Welcome to the Investing News Network's weekly round-up of the top-performing mining stocks on the ASX.
Companies focused on gold, copper and rare earths landed in the top five this week, with gold miner Vertex Minerals taking the top spot.
Read on to discover this week's top gaining Australian mining stocks on the ASX and what drove their share prices.
Market and commodities price round-up
The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) opened at 8,949.0 on Monday (August 3) and closed at 9,271.6 on Thursday (August 6), reflecting a 3.6 percent increase over the period.
Gold and silver both were up this week as of the close of Australian stock markets Thursday. The gold price increased 4.04 percent in US dollars, from US$4,076.64 on Monday to US$4,240.95 Thursday. Meanwhile, a 4.32 percent increase was seen in Australian dollars, with gold moving from AU$5,783.60 to AU$6,033.41.
Silver prices similarly ended the period with strong gains, rising 5.29 percent in US dollars from US$58.42 to US$61.51. In Australian dollars, the metal increased 5.51 percent from AU$82.82 to AU$87.38.
Top ASX mining stocks this week
How did ASX mining stocks perform against this backdrop?
Take a look at this week’s five best-performing Australian mining stocks below as the Investing News Network breaks down their operations and why these companies are up this week.
Stocks data for this article was retrieved using TradingView's stock screener and reflects price movements between the first trading day of the week and Thursday. Only companies trading on the ASX with market capitalisations greater than AU$10 million are included. Mineral companies within the non-energy minerals, energy minerals, process industry and producer manufacturing sectors were considered.
1. Vertex Minerals (ASX:VTX)
Weekly gain: 55 percent
Market cap: AU$209.85 million
Share price: AU$0.155
Vertex Minerals is a gold mining and exploration company ramping up production at its Reward gold mine, located in New South Wales within the Lachlan Ford Belt.
The company began production from the underground mine and Gekko gravity gold plant last August. According to a February 2024 feasibility study, its main Reward deposit hosts a total resource of 225,200 ounces of gold, grading 16.72 grams per tonne (g/t) from 419,000 tonnes of ore.
At the time, project economics were estimated at a pre-tax net present value of AU$33.3 million with an internal rate of return of 110 percent.
In its June quarterly results released July 31, Vertex reported production of 195 ounces of gold for the period, down from 284 ounces in the previous quarter. The drop was due to its focus on underground development and rehabilitation of multiple declines during the period, resulting in lower-grade feed for the plant.
The most recent news from the mine came on Monday (August 3), when the company announced it had commenced stope mining from the Decline 3 trail longhole, targeting the high-grade Mica 1 lens. Vertex also noted that quartz with visible gold was reported during screening and was expecting head grades to reach 8 g/t.
That same day the company also announced that it had completed a share purchase plan raising gross proceeds of AU$858,000.
2. Somerset Minerals (ASX:SMM)
Weekly gain: 44.44 percent
Market cap: AU$13.13 million
Share price: AU$0.013
Somerset Minerals is an exploration company working to advance its flagship Coppermine copper project in Canada.
The property consists of 102 exploration licenses and one exclusive exploration right covering a total land area of 1,667 square kilometres in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut.
Mineralization at the property is found in several key districts, including the Jura district, which is home to a 7 kilometre mineralised trend, and the Oban district, which hosts the Coronation prospect. The property also includes Talisker, a greenfield discovery announced in February that hosts a 17-kilometre-long copper corridor.
Shares were up this week after the company published a pair of news releases. The first, on Monday, reported assays from 86 surface chip samples at five targets across the Coppermine property. The main focus for the exploration program was Talisker, where 37 of the 75 samples collected returned grades above 1 percent copper, with the highest-grade sample returning 36.4 percent and 214 g/t silver.
The second came on Thursday, when Somerset announced results from the first two drill holes from the maiden drill program at Talisker, which both encountered two thick zones of high-grade copper and silver mineralization. One hole intersected a 38.1 metre interval with a grade of 1.27 percent copper and 7.4 g/t silver from a depth of 41.1 metres, which included one intersection of 6.32 percent copper and 42.7 g/t silver over 3.05 meters.
