5 Top Weekly TSXV Stocks: Investors React to Virginia Uranium Challenge

Last Friday (May 25), the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) fell 5.99 points, or 0.72 percent, to close at 774.99.

The Canadian markets were on the way down last week, with oil again dragging. Miners felt some pressure as well, with the materials sector — which includes precious and base metals — falling 0.1 percent. The Canadian dollar also continued to weaken against a strong US dollar.

On the TSX Venture the big news last week was in uranium, with one company saying it will challenge Virginia’s uranium-mining ban in the Supreme Court. Last week’s five top movers are as follows:

• Virginia Energy Resources (TSXV:VUI)
• Pacton Gold (TSXV:PAC)
• Cub Energy (TSXV:KUB)
• Plateau Energy Metals (TSXV:PLU)
• Almonty Industries (TSXV:AII)

Virginia Energy Resources

Virginia Energy Resources owns the Coles Hill uranium project in Virginia, which it describes as one of the largest untapped uranium resources in the world. A preliminary economic assessment shows it has a 35-year mine life with production set at 2 million pounds per year. 

The project has so far been smothered by a 33-year statewide ban on uranium mining, but last week Virginia Energy announced it will be challenging the ban in the Supreme Court of the US this fall. Investors clearly liked the sound of that, with the company’s share price almost doubling to C$0.215, a jump of 86.96 percent over the week.

Pacton Gold

Pacton Gold announced last week that it has become the third-largest landholder in Australia’s Pilbara area after acquiring 1,126 additional square kilometers of land.

The increase came with the acquisition of Drummond East, an exploration company owned by Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT). Pacton now owns 2,227 square kilometers of land in an area currently undergoing increased interest, with companies in adjacent tenements striking gold.

The market liked the news, and Pacton’s share price jumped 46.68 percent over the week to C$0.66 on the TSX Venture.

Cub Energy

Canadian upstream oil and gas company Cub Energy has prospective natural gas developments in Ukraine, and on Thursday (May 24) released news that a subsidiary has commenced drilling at the North Yatskivska well in Eastern Ukraine to evaluate prospective horizons.

According to the company, the license where it is drilling is adjacent to a gas/condensate field that has produced 180 billion cubic feet of gas since 1979. The company’s share price rose a respectable 33.33 percent over the week to C$0.04.

Plateau Energy Metals

Lithium and uranium explorer Plateau Energy Metals had another good week after appearing on this list only seven days ago. The Canadian company again saw an increase in its share price, this time rising 28.17 percent up to C$0.91. Plateau has exploration projects underway in Peru, on the Macusani Plateau.

Plateau completed a non-brokered private placement last week, raising gross proceeds of about C$2,502,000.

Almonty Industries

Self-described turnaround investor-operator Almonty Industries specializes in tungsten, with four tungsten projects and a molybdenum project across Spain, Portugal and South Korea.

Last Tuesday (May 22), the company filed its unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements and MD&A for the three and six months ended March 31, 2018. It reported income from mining operations of $5,531,000 for its second fiscal quarter.

The company’s share price has risen since then, and last week went up 24.14 percent to C$0.54.

Data for 5 Top TSXV Stocks articles is retrieved each Friday at 10:30 a.m. PST using The Globe and Mail’s market data filter. Only companies with a market capitalization greater than $10 million prior to the week’s gains are included. Companies within the mining and precious metals 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: Plateau Energy Metals is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.