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Last week’s top mining stocks on the TSX were RNC Minerals, SEMAFO, Silvercorp Metals, GoGold Resources and China Gold.
Bruised by coronavirus worries, the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) closed last Friday (March 27) at 12,687.74, dropping 683.43 points, or 5.11 percent.
Although the index saw three days of gains, it took a dip at the end of the week due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19 and as the Bank of Canada reduced interest rates to nearly zero.
The bank’s key interest rate has been cut three times in March and now sits at 0.25 percent, its lowest level in nearly a decade. The Bank of Canada is also starting what’s being called a quantitative easing program through which it will buy government and commercial debt.
Against that backdrop, some TSX-listed mining stocks nevertheless enjoyed share price gains. The following companies rose the most last week:
- RNC Minerals (TSX:RNX)
- SEMAFO (TSX:SMF)
- Silvercorp Metals (TSX:SVM)
- GoGold Resources (TSX:GGD)
- China Gold International Resources (TSX:CGG)
Here’s a look at what moved the share prices of those companies last week.
RNC Minerals
Miner RNC Minerals released its Q4 and full 2019 year results on Thursday (March 26), reporting that its gold production for last year came in at 64,277 ounces, higher than 62,233 ounces in 2018.
The company, which mines the metal in Australia, said it beat its production guidance in the second half of the year, as well as its expectations for all-in sustaining costs. RNC also reiterated its consolidated 2020 guidance of 90,000 to 95,000 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of US$1,050 to US$1,200 per ounce, although it said the COVID-19 situation could result in changes.
RNC’s share price rose 53.85 percent last week to finish at C$0.30.
SEMAFO
West Africa-focused SEMAFO made headlines last week after fellow gold miner Endeavour Mining (TSX:EDV,OTCQX:EDVMF) announced plans to acquire the company in an all-stock deal worth C$1 billion.
According to the companies, the resulting new entity will be a top 15 global gold company with six producing assets and a pipeline of growth assets. Its output will surpass 1 million ounces of gold annually. The move from Endeavour comes after the company failed to buy Centamin (TSX:CEE,LSE:CEY) in a C$2.5 billion arrangement.
On the back of the news, SEMAFO rose 50.75 percent last week to close at C$3.
Silvercorp Metals
Silvercorp Metals mines silver, zinc and lead in China. Because of the location of its operations, the company has been dealing with the effects of COVID-19 longer than those in other parts of the world.
On January 29, the company said that its production had been suspended on January 17, but was expected to restart on February 10; its Ying and GC mines ultimately restarted on February 17. In a further update on March 12, the company said that the operations had ramped up without incident.
Silvercorp did not announce any news last week, but its share price closed up 39.61 percent at C$5.04.
GoGold Resources
GoGold Resources is producing silver and gold from its Parral tailings project in Mexico. It also holds the Los Ricos exploration project in the country, which encompasses a number of other areas of interest.
Last week, the company shared assay results from eight diamond drill holes completed at Los Ricos South. Highlights include hole LRGG-20-117, which intersected the Los Ricos quartz vein. The vein averaged 255 grams per tonne (g/t) silver equivalent or 3.39 g/t gold equivalent, made up of 129 g/t silver and 1.68 g/t gold over 18.8 meters.
GoGold’s share price rose 35.9 percent last week to end the period at C$0.53.
China Gold International Resources
Like Silvercorp, China Gold International Resources operates in China. It has two producing mines: the CSH gold mine and the Jiama copper-polymetallic mine.
The company has not released any news so far in March; its latest announcement came on February 27, when it told investors that Jiama had seen little impact from the COVID-19 outbreak, while CSH employees had returned to the site after a scheduled break for Chinese New Year.
China Gold’s share price increased by 35.56 percent last week and closed at C$0.61.
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 non-energy minerals and energy minerals sectors are considered.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
