5 Top Weekly TSXV Stocks: Rare Earths Stocks Dominate

At the end of last week, the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) was down by a meager 2.14 points or 0.36 percent to 600.36.

News last week was all about tariffs again, with US President Donald Trump wheeling out his favorite talking points on trade deficits and “national security.”

In commodities, gold was back up above US$1,300 an ounce after a turbulent week thanks to the above shenanigans — though most attention has been on rare earths, with the US becoming increasingly antsy about China’s willingness to turn off the tap of the commodity is has a stranglehold over.

Back in Canada, here are the top five gainers among miners and explorers on the TSXV from last week:

• Leading Edge Materials (TSXV:LEM)
• Ucore Rare Metals (TSXV:UCU)
• Meridian Mining (TSXV:MNO)
• Mkango Resources (TSXV:MKA)
• Canada Rare Earth (TSXV:LL)

Read on to find out what each of the five have been up to lately.

Leading Edge Materials

Canada based with assets primarily in Scandinavia, Leading Edge Materials has crafted a portfolio that skews heavily towards materials used in lithium-ion batteries.

It has three assets: the Woxna graphite project, the Bergby lithium project and the Norra Karr rare earths project, which are all in Sweden. May was a month of news for the company, with three updates released, including the finalization of a strategic review and an updated execution path for the Woxna mine on May 27 and the granting of stock options three days later.

Leading Edge had a good week on the TSXV, up 87.88 percent to C$0.31 by the end of the period.

Ucore Rare Metals

Ucore Rare Metals is a Canadian company with interests in the US, where it has its flagship Bokan project and its Ray Mountains project, both of which are in Alaska.

In late May, the company announced that a complaint against Ucore in Utah, where it has a pilot plant, was dismissed in court. The complaint by IBC Advanced Technologies was over rights to rare earths extraction technology. The two companies are still at loggerheads, with parallel proceedings in Nova Scotia, where Ucore is based.

Whether from the above news or the burning interest in rare earths last week, Ucore benefited greatly on the TSXV with a 84.38 percent increase in its share price to C$0.295.

Meridian Mining

Meridian Mining produces manganese at its Espigão project in Rondonia, Brazil, where it’s doing additional exploration and development work. The company also has interests in the nearby Ariquemes tin joint venture, which is part of its dual strategy for a multi-commodity regional exploration program.

The company released no new news last week, though it was on the rise on the TSX Venture Exchange, reaching C$0.19, an increase of 72.73 percent.

Mkango Resources

Another rare earths company, Mkango Resources is a dual-listed company in London and Toronto. It has interests in three Malawi-based prospecting licenses in rare earths and uranium.

Its most recent news release was a quarterly report where it detailed a net loss of US$697,579 for the period ended March 21 — an improvement from the same time last year when it reported a loss of of US$1,153,650. In Toronto last week, Mkango was up by 50 percent, reaching C$0.18 by Friday.

Canada Rare Earth

Another rare earths company, Canada Rare Earth is involved in projects all over the world, from the Americas to East Asia.

In a corporate update on May 30, company CEO Tracy A. Moore said, “(Canada Rare Earth is) encouraged by recent interest in the rare earth sector and the market’s recognition of the need for an independent source of rare earth oxides and metals as an augmenting or alternative to Chinese supplies.”

Like its fellow rare earth companies on the TSXV, Canada Rare Earth was up last week to C$0.095, a jump of 35.71 percent.

Data for 5 Top Weekly TSX Stocks articles is retrieved each Friday at 10:30 a.m. PST 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 basic materials and energy sectors are considered.

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

Editorial Disclosure: Leading Edge Materials is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.