The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) moved up last week, finishing the period at 591.41.
While the index is up 4.29 percent year-to-date, it declined in August, losing nearly 5.8 percent. New data released on Friday (September 1) shows that Canada’s economy contracted at an annualized rate of 0.2 percent in the second quarter, well off the Bank of Canada’s forecast for 1.5 percent annualized GDP growth. Analysts had expected a smaller gain of 1.2 percent.
Stephen Brown, deputy chief North American economist for Capital Economics, said the country may already be in a “modest recession,” and market participants now believe Canada’s central bank will leave rates unchanged at its next meeting.
Against that backdrop, a variety of TSXV-listed resource stocks made moves over the last five days. Read on to find out which companies rose the most during the period and what was affecting their share prices.
1. Lavras Gold (TSXV:LGC)
Weekly gain: 215.79 percent; market cap: C$45.21 million; current share price: C$1.20
Lavras Gold is focused on its Lavras do Sul gold project in Southern Brazil. Lavras do Sul covers over 22,000 hectares and includes seven advanced mineral deposits and exploration discoveries.
The company was the second biggest TSXV gainer during the week of August 23, and last week it soared to new heights after news of a significant discovery on Tuesday (August 29). Exploration at Lavras do Sul returned a drill core that assayed 1.79 grams per metric ton (g/t) gold over 160 meters, including 2.09 g/t gold over 68 meters. The company’s president and CEO called the discovery a “potential game changer” for Lavras and said the plan is to fast track the definition of the discovery.
Lavras’ share price hit a weekly high of C$1.34 during trading last Wednesday (August 30).
2. Gowest Gold (TSXV:GWA)
Weekly gain: 70.59 percent; market cap: C$55.12 million; current share price: C$0.145
Gold explorer and developer Gowest Gold owns the North Timmins gold project. The site includes the Frankfield property, which hosts the Bradshaw gold deposit. Gowest began restarting mining operations at Bradshaw earlier this year, and reached two months of production in June. The company’s most recent news came in July in the form of further updates on the progress at Bradshaw, including a Q4 target for toll milling the mine’s ore.
Although Gowest hasn’t released news since then, shares climbed last week to a peak of C$0.15 during trading on Friday.
3. Resouro Gold (TSXV:RAU)
Weekly gain: 50 percent; market cap: C$16.71 million; current share price: C$0.45
Resouro Gold is an exploration company with a portfolio of projects in Brazil, including the Tiros rare earths and titanium project in Minas Gerais state and the Novo Mundo gold project in Mato Grosso state. After spending time exploring Tiros this year, the company signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 33.3 percent interest in the project; through completing further milestones, Resouro can earn the remaining interest in Tiros.
Last Tuesday, the explorer announced it had closed a C$2.8 million brokered private placement, which will be used in part to explore Tiros and Novo Mundo. Resouro also shared its intention to list on the ASX, as it believes Australian investors have “demonstrated a deep understanding of the rare earths market.”
The company’s share price reached a peak of C$0.47 during trading on Thursday (August 31).
4. MTB Metals (TSXV:MTB)
Weekly gain: 44 percent; market cap: C$16.06 million; current share price: C$0.18
MTB Metals is an explorer with six projects in the Golden Triangle in BC, Canada. Its current focus is its Telegraph copper-gold porphyry project, which covers 310 square kilometers. MTB is in the midst of its first drill program at Telegraph.
Last Monday (August 28), the company released an update on drilling alongside photos of the drill core from its first hole, which “intercepted significant visual copper sulfide mineralization.” The news caused the company’s share price to spike when markets opened that day, and it remained elevated throughout the week.
5. Aston Bay Holdings (TSXV:BAY)
Weekly gain: 41.86 percent; market cap: C$40.15 million; current share price: C$0.305
Aston Bay Holdings is a copper and gold company that owns a portfolio of projects in North America, including the Buckingham gold project in Virginia, US, and the Storm copper project in Nunavut, Canada. Storm is currently under option to American West Metals (ASX:AW1,OTCQB:AWMLF), which can earn up to an 80 percent interest in the property and is actively exploring it this year.
Aston Bay has made the top gainers list multiple times recently after a series of significant discoveries at Storm. The initial discovery came on August 2, and further finds were announced on August 8 and August 17.
In the company’s most recent release, Aston Bay CEO Thomas Ullrich said, “This is a phenomenal success rate for testing blind targets that once again points to the immense potential for new discoveries at Storm. The evidence mounts for a regional-scale copper system as predicted by our geological model.”
The company’s share price has remained elevated since then, hitting a weekly peak of C$0.31 last Friday.
Data for 5 Top Weekly TSXV Performers articles is retrieved each Friday after market close 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 are considered.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Lauren Kelly, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Aston Bay Holdings is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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