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Top 5 Junior Gold Stocks on the TSXV (Updated December 2022)
Dec. 08, 2022 01:50PM PST
Which TSXV-listed junior gold stocks have performed the best so far this year? Our list includes the five biggest gainers.
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After a tough Q3, gold has begun to rebound in the final stretch of 2022, passing US$1,800 per ounce to start December.
Earlier this year, the gold price hit a year-to-date high of US$2,069 in the weeks following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. However, it spent much of the rest of the year declining, ending Q3 at US$1,671.75. As of December 7, the gold price was C$1,782.
With the year coming to a close, the Investing News Network recently recapped the factors that affected the gold price in 2022 quarter by quarter, and spoke with multiple experts about the trends seen this year.
“We have had a year where investors have had to manage risk, whether it is coming from high inflation or from geopolitics; combined (those) have supported demand for gold,” said Juan Carlos Artigas, global head of research at the World Gold Council.
This list shows the TSXV-listed gold companies with the biggest year-to-date share price gains. It was generated on December 6, 2022, using TradingView’s stock screener, and all stocks included had market caps above C$10 million at that time.
1. Reunion Gold (TSXV:RGD)
Year-to-date gain: 200 percent; market cap: C$465.08 million; current share price: C$0.42
Reunion Gold is focused on the Guiana Shield, with projects in Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. The company has a 50/50 alliance with Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX,NYSE:GOLD) for its NW Extension in Suriname. Reunion's primary focus is its Oko West project in Guyana, where it has spent much of 2021 and 2022 drilling.
After seeing positive share price movement early in the year, Reunion has continued that trend. On February 24, the company drilled its two deepest gold intercepts at Oko West. Its share price climbed to a Q1 high of C$0.35 on March 29. In May, Reunion commenced trading on the OTCQB under the ticker symbol RGDFF, which led to another share price gain for the company.
In Q3, the company continued to see movement. On September 7, Reunion provided a corporate update and announced “significant” gold intersections at Oko West’s Kairuni zone. Highlights include 5.19 grams per metric ton (g/t) over 52.5 meters. The company's share price moved from C$0.30 to C$0.41 over the week following the release and has maintained those heights through Q4.
On November 9, Reunion Gold released further drill results from Oko West that “continue to expand the known mineralization footprint at depth.” The news brought the company’s share price to a new year-to-date high of C$0.46. Later in November, the company announced that its board of directors was appointing Rick Howes as president and CEO effective January 1, 2023. He was previously CEO of Dundee Precious Metals (TSX:DPM,OTC Pink:DPMLF). He was later appointed to Reunion's board as well.
2. Majestic Gold (TSXV:MJS)
Year-to-date gain: 61.54 percent; market capitalization: C$112.61 million; current share price: C$0.105
Majestic Gold is a gold miner with its producing Songjiagou open-pit gold mine, which is located in the Shandong province in Eastern China. According to the company, Shandong province accounts for 25 percent of China’s gold production. Songjiagou has been in operation since 2011, although it originally began its life as an underground mine. Recently, Majestic has turned its eyes to lithium exploration in Western Australia, and has acquired 65 percent interests in multiple tenements in the state.
The company hasn’t released any news specifically about the Songjiagou gold mine in 2022, but according to its quarterly reports it has been seeing big increases year-over-year in production. In Q1, output was up 94 percent, at 10,071 ounces; in Q2, it was up 173 percent, at 19,864 ounces; most recently in Q3, it was up 139 percent, at 9,853 ounces.
Majestic has been exploring at its Western Australia tenements with the goal of finding “pegmatite-hosted spodumene deposits capable of hosting lithium mineralization.” While results from the six samples it took from its Moorine property returned only trace amounts of lithium, they show “elevated” rubidium, which has its own uses, but is also associated with lithium mineralization.
Although it didn’t release any news in the prior weeks, November 21 saw Majestic’s share price spike from C$0.07 to C$0.11 from the previous trading day, a year-to-date high for the company that it has maintained. Most recently, Majestic shared its AGM results and an update on the listing of its subsidiary Persistence Resources Group on Hong Kong's stock exchange.
