2024 has been a storybook year for gold. Gold prices saw significant gains through the first half of 2024 and set an all time high of US$2,450.05 on May 19.
Prices were supported by strong central bank buying, particularly by China, Turkey and India, along with resilient retail purchases that came despite high prices. Further momentum was carried as sentiment for the precious metal helped stem outflows from western exchange-traded funds in March and April.
Although gold experienced a slight pullback at the end of Q2, prices have remained elevated, continuing to trade above US$2,300 level. Despite gold’s solid performance at the end of 2023 and continued high prices in 2024, it wasn’t until after gold’s dramatic breakout that some of the major gold stocks saw some upward momentum.
How have these gains affected small cap gold stocks on the TSXV? These five gold companies are the biggest movers so far this year. Data for this article was retrieved on June 26, 2024, using TradingView’s stock screener, and only companies with market capitalizations greater than C$10 million are included.
1. Adyton Resources (TSXV:ADY)
Year-to-date gain: 1100 percent; market cap: C$23.8 million; share price: C$0.12
Adyton Resources is working to advance the Feni Island and Fergusson Island gold projects in Papua New Guinea.
The Feni Island site has seen historic exploration, with 212 holes drilled over 18,813 meters. While limited work has been conducted by Adyton, a 2021 resource estimate reported an inferred quantity of 1.46 million ounces of gold on site. The company has been working to expand its gold resource and explore for copper at greater depths than previous exploration.
Shares of Adyton saw gains following news in late April that it had closed on C$1.5 million in financing and restarted exploration at Feni Island. The company said the initial focus will be to reprocess and reinterpret historical data with modern geophysical algorithms in order to provide optimized locations for detailed follow-up programs.
Adyton’s reached a year-to-date high of C$0.16 on May 5.
The most recent update from Feni came on June 26 when it reported that it had identified new drill targets following an analysis of historical airborne magnetic and radiometric data. The company said it was preparing for follow-up field work and to fast-track drilling of the targets.
While Feni Island has been the company’s primary focus, Adayton has also been working to raise capital for its Fergusson Island project. On May 13, the company announced it had entered into a binding investment and development agreement with East Vision International Holdings. The deal will see East Vision contribute US$8.5 million in funding for project costs and US$1 million to Adyton in exchange for a 50 percent stake in the project.
The project consists of two advanced exploration licenses for the Wapolu and Gameta targets, which host combined indicated resources estimated at 173,000 ounces of gold from 4 million metric tons grading 1.33 grams per metric ton (g/t), and additional inferred resources of 540,000 ounces from 16.3 million metric tons at a grade of 1.02 g/t.
2. Black Mammoth Metals (TSXV:BMM)
Year-to-date gain: 958.82 percent; market cap: C$25.11 million; share price: C$0.90
Black Mammoth Metals is a gold explorer working to advance its US properties in Nevada, Idaho and California.
Its Happy Cat gold property is located in the Ravenswood Mining District in Ladner County, Nevada. The site covers approximately 1,213 hectares and hosts an approximately 4 square kilometer area where the company has identified a potential alteration zone. Black Mammoth completed ground gravity and magnetic surveys at the site in 2023.
The company also owns the Blanco Creek gold property in the Elk Creek Mining District in Central Idaho. The site hosts three historic mines along 3,550 meters of strike length.
In January, Black Mammoth acquired the America Mine property as part of its acquisition of IDA Mining. The site hosts a historical open-pit heap leach gold and silver mine and is located in San Bernardino, California.
On March 28, the company announced that its subsidiary, Antelope Creek, had entered into an option agreement with Gold Royalty (NYSE:GROY) subsidiary Nevada Select Royalty, which is optioning its Quito gold property in Nevada to Antelope Creek for payments totaling US$900,000 over four years.
On May 16, Black Mammoth announced it had closed a private placement for gross proceeds of C$2.8 million. The company said it would use the funding for purposes including advancing projects throughout its portfolio and eliminating long-term debt.
Shares in Black Mammoth reached a year-to-date high of C$1.25 on June 12.
