region.
The site hosts high-grade copper, silver and gold mineralization across 4,200 hectares. An initial inferred resource estimate shows the site hosts 191,000 ounces of gold, 11.7 million ounces of silver and 130 million pounds of copper.
Shares of the company were up this past week, although Chakana hasn’t released any news since December 20, when it upsized a private placement to C$3 million. During the first tranche, Gold Fields Nazca Holdings, a subsidiary of Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI), exercised its right to purchase 8,555,643 units of Chakana for total proceeds of C$342,225.75, bringing its stake in Chakana to 19.9 percent. Gold Fields told Chakana it planned to participate in the second tranche as well.
3. Rusoro Mining (TSXV:RML)
Weekly gain: 40.68 percent; market cap: C$425.38 million; current share price: C$0.83
Rusoro Mining is a gold-mining company that had interests in Venezuela. Up until 2012, the company was operating two mines and two mills in the country, along with two additional projects that were nearing the production stage.
In March 2012, the company announced that the Venezuelan government had nationalized Rusoro’s operations without compensation. Following the appropriation of the company’s operations, Rusoro entered into arbitration proceedings before the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes; in August 2016, Rusoro was awarded US$967.77 million, plus pre- and post-award interest to total more than US$1.2 billion.
After protracted legal battles to receive payment from the Venezuelan government, Rusoro filed a claim to enforce actions against assets of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), and in April 2023, the US District Court for Delaware found in favor of Rusoro. Venezuela’s appeal of the decision was rejected by a three judge appellate panel in July 2023.
Venezuela appealed to the Supreme Court of the US, but on Monday (January 8), Rusoro announced that the court has refused to hear the appeal, making the July 2023 ruling the final hearing on the case. In its press release, Rusoro also notes that the Deleware court has designated Rusoro as an “additional judgment creditor,” meaning the company will be entitled to a share of the sale of PDVSA assets when the auction takes place in July of this year.
Shares of Rusoro were up more than 40 percent this past Friday.
4. Imperial Mining Group (TSXV:IPG)
Weekly gain: 40 percent; market cap: C$12.79 million; current share price: C$0.07
Imperial Mining Group is an explorer focused on developing scandium and gold properties in Quebec, Canada.
The last year has seen Imperial focus on its Crater Lake project, which consists of 96 claims covering 47 square kilometers in Northeastern Quebec. The property has been explored since 2007, and the most recent mineral resource estimate, released by Imperial in September 2023, shows that the northern lobe of the asset’s TG scandium zone holds 11.8 million MT grading 275.9 grams per MT (g/t) Sc2O3 in the indicated category, and 15.9 million MT grading 268.4 g/t Sc2O3 in the inferred category. Imperial also made rare earths determinations in both resource categories.
The company’s most recent news came this past Tuesday, when it announced Guy Bourassa has been hired as Imperial’s new CEO. Bourassa’s 30 years of mining sector experience include being a founder and director of Nemaska Lithium, and serving as the company’s CEO from January 2008 to February 2020.
5. EV Nickel (TSXV:EVNI)
Weekly gain: 37.14 percent; market cap: C$37.3 million; current share price: C$0.48
EV Nickel is a nickel exploration company focused on its Shaw Dome asset, located south of Timmins in Ontario, Canada. The project spans over 30,000 hectares, with more than 100 kilometers of strike length. Its two primary areas are the W4 deposit, which holds 2 million MT at 0.98 percent nickel for 43.3 million pounds of Class 1 nickel across the measured, indicated and inferred categories, and the CarLang area, 20 percent of which is made up of the A zone. The A zone has a resource of 1 billion MT at 0.24 percent nickel for 5.3 billion indicated and inferred pounds of Class 1 nickel.
Shares of EV Nickel were up more than 37 percent last week, although the company hasn’t shared any news since releasing its interim financial report in November 2023.
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 September 2023, there were 1,713 companies listed on the TSXV, 953 of which were mining companies. Comparatively, the TSX was home to 1,789 companies, with 190 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 Weekly TSXV Performers article was retrieved at 10:00 a.m. PST on January 12 2023, using TradingView’s stock screener. Only companies with market capitalizations greater than C$10 million prior to the week’s gains are included. Companies within the non-energy minerals and energy minerals 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.