5 Top Weekly TSX Stocks: First Mining Gold Rises on Exploration Results

Last Friday (April 20), the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) ended at 804.96, up 2.86 points.

Midway through the week, the index hit a four-week high of 15,529.97 points, with its 10 main groups all ending higher. The energy sector rose 3.6 percent, while materials stocks increased by 1.9 percent and the financial sector rose 0.5 percent.

During the period, the Bank of Canada announced plans to hold interest rates steady at 1.25 percent. The move was widely expected, and the central bank said that more hikes will be needed over time.

Against that backdrop, a number of TSX-listed stocks in the mining space experienced share price gains. Last week’s five top gainers are as follows:

• Tanzanian Royalty (TSX:TNX)
• First Mining Gold (TSX:FF)
• Eastmain Resources (TSX:ER)
• Endeavour Silver (TSX:EDR,NYSE:EXK)
• RNC Minerals (TSX:RNX)

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

Tanzanian Royalty

Tanzanian Royalty’s share price rocketed up 28.57 percent last week to close at $0.68. The company holds a number of advanced projects in Tanzania, including the Buckreef gold mine redevelopment project, and the Kigosi and Itetemia gold projects. Tanzanian Royalty has not released any news since January, when it appointed a new head of investor relations.

First Mining Gold

Emerging development company First Mining Gold experienced a share price rise of 24.14 percent last week, ending at $0.53. It has a diversified portfolio of gold projects in North America, and has a large resource base of 7 million ounces of gold in the measured and indicated categories, and 5 million ounces of gold in the inferred category.

Last week, the company provided infill drill results for its Goldlund gold project in Ontario, and announced the completion of a geotechnical drilling program at its Springpole gold project, also in Ontario.

Eastmain Resources

Eastmain Resources is a gold exploration company with assets in Quebec. Its primary focus is the Eastmain/Opinaca area of Central James Bay, and its three main projects are the Clearwater project, the Eastmain mine and the Eleonore South joint venture.

The company’s share price jumped 22.22 percent last week to reach $0.28, although it did not release any news during the period. Its latest announcement came in February when it started a winter drill program at Eleonore South.

Endeavour Silver

Endeavour Silver is a mid-tier precious metals miner with three high-grade underground silver-gold mines in Mexico. In 2018, it’s calling for a 20-percent increase in production to 10.2 to 11.2 million silver equivalent ounces.

Last week, the company’s share price rose 17.6 percent to close at $3.90. During the period, Endeavour announced a number of management appointments and departures. Marco Meneses, Jorge Coss and Jose Luis Nevarez will be joining the company, while Tomas Iturriaga has resigned.

RNC Minerals

Finally, RNC Minerals saw a share price rise of 17.5 percent last week to close at $0.24. The company’s main assets are the Western Australia-based Beta Hunt gold-nickel mine, as well as a 50-percent stake in the nickel joint venture that holds the Dumont nickel project in Quebec. RNC also owns a 30-percent stake in the Reed mine in Manitoba.

The company did not release any news last week. Its latest announcement came on April 10, when it reported final results for 2017 drilling at Beta Hunt.

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Data for 5 Top TSX 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 $50 million prior to the week’s gains are included. Companies within the mining and precious metals sectors are considered.

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