5 Top TSX Stocks: Belo Sun Mining, Northern Dynasty See Top Gains

Last Friday, the S&P TSX Composite index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) closed at 13,529.17 points, down 1.9 percent. Overall it gained 1.7 percent in October, though it was down 3 percent for the week. 
The exchange’s top gainer last week was Belo Sun Mining (TSX:BSX), and it was followed by Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX:NDM,NYSEMKT:NAK), Newmarket Gold (TSX:NMI), Sabina Gold & Silver (TSX:SBB) and Seabridge Gold (TSX:SEA,NYSE:SA). Here’s what moved those companies’ share prices last week.

Belo Sun Mining

As mentioned, Belo Sun Mining was the top gainer on the TSX last week, rising 22.22 percent to close at $0.27. The company is mainly focused on advancing its Volta Grande gold project in Brazil, and completed a feasibility study for it this past March.
Interestingly, the company did not release any news last week that would explain its share price gain. In fact, Belo Sun last put out news in May, when it closed a C$15-million private placement with Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM,NYSE:AEM) and released the results of its annual general meeting. The placement gave Agnico Eagle a 17.4-percent stake in Belo Sun.

However, on October 27, Sun Valley Gold announced that it’s acquired control over an aggregate of 3,012,000 common shares of Belo Sun on behalf of client accounts. In total, Sun Valley now holds an aggregate 58,132,581 common shares of Belo Sun on behalf of client accounts; that’s about 16.18 percent of the company’s issued and outstanding common shares.

Northern Dynasty Minerals

Northern Dynasty Minerals owns the controversial Pebble Limited Partnership, which is focused on advancing the Pebble copper-gold-moly project in Alaska. Though the project is massive and has seen millions in investment in the last decade, it’s opposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, which began the process of vetoing the project in February 2014, and since then has attempted to impose development restrictions.
On October 29, Northern Dynasty announced the completion of a plan of arrangement under which it will acquire Cannon Point Resources, led by Frank Giustra and Gord Keep. When the deal was first announced, it was described by some as a “bet on a settlement with the EPA,” and investors still appear to think that may be the case — Northern Dynasty’s share price rose 18.28 percent last week to end at $0.56.

Newmarket Gold

Last week, Newmarket Gold’s share price rose 14.38 percent to reach $1.66. The company merged with Crocodile Gold this past summer, and now holds three operating mines across Australia that together produce an annual 200,000 ounces.
The company’s boost last week came on the back of drill results released October 29. Newmarket put out results from a further 27 holes focused on further defining near-mine, underground gold targets at its Victoria-based Fosterville gold mine. They suggest that “there is a strong potential to increase Fosterville’s Mineral Resources and Reserves.”

Sabina Gold & Silver

Sabina Gold & Silver is focused on becoming a mid-tier gold producer, and its flagship assets are in Nunavut. Last week, its share price increased by 9.43 percent to hit $0.62.
On October 29, Sabina filed its feasibility study for the Back River gold project on SEDAR. The study, which was originally released on September 14, points to a post-tax IRR of 24.2 percent and a NPV of C$480.3 million at a 5-percent discount. Meanwhile, Back River should require initial capex of C$415 million and sustaining capex of C$185 million.
Back River’s mine life is pegged at 11.8 years, and it is expected to have a life-of-mine average grade of 6.3 g/t gold with metallurgical recoveries of 93 percent. The feasibility study uses a gold price of US$1,150 per ounce.

Seabridge Gold

Finally, Seabridge Gold’s share price rose 6.62 percent last week to close at $10.71. The company’s British Columbia-based KSM project is one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the world, with proven and probable reserves of 38.2 million ounces of gold and 9.9 billion pounds of copper.
On October 30, Seabridge closed a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $14.58 million. The placement was completed with two of the company’s largest shareholders.

 
Data for TSX Top 5 articles is retrieved each Friday after market close. Only companies with a market capitalization greater than $50 million prior to the week’s gains are included. 
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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