Even with a tough market, several junior mining companies seem to have defied the odds to see major growth in their share prices last week.

Samco Gold came out as the clear leader, while KazaX Minerals, Corazon Gold Corp, Kootenay Silver and Tintina Resources Inc. rounded out the top five list for the TSX Venture Exchange.

Samco Gold(TSXV:SGA)

Working primarily in Argentina, Samco Gold increased by 100 percent. The company updated on the Argentinean proceedings involving Yamana Gold. Following the news, Samco traded at $0.35 at the end of last week.

KazaX Minerals Inc. (TSXV:KZX)

Based in Astana, Kazakhstan, KazaX Minerals was fairly close behind Samco Gold when it came to weekly percentage changes, posting an increase of 71.43 percent to trade at $0.06.

Like Samco, no major news has come out of the KazaX camp as of late, besides a release concerning loan agreement amendments on October 28.

As the company’s website states, KazaX continues to finalize its Definitive Feasibility Study for the Lomonosovskoye project in northwestern Kazakhstan.

Corazon Gold Corp. (TSXV:CGW)

Coming in at a distant third, Corazon Gold Corp. saw a weekly percentage rise of 36 to trade at $0.17. The company, which has exploration efforts in Nicaragua, Nevada and Colorado, has not put out any recent news regarding its activities.

Kootenay Silver Inc. (TSXV:KTN)

The latest news from Kootenay Silver Inc. was from mid-October, when the company announced that all seven holes of its phase 1 drill program at La Negra Diatreme Breccia prospect returned “significant grades of widespread silver mineralization.”

“We are very pleased and excited to report a significant and entirely new silver discovery on our La Negra prospect in Sonora, Mexico,” Kootenay President and CEO James McDonald said. “Our continued success to date on La Negra is clearly a testimony to the hard work and diligence of our entire exploration and technical team in Sonora, Mexico, led by our VP of Exploration Dr. Tom Richards. Based on its ideal proximity and its distinct geological characteristics, La Negra exhibits excellent potential to evolve into a substantial, low-cost, near surface silver resource.”

Kootenay saw a weekly rise of 20.75 percent to trade at $0.32.

Tintina Resources Inc. (TSXV:TAU)

Focused on its Black Butte Copper project in Montana, Tintina Resources hasn’t made headlines beyond personnel changes as of late. However, this didn’t stop the company from posting a weekly percentage growth of 18.18 to trade at $0.13.