5 Top Weekly TSX Stocks: Northern Dynasty’s Pebble One Step Closer

The S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) closed almost neutral on Friday (February 14), increasing 4.95 points to 17,826.12.

The index was flat ahead of the long weekend and on the back of concerns over the impact the coronavirus, now officially named COVID-19, is having on the economy.

In commodities, gold broke past US$1,580 per ounce and palladium rallied to hit US$2,300 per ounce. Meanwhile, base metals continued to feel the impact of the epidemic uncertainty.

Last week’s five TSX-listed mining stocks that saw the biggest gains are as follows:

• Xanadu Mines (TSX:XAM)
• Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX:NDM)
• Star Diamond (TSX:DIAM)
• Delphi Energy (TSX:DEE)
• Aura Minerals (TSX:ORA)

Here’s a look at those companies and the factors that moved their share prices last week.

Xanadu Mines

ASX- and TSX-listed Xanadu Mines is a copper- and gold-focused company with several advanced exploration projects in Mongolia. The latest company news came on January 31, when Xanadu reported on its quarterly activities, including an upgrade in the exploration target for its flagship Kharmagtai copper-gold project, whose mineral resource was updated last year.

Last week, Xanadu’s share price increased 40 percent over the five day period to close at C$0.03.

Northern Dynasty Minerals

Northern Dynasty Minerals is developing the Pebble project in Alaska, where, according to the company, the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold-molybdenum–silver resource is located.

On Wednesday (February 12), a draft environmental impact statement for the project started to circulate. The company said the information it has seen in a leaked copy of the executive summary is positive and it believes it will support the issuance a permit for construction. As a result of the news, the company’s share price jumped 29.82 percent to end the week at C$0.74.

Star Diamond

Based in Saskatchewan, Star Diamond is developing its Fort à la Corne mineral dispositions, including its Star-Orion South diamond project. In 2018, the company released a preliminary economic assessment on the Star and Orion South kimberlites; it estimates that 66 million carats of diamonds could be recovered in a surface mine over a 38 year project life.

The company, which also has an interest in the Buffalo Hills diamond project in Edmonton, Alberta, did not release any news last week, but it saw its share price increase 25 percent to C$0.45.

Delphi Energy

Calgary-headquartered Delphi Energy is a producer of liquids-rich natural gas, with all its efforts on developing its Montney property in the Deep Basin of Bigstone in Northwest Alberta. Its average production in the third quarter of 2019 was 8,386 barrels of oil equivalent per day, while liquids averaged 117 barrels per million cubic feet.

Despite not releasing any news last week, the company saw its share price go up by 21.43 percent to reach C$0.85.

Aura Minerals

Focused on gold and base metals assets, Aura is a mid-tier producer working on multiple projects in Mexico, Honduras, Colombia and Brazil.

On Wednesday, Aura reported drill results from its Bananal target, which is located along the western border of the Gupore gold belt. The next phase of drilling will start in March 2020. Last week, shares of the company increased 20.09 percent to end at C$56.26.

Data for 5 Top TSX Stocks articles is retrieved each Friday at 10:30 a.m. PST using Trading View’s stock screener. Only companies with a market capitalization greater than C$50 million prior to the week’s gains are included. Companies within energy minerals and non-energy minerals sectors are considered.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Priscila Barrera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.