3. PPX Mining (TSXV:PPX)
Year-to-date gain: 175 percent; market cap: C$39.45 million; share price: C$0.055
PPX Mining is a precious metals company that is focused on its Igor project, which contains the operating Callanquitas underground mine, located in the Otuzco province of Northern Peru.
In a prefeasibility study for Igor, which was amended in January 2022, the company indicates that the 1,300 hectare site previously hosted small-scale mining operations and hosts a 50 metric ton (MT) per day gold-processing plant from the 1980s. PPX is currently working to upscale processing at the site through the construction of a 350 MT per day carbon-in-leach and flotation plant that will be used to process oxide and sulfide ore from Callanquitas.
An updated resource estimate for Callanquitas released by the company this past January shows measured and indicated resources as oxides of 81,090 ounces of gold and 2.92 million ounces of silver. The inferred resource as sulfides stands at 20,760 ounces of gold and 2.07 million ounces of silver.
PPX has continued to explore the property through the start of 2024 and has delivered several rounds of assay results. The most recent came on May 13, when the company reported an underground channel sampling was carried out which resulted in grades of 22.13 g/t gold and 718 g/t silver over 0.7 meters.
The company also announced on June 13 that it received its water availability accreditation for water use rights from the government of Peru. The accreditation, which confirms that there is sufficient water in the area, is a critical step for the permitting of the flotation plant.
In addition to its exploration efforts, PPX has been working to raise capital, securing a US$6 million debt facility reported on January 2, a US$2.5 million silver royalty with Silver Crown Royalty announced on March 12 and a C$1.35 million private placement closed on April 18.
Shares in PPX reached a year-to-date high of C$0.075 on April 22.
4. East Africa Metals (TSXV:EAM)
Year-to-date gain: 170.59 percent; market cap: C$45.81 million; share price: C$0.23
East Africa Metals is a gold exploration company focused on its Adyabo and Harvest projects in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
Its principal asset is the Adyabo property, in which the company holds a 30 percent net profit interest, with Tibet Huayu Mining (SHA:601020) owning the remaining 70 percent. The 195.2 square kilometer site hosts two mining licenses, Mato Bula and Da Tambuk, located in an area known for high-grade gold and copper mineralization.
East Africa Metals also owns a 70 percent share of the Harvest polymetallic project, which hosts the Terakimti mining license, as well as a 30 percent streaming interest in the Magambazi gold mine in the Tanga region of Tanzania.
Shares of East Africa saw gains following an announcement on May 10 that Tibet Huayu will be moving forward with mine development activities for the Mato Bula and Da Tambuk mines at the Adyabo property, with construction of roadworks to begin that month.
This was followed by news on May 24 that East Africa Metals had been granted an extension to the development period for the projects. The company says the extension will resolve permitting issues that arose due to regional conflicts in 2023. Mato Bula and Da Tambuk were extended by four years to February 1, 2028, and Terakimti was extended to December 5, 2028.
On June 14, East Africa reported that it had hired Kluane Drilling to commence a drill program to test the Halima Hill prospect at Mato Bula. Shares in East Africa Metals reached a year-to-date high of C$0.27 on June 19.
Since then, the company has continued to make progress at the Adyabo project, announcing on June 27 it had completed the negotiations of the relocation action plan, which assesses a mine’s impact on nearby communities and land. Its completion means mine development activities can begin.
5. TriStar Gold (TSXV:TSG)
Year-to-date gain: 155.56 percent; market cap: C$62.98 million; share price: C$0.23
TriStar Gold is an exploration and development company focused on its flagship Castelo de Sonhos gold project, which is located near the town of Castelo de Sonhos in Northern Brazil’s Pará state.
According to a 2021 prefeasibility study, the project hosts an indicated resource of 1.76 million contained ounces of gold from 53.1 million MT at a grade of 1.03 g/t gold. At the time, the company estimated a mine life of 11 years with an annual production rate of 3.6 million MT of ore, as well as a net present value of US$321 million with an internal rate of return of 28 percent and a payback period of 2.8 years.
Shares of TriStar saw gains following a June 12 announcement that the Pará State Environmental Council has approved the site’s preliminary license and environmental impact assessment.
The company’s share price reached a year-to-date high of C$0.23 on June 23.
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
