Year-to-date gain: 60 percent; market cap: C$11.11 million; current share price: C$0.16

CMX Silver and Gold is an exploration and development company focused on restarting its 100 percent owned, past-producing Clayton silver mine in the mining-friendly jurisdiction of Idaho. The project has historically produced over 2 million metric tons (MT) of ore from a known vein system, and a stockpile of 1 million MT of unprocessed material remains on the property. CMX is working to identify other veins on the property, which includes newly staked lands.

CMX’s share price didn’t see much movement through the first quarter of the year as a result of little material news flow while the company waited for results from a stockpile testing program initiated in Q4 of last year. Under an agreement with Sulphide Remediation, materials were collected from nine areas at the Clayton silver mine stockpile, and about 536 kilograms were shipped to Sydney, Australia, for testing in an ore-sorting laboratory facility operated by TOMRA. The results of the testing program will be used to determine the best ore-sorting process for the Clayton silver mine stockpile.

Shares of CMX rose from C$0.07 on March 27 to C$0.09 at market close on March 29 on news that ore testing at the TOMRA facility had been successfully completed, with the sorted product sent to Bureau Veritas for assaying.

CMX’s next share price jump came this summer, when it reached C$0.11 on June 30 before climbing to a year-to-date high of C$0.16 per share by July 10. This significant increase followed the June 29 release of stockpile assay results confirming the viability of ore sorting at the Clayton silver mine project, including the enhancement of silver and zinc grades by 6.4 and 7 times, respectively.

‘The silver, lead and zinc assay results are robust and ore-sorting returned a high-grade concentrate. This provides CMX with a unique opportunity as a junior mining company to exploit the stockpile, which is estimated to contain 1,000,000 tonnes or more of mineralized material,’ CMX President and CEO Jan Alston stated. Processing of the stockpile is expected to start in 2024.

Year-to-date gain: 47.73 percent; market cap: C$51.68 million; current share price: C$0.36

Metallic Minerals is a silver and gold company operating projects in Canada and the US. The company’s flagship asset is the Keno silver project in Canada’s Yukon. According to Metallic, Keno covers the second largest land position in the Keno Hill silver district. Additionally, Metallic holds the Australia Creek and Dominion Creek gold projects in the territory, as well as the La Plata copper-silver-gold project in Colorado, US.

Metallic released two sets of drill results from Keno in January, one on January 12 and one on January 30; the latter intersected a highlight of 230 grams per metric ton (g/t) silver equivalent over 20.9 meters, including 1,540 g/t silver equivalent over 1.63 meters.

On January 24, the metals company announced a gold production royalty agreement with Little Flake Mining, which is owned and operated by Parker Schnabel, a significant player in the TV show Gold Rush. Little Flake will receive exclusive rights to extract gold from the Australia Creek gold property.

Metallic’s share price performed relatively flatly through late February, but shot up on February 28, when the company revealed that its 2022 exploration program at La Plata intercepted a hole grading 0.41 percent copper equivalent over 816 meters, which is not only the longest and highest-grade interval seen at the project, but “one of the top intersections for any North American copper project in the past several years.”

After cooling from the C$0.37 in the days following that news, Metallic’s share price climbed again from mid-March to early April, reaching a year-to-date peak of C$0.40 on April 4. On April 10, the company released high-grade drill results from the Keno project’s Caribou target, with a highlight of 195.8 g/t silver equivalent over 6.7 meters, including 1,310 g/t over 0.53 meters. Now that it has finished processing the results from its 2022 exploration, Metallic is planning its 2023 drill program with a focus on continued resource expansion and the testing of new targets.

After a short slide to the C$0.35 level, the company’s share price got another boost back up to C$0.40 with news in mid-May of a C$6.3 million equity investment by major miner Newcrest Mining (TSX:NCM,ASX:NCM,OTC Pink:NCMGF) for a 9.5 percent interest in Metallic.

At the top of Q3, Metallic shares had dropped as low as C$0.28; they then rose more than 25 percent to reach C$0.36 following the launch of the company’s first phase drill program at La Plata.

Year-to-date gain: 46.88 percent; market cap: C$40.65 million; current share price: C$0.23

Hercules Silver is an exploration and development company focused on its Hercules silver project in Idaho, US. The company spent much of 2022 exploring the 100 percent owned property, and is continuing to do so in 2023.

