5 Top TSX Stocks: Energy Fuels Up 14.4 Percent on Sheep Mountain News

The S&P/TSX Composite index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) dropped 82.4 points on Friday to close at 14,642.84 points. According to Reuters, it was pulled down by declines in raw materials producers as well as by the Canadian dollar’s slump to a six-year low. 
Illustrating just how badly mining stocks got hit, the news outlet points to Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX,NYSE:ABX), which hit a 24-year low on Friday, and Pacfic Rubiales Energy (TSX:PRE) and Bankers Petroleum (TSX:BNK,LSE:BNK), which lost “at least 9.4 percent.” The oil sector as a whole traded near a six-year low that day.
Those losses are significant, but it’s worth noting that not all mining stocks performed poorly this week. Energy Fuels (TSX:EFR,NYSEMKT:UUUU) was the top gainer on the TSX with a gain of 14.4 percent. It was followed by Paladin Energy (TSX:PDN,ASX:PDN), US Geothermal (TSX:GTH,NYSEMKT:HTM), Pretium Resources (TSX:PVG,NYSE:PVG) and Lucara Diamond (TSX:LUC).

Energy Fuels

Energy Fuels’ share price rose 14.4 percent this week to hit $5.80. The company, which bills itself as the US’ premier integrated uranium miner, announced Thursday that the State of Wyoming has granted it approval to make “major” revisions to the existing mining permit at its Sheep Mountain project. The revisions include expansions of surface and underground mining.
“With over 30 million pounds of uranium resources, the Sheep Mountain Project is one of the largest and most important uranium projects in the U.S. Receipt of the mining permit is a key achievement for Energy Fuels, as we work to ready this project for mining,” said Stephen Antony, president and CEO of Energy Fuels.
Earlier in the week, Energy Fuels provided a production and development update on its Nichols Ranch ISR uranium project.

Paladin Energy

Uranium producer Paladin Energy has projects in Australia as well as two mines in Africa, and its goal is to become a major uranium production house. It put out two press releases this week — on Monday, it responded to media articles regarding its “entire operating activities and fiscal arrangements,” and on Thursday it released its activities report for the second quarter of 2015. The company said that it achieved sales revenue of US$73.3 million during the period, a whopping 340-percent rise over the previous quarter.
However, The Australian points out that uranium grades at the company’s Namibia-based Langer Heinrich mine dropped during Q2. While the company’s share price ultimately gained 9.76 percent to hit $0.23 this week, it declined immediately after that news hit.

US Geothermal

The share price of renewable energy company US Geothermal rose 9.38 percent this week to reach $0.70. The company, which was also a top gainer on the TSX last week, is focused on the development, production and sale of electricity from geothermal energy, and has projects in Oregon, Nevada and Idaho.
No news came out of US Geothermal this week other than an announcement about the investor events that it will be attending in July.

Pretium Resources

On July 15, Pretium Resources released a second round of drill results from underground infill drilling at the Brucejack project’s Valley of the Kings. Highlights include hole VU-422, which intersected 164.54 g/t gold uncut over 13.75 meters; that includes 3,424 g/t gold uncut over 0.5 meters and 716 g/t gold uncut over 0.5 meters.
The press release states, “[y]ears 1-3 stope definition drilling continues to confirm the style and grade distribution of the gold mineralization in the area currently being tested, which includes the intersection of high grade and visible gold.” The news sent the company’s share price up 8.01 percent to $6.88.

Lucara Diamond

Finally, Lucara Diamond’s share price gained 5.39 percent this week to reach $2.15. The company’s first 2015 Exceptional Stone Tender wrapped up on Thursday, and while Dundee Capital Markets had estimated that it would raise US$50 million, Lucara said Thursday that in fact it made $68.71 million.
In all, the company sold 14 stones totaling 1,674 carats. Twelve of those diamonds sold for over $1 million each, and five of those 12 sold for over $4 million. Of particular note are a 341.9-carat, Type IIa diamond that sold for $20.55 million and a 269.7-carat diamond that sold for $16.54 million.
 
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.
Editorial Disclosure: Energy Fuels is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content. 
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