5 Top Weekly TSX Stocks: Questerre Closes on Quebec Acquisitions

Last Friday (January 24), the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) was trading down by 62.12 points, falling to 17,559.66 points. Even with the drop, it was still sitting just above where it was at the same time the week prior, when it was at 17,555.93 points.

World news last week was a mix of politics in the US as Democrats march into primary season, as well as panic in China as authorities close entire cities to contain the spread of an unidentified strain of coronavirus that has killed dozens of people and infected over a thousand.

There are already fears about the impact the coronavirus could have on the Chinese economy, with the contagion cited in articles on copper’s recent slide in value.

Speaking of copper, the red metal had fallen from US$6,244 per metric ton at the start of the week to US$6,048 by Thursday (January 23). Gold was up to US$1,570.20 an ounce.

Looking at resources companies on the TSX, here are the top five gainers from last week:

• Questerre Energy (TSX:QEC)
• Touchstone Exploration (TSX:TXP)
• Orla Mining (TSX:OLA)
• Alamos Gold (TSX:AGI)
• Yamana Gold (TSX:YRI)

Read on to find out more about what each company has been up to lately.

Questerre Energy

Questerre Energy is a Canadian oil and gas firm with assets across the prairies, Quebec, Utah and Jordan.

On Wednesday (January 22), the company closed its acquisition of assets in Quebec, acquiring exploration rights to 753,000 acres in the province along with associated wells and equipment, geophysical data and other miscellaneous assets.

On the TSX last week, Questerre was trading at C$0.23 after gaining 27.78 percent over the week prior.

Touchstone Exploration

Touchstone Exploration is another Canadian oil and gas company, though Touchstone has its assets in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, where it has been producing oil since 2010.

The company announced an update on well testing in Trinidad on Monday (January 20), reporting highlights on production testing for the onshore Cascadura-1ST1 well at the Ortoire exploration block.

On the Toronto exchange, Touchstone was up by 18.99 percent over the week to reach C$0.47.

Orla Mining

Orla Mining is a Canadian precious metals developer that is currently focused on moving forward at the Camino Rojo oxide gold-silver open-pit heap leach project in Central Mexico.

The company’s last release was on December 18 last year, when it reported that Camino Rojo was advancing towards production thanks to a loan agreement with Trinity Capital.

Orla was up by 14.01 percent on the TSX last week to reach C$2.36 despite the lack of more recent news specific to the company.

Alamos Gold

Alamos Gold is a Canadian intermediate gold producer with three producing mines in North America, as well as a significant portfolio of development projects in Canada, Mexico, the US and Turkey — though its Turkish Kirazli gold-silver project was put on ice last year after local opposition and government delays.

The company’s last release was all about its producing Island gold mine in Ontario, Canada, with the company reporting that drilling has extended high-grade mineralization there.

Alamos was at C$8.34 last Friday after gaining 13.47 percent since the start of the week.

Yamana Gold

Another precious metals producer, the Canadian company Yamana Gold has producing mines in Canada, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

In its latest release in mid-January, the company reported that it exceeded its 2019 production guidance for all metals in its portfolio, with 900,339 ounces of gold produced in the year (compared to 899,000 ounces guidance) and 10,640,156 ounces of silver produced (compared to 10,000,000 ounces guidance).

Yamana was up by 9.13 percent through last week to reach C$5.26 by Friday.

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$50 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.