Hercules’ first news of the year came on January 24, when it announced that its 2022 rock chip sampling program, which was made up of over 800 samples at its Hercules property, showed the presence of a large mineralized system. The company’s share price trended upward through February, during which time it unveiled and outlined its 3,000 meter Phase 2 drilling plan; it reached a year-to-date high of C$0.28 on February 28, when it announced drill results from Phase 1 drilling at Hercules, including a drill core with highlights of 353 g/t silver over 38 meters and 791 g/t silver over 4.57 meters.

In March, Hercules announced the addition of Kelly Malcolm, a geologist with significant precious metals exploration experience, as an independent director on the company’s board. The company finished the month with the commencement of a brokered private placement, which it closed on April 20 for C$5.75 million, with its share price trading at C$0.25 in the days after; however, Hercules stumbled over the next month to hit a low of C$0.17 on May 16.

Hercules’ May 31 launch of a 6,000 meter Phase 2 drill program and the anticipation of positive news flow in the coming months helped push the stock’s per share value back up to C$0.23 as of July 25. The campaign is aimed at testing ‘extensions of historical mineralization, verify previous historical drilling and test a series of new targets generated by greenfields exploration,’ as per a news release.

Year-to-date gain: 42.31 percent; market cap: C$81.66 million; current share price: C$0.37

Exploration and development company Silver One Resources is building a portfolio of quality silver projects. The company’s wholly owned flagship project is the past-producing Candelaria silver mine, located in Nevada, US. Silver One has also staked 636 lode claims and entered into a lease/purchase agreement to acquire five patented claims on its Cherokee silver-copper-gold project, also in Nevada, and holds an option to acquire a 100 percent interest in the high-grade Phoenix silver project in Arizona, US.

News in early March that Silver One had obtained a permit to drill the Phoenix silver project gave the company’s share price a boost, and it rose from C$0.21 on February 28 to C$0.28 on March 3. Those gains didn’t stop there, with Silver One reaching its year-to-date high of C$0.43 by April 10; however, the stock fell back to the C$0.30 level in early June.

On April 24, Silver One completed a C$5 million private placement, followed the next month with the announcement that it had acquired a 100 percent stake in Nevada’s Candelaria silver mine. More recently, the company reported on positive metallurgical results out of Candelaria, and announced in July that further testing results are expected in Q3.

Silver One believes the metallurgical results suggest that the existing mineral resource at Candelaria may be processed by low-cost open-pit, heap-leach methods, similar to those used in the past, but with much improved silver recoveries and the potential to improve the economics of the project. The company plans to complete a preliminary economic assessment following its update to Candelaria’s historic resource estimate.

Shares of Silver One rose from C$0.30 on July 10 to C$0.41 on July 18.

Year-to-date gain: 39.29 percent; market cap: C$28.2 million; current share price: C$0.39

Arizona Silver Exploration has a portfolio of early stage projects in the tier-one mining jurisdictions of Arizona and Nevada. The company’s flagship property is the Philadelphia project in Mohave County, Arizona, which hosts high-grade gold and silver vein targets. The project is located near the Oatman mining district; the region has produced 2 million ounces of gold from high-grade epithermal veins. Arizona Silver’s other assets include the Ramsey silver and Sycamore Canyon gold-silver projects in Arizona and the Silverton gold project in Nevada.

In the first half of 2023, the company was highly active at its Philadelphia gold-silver property, generating a rolling series of press releases that helped boost its share price. The stock started the year at a price per share of C$0.28, and hit a year-to-date high of C$0.59 on May 4.

Arizona Silver kicked off its 2023 exploration program in February, targeting the GAP zone with the first reverse-circulation drilling on the property. A total of 12 holes covering 1,256 meters were completed during the campaign. In April, the company commenced core drilling to test the western edge of the recently identified Red Hill CSAMT geophysical anomaly at the project.

In early May, results from 2023 exploration started coming in, with highlights from the drill program including 51 g/t gold and 16.1 g/t silver in the FW vein from 54.88 meters to 56.4 meters, and 18.2 g/t gold and 46.6 g/t silver in the HW vein from 13.72 meters to 15.24 meters. Later in June, the company reported that the assay results for hole PC23-111 “confirm the down-dip and eastward continuation of the mineral system.’

