The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:

JX

) took a tumble last week, sinking from its opening point of 940.63 to close on Friday (July 16) at 907.68.

The Bank of Canada

held its key interest rate

at a record low of 0.25 percent last week and cut its weekly net purchases of Canadian government bonds to a target of C$2 billion.

It also shared a largely optimistic outlook on the country’s economy, saying that the threat of COVID-19 is waning, although inflation is likely to stay hot in the near term.

Last week’s five TSX-listed mining stocks that saw the biggest gains are as follows:

• Argentina Lithium & Energy (TSXV:
  
  LIT
  
  )
• West High Yield Resources (TSXV:
  
  WHY
  
  )
• Tsodilo Resources (TSXV:
  
  TSD
  
  )
• Fancamp Exploration (TSXV:
  
  FNC
  
  )
• Arena Minerals (TSXV:
  
  AN
  
  )

Here’s a look at those companies and the factors that moved their share prices last week.

1. Argentina Lithium & Energy

As its name suggests, Argentina Lithium & Energy’s focus is on acquiring and advancing high-quality lithium projects in Argentina. The company is a member of the Grosso Group, a

resource

management firm with decades of experience in Argentina.

Last Monday (July 12), Argentina Lithium granted 3,175,000

incentive stock options

to company directors, officers, employees and consultants. Shares rose 62.16 percent during the period to close at C$0.30.

2. West High Yield Resources

Exploration and development company West High Yield Resources states that its primary objective is to develop its British Columbia-based Record Ridge

magnesium

deposit using green processing techniques to minimize waste and carbon dioxide emissions.

West High Yield announced a

non-brokered private placement

for aggregate gross proceeds of up to C$2.5 million last Thursday (July 15). The company went up 56 percent last week to end at C$0.39.

3. Tsodilo Resources

Tsodilo Resources is a

diamond

,

base

and

precious metals

exploration company concentrated mainly on Botswana, where its assets include the Newdico, Gcwihaba and Bosoto projects. Aside from its Botswana properties, Tsodilo also operates in South Africa, where it has a 70 percent owned subsidiary.

There was no fresh news from Tsodilo last week, but its share price rose 33.7 percent to close at C$1.23.

4. Fancamp Exploration

Fancamp Exploration has honed its efforts on the Canadian jurisdictions of Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick. Its projects range from

gold

to base metals to

battery metals

and more, and the company is also building on the industrial possibilities of some of these commodities — for example, through its titanium

technology

strategy.

There were two pieces of news from Fancamp last week. First, on Tuesday (July 13), the company closed a

royalty purchase agreement

with Champion Iron Mines (TSX:

CIA

,ASX:CIA,OTCQX:CIAFF). Then, on Wednesday (July 13), it

extended the closing date

of its acquisition deal with ScoZinc Mining (TSXV:

SZM

) from July 2 to August 2. Fancamp’s share price rose 30 percent last week to finish at C$0.13.

5. Arena Minerals

Arena Minerals has two main projects: Argentina-based Antofalla and an 80 percent stake in the Atacama asset in Chile. The former is a

lithium brine

property that covers 6,000 hectares and the latter is a 5,000 hectare package focused on

copper

.

Last Monday, Arena announced a

non-brokered private placement

of subscription receipts for gross proceeds of up to $10 million. The offering will be led by Lithium Americas (TSX:

LAC

,NYSE:LAC), and the money will go mainly towards Arena’s acquisition of the Sal de la Puna lithium brine project from Centaur Resources. Arena’s share price rose 29.63 percent last week to hit C$0.18.

Data for 5 Top Weekly TSX Stocks articles is retrieved each Friday at 10:30 a.m. PST using TradingView’s

stock screener

. Only companies with market capitalizations greater than C$50 million prior to the week’s gains are included. Companies within the non-energy minerals and energy minerals are considered.

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