5 Top Weekly TSXV Stocks: Aston Bay Jumps on Copper Discovery at Storm Project

Weekly gain: 200 percent; market cap: C$15.17 million; current share price: C$0.12

Aston Bay Holdings is a copper and gold company that owns a portfolio of projects in North America, including the Buckingham gold project in Virginia, US, and the Storm copper project in Nunavut, Canada. Storm is currently under option to American West Metals (ASX:AW1,OTCQB:AWMLF), which can earn up to an 80 percent interest in the property and is actively exploring it this year.

Last Wednesday (August 2), Aston Bay and American West announced what they are calling a major discovery at Storm — drilling at a blind gravity target intercepted significant copper sulfide mineralization.

“Discovery of sedimentary hosted copper has been the true goal for all explorers at Storm … Finally, the quest has succeeded, and we have definitive proof of a new sediment hosted copper system,” Aston Bay CEO Thomas Ullrich said. He continued, “… Not only have we hit a significant mineralized interval, but presence of chalcocite in the latest hole provides a vector to more copper-rich mineralization within this very large gravity anomaly.”

In anticipation of that news, Aston Bay was in a trading halt that lasted from before markets opened last Monday (July 31) until Wednesday (August 2). The company’s share price shot up to C$0.105 by the end of that day, and it continued climbing to hit a weekly high of C$0.12 on Friday (August 4).

Weekly gain: 48.65 percent; market cap: C$68.83 million; current share price: C$0.55

New Stratus Energy is an oil and gas explorer with projects in Ecuador and Colombia. New Stratus has a 35 percent working interest in the service contracts for blocks 16 and 67 in Ecuador, which are producing 15,407 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, and the company's goal is to produce 50,000 boe per day. However, New Stratus has been tied up in legal issues with Ecuador's government over contract extensions for blocks 16 and 67.

Last Wednesday, New Stratus signed a memorandum of understanding to take a 50 percent equity interest in private entity GoldPillar International Fund. GoldPillar is in negotiations with Venezuela’s national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, and they plan to use joint venture companies to partner on developing oil and gas assets. The first joint venture company between GoldPillar and Petroleos de Venezuela is made up of four onshore fields that have historically produced nearly 600 million boe.

The companies have formed a financing chain in which New Stratus will provide funding to GoldPillar, which will advance it to fund capital expenditures and operating expenses for the joint venture companies; GoldPillar will be reimbursed through “the assignment of volumes of crude oil and products,” and New Stratus will then be reimbursed by GoldPillar.

The news drove New Stratus’ share price up throughout the week, and it hit a weekly high of C$0.57 multiple times.

Weekly gain: 45.76 percent; market cap: C$26.62 million; current share price: C$0.43

Superior Mining International is a lithium exploration company that recently acquired the Vieux Comptoir lithium property in the James Bay region of Quebec, Canada. The company has the option to earn a 100 percent interest in the project.

The company’s most recent news came on June 20, when it discussed the results from Phase 1 of its field exploration at Vieux Comptoir, which identified nine anomalous target trends. Although it hasn’t released news since, Superior Mining’s share price soared last week to reach a peak of C$0.435 on Thursday (August 3).

Weekly gain: 40 percent; market cap: C$15.41 million; current share price: C$0.14

Altiplano Metals is developing its Farellon copper-gold project in Chile from an underground decline and drift system, and material removed during the development program is being processed and sold to fund operations. The company has also constructed and commissioned the nearby El Peñón mill, which will process the material from Farellon.

In June, Altiplano signed an option agreement to potentially acquire the past-producing and permitted Santa Beatriz copper-gold mine, which is 2 kilometers from Farellon and shares similar mineralization to the company’s current project.

Altiplano announced last Monday that it has entered the startup phase at the El Peñón mill, which will process 5,000 metric tons of copper-gold-iron material per month. The company anticipates first concentrate production in early August. Its share price peaked at C$0.15 last Wednesday.

Weekly gain: 37.5 percent; market cap: C$10.88 million; current share price: C$0.055

Rugby Resources is focused on exploring and advancing its Cobrasco copper project in the Western Cordillera belt in Colombia. In July, the company provided an update on its exploration at the project, which discovered in-situ mineralization. The company is also exploring its portfolio of copper, gold and silver targets in South America.

Last Wednesday, Rugby closed a non-brokered private placement that it announced in June for gross proceeds of C$1.17 million. According to a release, the funds will be used for exploration and general expenses.

The company’s share price climbed to peak at C$0.055 at the end of last week.