3. G2 Goldfields (TSXV:GTWO)
Year-to-date gain: 56.63 percent; market capitalization: C$109.87 million; current share price: C$0.65
G2 Goldfields is focused on exploration in Guyana, where its flagship property is its Oko gold project. The company has completed 116 holes worth of drilling at the property, and it has the option to acquire a 100 percent interest in the project through further exploration. G2 Goldfields also has two other projects in the country, the Peters and Jubilee past-producing mines.
After a slow start to the year in terms of G2 Goldfields' share price performance, March and April saw the company trend upward to reach a year-to-date high of C$0.81. During this time, G2 Goldfields released three exploration updates for the Oko main zone at Oko, as well as the zone’s maiden mineral resource estimate. The report shows an indicated resource of 220,000 ounces of gold and an inferred resource of 974,000 ounces. The company filed its NI 43-101 technical report for Oko on June 1.
The year's third quarter saw a private placement funding that brought in C$13.37 million, which the company says will go towards further exploration at Oko. Since then, G2 Goldfields has released multiple drill results from the project. Results from 10 drill holes shared in mid-November show a highlight interval of 70 g/t over 3.8 meters.
Its most recent exploration results on November 30 resulted in a spike from C$0.62 to C$0.75 between November 29 and December 1. The announcement notes the discovery of a “new surface zone of broad disseminated gold mineralization.”
4. Viva Gold (TSXV:VAU)
Year-to-date gain: 50 percent; market cap: C$16.49 million; current share price: C$0.165
Viva Gold is advancing its flagship Tonopah gold project in Nevada, which had measured and indicated resources of 394,000 ounces as of early 2022. The project is located along the Walker Lane gold trend, and is currently being moved towards the feasibility stage. The company places a heavy emphasis on ESG initiatives at its project.
The company began a reverse-circulation drill program at Tonopah in October using data gained from its core drill program in the summer. In an announcement, Viva detailed its plans going forward after receiving results from the new program, including its intentions to update its resource estimate and its preliminary economic assessment. It also shared that it had received necessary permits and had completed a report on wildlife and vegetation in the region.
On October 24, Viva released results from metallurgical test work that show gold leach recovery of above 91 percent for samples grading over 1 g/t and of 68 percent for low-grade samples.
Big news came at the end of November for Viva, as high-grade drill results sent its share price soaring. After closing at C$0.09 the previous trading day, it moved up to C$0.18 on the back of news that drilling had intersected a highlight of 5 g/t over 58 meters, including 24 g/t over 11 meters. That has marked a year-to-date high for the company.
5. Mayfair Gold (TSXV:MFG)
Year-to-date gain: 46.59 percent; market capitalization: C$107.04 million; current share price: C$1.29
Advanced-stage exploration company Mayfair Gold is focused on its Fenn-Gib gold project in Ontario's Timmins gold camp in the Abitibi gold belt. The project hosts 2.08 million indicated ounces of gold.
On April 6, Mayfair shared an update on exploration at Fenn-Gib, and this drove shares upward, eventually culminating in a year-to-date high of C$1.59 on April 14, although those highs did not stick. On May 31, Fenn-Gib became Canada’s first carbon-neutral gold project following the company's purchase of carbon offsets to match its 2021 emissions.
Over the summer, Mayfair completed maiden drill programs at Fenn-Gib’s South Block and North Block. In October, the company released further drill results at the site, which President and CEO Patrick Evans said show the project’s potential for growth based on the consistency of results and the fact that the mineralization is “broadly disseminated.”
Using results from drilling up until July 31, Mayfair released an interim mineral resource update that raised its indicated resource by 47 percent to 3.06 million ounces. The company anticipates the release of another resource update in the second quarter of 2023; it should include the entirety of its 110,000 meter drilling program.
With regards to that drilling program, Mayfair released “ultra high grade” results in mid-November that include a highlight of 225 g/t gold over 1.5 meters, and in December shared lower-grade but broad results of 1.1 g/t over 366.7 meters, including 5.6 g/t over 16 meters. The company’s share price climbed throughout November on the back of these releases.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Lauren Kelly, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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