Weekly gain: 35.29 percent; market cap: C$15.78 million; current share price: C$0.115

Visionary Metals changed its name from Visionary Gold on July 10 to reflect its new focus on battery metals following a nickel-cobalt discovery at its King Solomon project in Wyoming, US.

Visionary’s most recent news came on July 19, when it announced a Q4 4,500 meter drilling program at King Solomon to expand on the nickel sulfide discovery, which the company said may be “the first new nickel sulfide discovery in the continental western United States since the early 1940s.” It also staked new claims at King Solomon and the nearby Tin Cup prospect.

The company’s share price climbed to a high of C$0.145 during trading last Thursday (July 27).

Weekly gain: 33.33 percent; market cap: C$14.24 million; current share price: C$0.08

Gold company Omineca Mining and Metals is exploring and mining underground placer gold at its Wingdam project in BC’s Lightning Creek area alongside its joint venture partner Hamilton Gold Royalties. Wingdam encompasses over 600 square kilometers and more than 15 linear kilometers of placer claims.

Underground mine haulage drifts are currently being developed to allow for access to the placer gold deposits. In March, Hamilton Gold Royalties and mining contractor Fortis Mining Engineering and Manufacturing “successfully entered the placer gold bearing paleochannel at the Wingdam underground project.”

The company’s most recent news came on July 21, when Omineca provided an update on the work at Wingdam, including the successful extension of the haulage drift and completion of an access drift. Additionally, Hamilton processed waste rock material from the haulage drifts and recovered 11 ounces of coarse placer gold flakes and a 1.13 ounce gold nugget.

Omineca’s share price rose to a weekly high of C$0.085 last Wednesday (July 26).

Weekly gain: 33.33 percent; market cap: C$13.61 million; current share price: C$0.06

Founders Metals is focused on its gold projects in South America’s Guiana Shield, particularly its Antino project in Suriname. The company is currently in the middle of its 2023 exploration program at Antino, which is aimed at expanding high-grade historical gold zones within the Main Antino shear corridor and nearby high-priority targets.

Last Thursday, Founders released “exceptional” early results from its drilling at Antino’s Froyo zone. The assays confirm high-grade gold mineralization at Froyo with highlights of 29.9 g/t gold over 3 meters within 19.22 g/t gold over 12 meters. The company’s share price jumped following the news, peaking at C$0.38 early last Friday.

Weekly gain: 28.57 percent; market cap: C$10.26 million; current share price: C$0.045

Solstice Gold has a portfolio of projects in Canada, including the Red Lake Extension gold project, the Atikokan gold project and the Stewart Lake lithium project in Ontario, and the Qaiqtuq gold project in Nunavut. The company established Stewart Lake in February through staking and acquiring a 187 square kilometer land position, which it believes is prospective for lithium and rare earths.

Solstice announced a flow-through share and unit financing on July 18 for C$420,000, the majority of which it plans to use for grassroots lithium exploration at Stewart Lake. The company’s share price rose throughout last week to peak at C$0.055 during trading on both Thursday and Friday.

Leading this week’s top TSX stocks list is Verde Agritech, whose share price rose 28.46 percent to end the week at C$3.34. The company is developing its Cerrado Verde project in Brazil, and says it is the source of a potassium-rich deposit from which it intends to produce solutions for crop nutrition, crop protection, soil improvement and increased sustainability.

Last Thursday, Verde Agritech said it is in advanced negotiations to sell carbon credits to major international corporations that are established purchasers of permanent carbon offsets.

Northern Dynasty Minerals is focused on developing the Pebble project in Alaska, where, according to the company, one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold-molybdenum-silver resources is located.

On Wednesday, the company announced that the State of Alaska has filed a motion in the US Supreme Court, arguing that the US Environmental Protection Agency’s veto of the Pebble project breaches a contract involving Alaska and the US. Northern Dynasty also says that it violates the federal statutory recognition and implementation of that land exchange.

Following the news, shares of Northern Dynasty increased 25.37 percent to end the week at C$0.42.

Condor Energies is an internationally focused energy company with producing gas assets, an ongoing initiative to construct and operate Central Asia’s first liquefied natural gas facility and another initiative focused on gas field redevelopment.

The company did not release any news last week, but its share price jumped 24.17 percent to finish at C$1.49.

Excelsior Mining is a copper-producing company that owns and operates the Gunnison copper project in Cochise County, Arizona.