“What makes this discovery particularly significant is that Talisker is largely blind. There was no historical drilling along the corridor, and mineralisation is concealed beneath glacial cover,” Managing Director Chris Hansen said.
3. Gateway Mining (ASX:GML)
Weekly gain: 41.18 percent
Market cap: AU$153.31 million
Share price: AU$0.072
Gateway Mining is an exploration company primarily focused on its Yandal and Glenburgh South projects in Western Australia.
The Yandal gold project spans approximately 1,780 square kilometres in the Yandal Greenstone belt and is situated 50 kilometres northeast of Northern Star Resources' (ASX:NST,OTCPL:NESRF) Jundee Mill. It includes the Horse Well and Dusk 'til Dawn gold camps, as well as the Cowza discovery.
According to the project page, Yandal hosts a combined inferred resource of 400,400 ounces of contained gold from 8.17 million tonnes of ore grading 1.52 g/t gold.
The Glenburgh South project covers approximately 871 square kilometres in the Gascoyne region, located about 10 kilometres west of Benz Mining's (TSXV:BZ,OTCPL:BENZF) Glenburgh gold project.
Gateway has been releasing updates for work at both of its projects in recent weeks. On July 27, the company said that step-out drilling at Yandal's Cowza discovery had increased the strike length by 1 kilometre to 3.5 kilometres, with results returning one highlighted grade of 11.1 g/t gold over 4 metres from a depth of 72 metres.
Two days later, it reported that a second rig had begun drilling at the Cowza system, which it said remained open in multiple directions.
On Monday, Gateway provided an update on work at Glenburgh South, reporting it commenced a regional soil sampling program that will collect at least 2,400 samples to test 50 kilometres of structural corridors, with a focus on Errabiddy and Northern Shear.
4. ARK Mining (ASX:AHK)
Weekly gain: 33.33 percent
Market cap: AU$21.7 million
Share price: AU$0.32
ARK Mining is an exploration and development company focused on the advancement of rare earth projects, including its Sandy Mitchell placer rare earth sands property located in Northern Queensland.
The site hosts an array of light and heavy rare earths, as well as zirconium and titanium, in its mineral sands deposit. A May 2024 maiden resource estimate showed an indicated resource of 21.69 million tonnes of ore with an average total rare earth grade of 435.1 parts per million (ppm).
The most recent project announcement came on June 10 when the company reported that it had generated commercial monazite and titanium from a heavy mineral gravity concentrate, as well as rare earth concentrate grading 54.8 percent total rare earth oxides.
“This study bridges the gap between recognising the commercial potential of the Project and demonstrating the potential through the successful production of commercial grade monazite and titanium products,” Managing Director Ben Emery said.
5. Gwardar Resources (ASX:GRS)
Weekly gain: 27.78 percent
Market cap: AU$18.32 million
Share price: AU$0.575
Gwardar Resources is a newly listed exploration company on the ASX with two projects in its pipeline, both in Western Australia.
The Doolgunna property is located in the Murchison region and consists of four exploration licenses covering a land package of 372 square kilometres. The site is prospective for volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) copper and gold mineralisation.
According to the project page, historic drilling at the site encountered grades up to 1.36 g/t gold over 15 metres at the Goodins Find target and 1,029 ppm copper over 6 metres at the Halloween West target.
Its other project is Kurnalpi, located in the Eastern Goldfields north of Kalgoorlie. It consists of three exploration licenses covering 90 square kilometres and is prospective for orogenic gold, with potential for VHMS base metals and nickel sulphide. Mineralization was discovered in the surrounding area in the 1960s but the Kurnalpi property has been largely unexplored.
On July 31, the company announced it had commenced trading on the ASX after completing an oversubscribed initial public offering, raising gross proceeds of AU$6 million. The funds will primarily be used for exploration and evaluation of its properties.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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