5 Top TSX Stocks: First Quantum Minerals Up 25 Percent

Last week, the S&P/TSX Composite index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) lost 2.93 percent, or 406 points, to close at 13,461.47. On Friday, the index was down just over 100 points.
Still, a number of mining companies were up for the week. First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM) was the top gainer, followed by Richmont Mines (TSX:RIC), Paladin Energy (TSX:PDN), North American Palladium (TSX:PDL) and NGEx Resources (TSX:NCQ).

First Quantum Minerals

Shares of First Quantum Minerals were up 25 percent for the week, closing at $7.75. The company’s share price has been on the decline since July, along with falling copper prices. There was no news this week from the company to explain its rise in share price.

Richmont Mines

Gold miner Richmont Mines was up 16.36 for the week, finishing at $3.77 per share. Shares of the company rose nearly 14 percent on Friday after the company announced Thursday that it would commence a 23,000 deep drilling program at its Island Gold Mine. The program will follow up on a single hole drilled in 2014 that intersected 19.87 grams per tonne of gold over  3.93 meters at a depth of 1,200 meters.
“With the implementation of our accelerated mine development strategy at Island Gold well underway, we are now setting our sights on the potential exploration upside laterally and at depth, both on the main deposit, as well as elsewhere on our highly prospective, yet underexplored, 77.0 km2 (7,696 hectares) property,” said Richmont president and CEO Renaud Adams in Friday’s release.

Paladin Energy

Australian based uranium producer Paladin Energy was up 13.51 percent, trading at $0.21 per share on the Toronto Stock Exchange. On Tuesday, the company repurchased north  US$20 million of convertible bonds due 2017. The company took advantage of favourable trading conditions which led to the bonds trading at a discount to face value. The cash expenditure for the repurchase was approximately US$18.5 million, resulting in approximately US$3.9 million in savings for the company in the form of avoided principal and coupon payments for the bonds.

North American Palladium

Fourth on the list of top gainers was North American Palladium, which rose 13.33 percent to close the week at $5.10 per share. On August 6, the company completed a recapitalization and plan of arrangement whereby shares of the company were consolidated on the basis of one common share for every 400 existing shares. There has been no new news from the company to explain this week’s rise in share price.

NGEx Resources

Finally, NGEx gained 12.07 percent this week to finish at $0.65 per share. The company has exploration projects in Chile, Argentina and Canada. On August 7, NGEx reported its second quarter results. There has been no additional news to explain this week’s rise.