Last week was tumultuous for the S&P/TSX Venture Composite index (INDEXTSI:). Overall, the index lost just over 1 percent to close at 483.67 points. 

Still, a number of junior mining companies managed to come out on top. Wealth Minerals (TSXV:) was the top-gaining stock from the mining sector last week, and it was followed by Orex Minerals (TSXV:), Nevada Exploration (TSXV:), Zenyatta Ventures (TSXV:) and Tirex Resources (TSXV:).

Wealth Minerals

Wealth Minerals is an early stage exploration company with gold projects in Quebec and Peru, and a silver project in Mexico. The company a private placement at the end of December for $540,000, but there has been no further recent news that would explain last week’s share price rise. Shares of Wealth Minerals gained 47.06 percent last week to close at $0.25.

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Orex Minerals

Orex Minerals was up 44.83 percent to end last week at $0.21. The company holds a number of gold, silver and copper exploration projects in Mexico and Canada, including the Coneto, Sandra Escobar and Jumping Josephine gold projects. The company drilling at its Sandra Escobar silver project on December 10, but there has been no further news from the company that would explain last week’s share price rise.

Nevada Exploration

Nevada Exploration is focused on using its proprietary hydrogeochemistry (groundwater chemistry) exploration to explore for gold in Nevada. It holds a number of exploration projects in the state, including the Grass Valley, Kelly Creek and Hot Pot projects. The company closed a private placement for $363,825 on December 29, but has not put out any recent news to explain last week’s share price rise. Nevada Exploration gained 27.59 percent last week to close at $0.37.

Zenyatta Ventures

Shares of Zenyatta Ventures gained 23.29 percent to finish at $0.90 last week. The development company is focused on advancing its Albany deposit in Northeastern Ontario. Most recently, Zenyatta on December 22 that experts at Lakehead University have confirmed that the properties of Albany graphite crystals are comparable to existing synthetic graphite.

“Evidence has shown that Zenyatta has discovered a sub-class of a hydrothermal graphite deposit unlike any other,” stated Dr. Andrew Conly. “Igneous breccia-hosted graphite deposits like Albany are rare, and to the best of my knowledge, none are currently being mined or even in an advanced stage of exploration globally.” There has been no further news to explain the company’s rise in share price last week.

Tirex Resources

Finally, Tirex Resources’ share price finished the week up 19.23 percent, at $0.155. The company is focused on the Mirdita VMS district in Albania, and is advancing the Rehova copper project specifically. The company on December 10 that it was preparing to start groundwork at Rehova, but did not put out any news last week.

Data for 5 Top TSXV Stocks articles is retrieved each Friday after market close using The Globe and Mail’s . Only companies with a market capitalization greater than $10 million prior to the week’s gains are included. Companies within the mining and precious metals sectors are considered.

Securities Disclosure: I, Teresa Matich, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

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