Shares of Excelsior Mining rose 15.22 percent last week to hit C$0.26, although the company didn’t release fresh news.

Assets under management: C$1.1 billion

Billed as the first physically settled Bitcoin ETF, the Purpose Bitcoin ETF launched in February 2021 and is backed by Bitcoin. The fund allows investors to add and sell Bitcoin with no digital wallet required.

Hosted by Canadian investment company Purpose Investments, the Purpose Bitcoin ETF is backed by 27,675.39 Bitcoins and has a management expense ratio of 1 percent.

Assets under management: C$249.6 million

Launched in April 2021, the Purpose Ether ETF is the world’s first direct-custody Ether ETF.

Ethereum is the most widely used blockchain technology, and Ether, the digital currency of this platform, is the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. Evolve ETFs and CI Global Asset Management claim to have also launched the first Ether ETF on the same day, but it looks like Purpose Investments was the first to make an announcement.

The Purpose Ether ETF offers investors exposure to the daily price movements of physically settled Ether tokens through either Canadian dollar hedged units, Canadian dollar non-currency hedged units or US dollar units. The management fee is 1 percent.

Assets under management: C$108.68 million

Evolve ETFs partnered with cryptocurrency experts, including Gemini Trust Company, CF Benchmarks, Cidel Bank & Trust and CIBC Mellon Global Services, to launch the Evolve Bitcoin ETF. The fund has a management fee of 0.75 percent.

Launched a week after the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, its holdings of Bitcoin are priced based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate, a once-a-day benchmark index price for Bitcoin denominated in US dollars.

Assets under management: C$50.36 million

The Evolve Ether ETF offers investors an easier route to investing directly in Ether. The fund’s holdings of Ether are priced based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, a once-a-day benchmark index price for Ether denominated in US dollars. As with the Evolve Bitcoin ETF, the Evolve Ether ETF has a management fee of 0.75 percent.

Assets under management: C$20.22 million

The Evolve Cryptocurrencies ETF launched in September 2021 as the first multi-cryptocurrency ETF, providing combined exposure to both Bitcoin and Ether. This product from Evolve ETFs allows investors to diversify their crypto portfolios and provides indirect exposure to the two coins, weighing them by market capitalization and rebalancing its holdings on a monthly basis.

While this ETF has no management fee, the underlying funds that hold both Bitcoin and Ether have management fees of 0.75 percent of net asset values, plus applicable taxes.

Assets under management: C$272.23 million

Launched in March 2021, the CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF was born out of a partnership between cryptocurrency leaders Galaxy Fund Management (GFM) and CI Global Asset Management. GFM is part of the management arm of Galaxy Digital, a diversified financial services firm with a focus on the digital assets and blockchain technology sector.

The ETF’s objective is to give investors exposure to Bitcoin via an institutional-quality fund platform. At 0.4 percent, this fund boasts the lowest management fee possible of all the crypto funds on the market.

Assets under management: C$308.26 million

CI Global Asset Management suggests that “owning Ether is similar to owning a basket of early-stage, high-growth technology stocks.” The CI Galaxy Ethereum ETF has blown the competition out of the water in terms of assets under management.

Some of that may be due to its ultra-low management fees, which were at zero for nearly the first two months following the fund’s April 2021 launch date. After June 15, 2021, its management fees increased to 0.4 percent — that’s in line with the CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF, but still well below those of its competitors.

Assets under management: C$101 million

Launched in March 2021, the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF tracks the price movement of Bitcoin in US dollars terms, and holds its Bitcoin assets in cold storage with no digital wallet required. This ETF comes with a management fee of 1 percent.

Assets under management: C$27 million

Following the success of its Bitcoin ETF, 3iQ Digital Asset Management launched its CoinShares Ether ETF in April 2021. This fund has a similar objective, offering exposure to Ether and its daily US dollar price movements. It has a management fee of 1 percent.

Assets under management: C$71.6 million

The newest Bitcoin fund on this list, the Fidelity Advantage Bitcoin ETF launched in November 2021. It offers the security of Fidelity’s in-house storage services. Like the CI Galaxy funds, the Fidelity Advantage Bitcoin ETF has an ultra-low management fee of 0.4 percent.

Assets under management: C$1.4 million

Following the successful launch of its Bitcoin fund, Fidelity brought its Ether ETF to market in September 2022. FETH also has a management fee of 0.4 percent.