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

JX

) faced a decline last week, opening the five day period at 969.64 and closing on Friday (July 9) at 938.87.

Canada’s economy continues to get back on track following COVID-19.

According to Statistics Canada

, the country added 230,700 jobs in June on the back of easing restrictions.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent for the month compared with 8.2 percent in May. Jobs are still about 2 percent under pre-pandemic levels seen in February of last year.

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

• Baroyeca Gold & Silver (TSXV:
  
  BGS
  
  )
• NEO Battery Materials (TSXV:
  
  NBM
  
  )
• St. James Gold (TSXV:
  
  LORD
  
  )
• Graphite One (TSXV:
  
  GPH
  
  )
• Aurania Resources (TSXV:
  
  ARU
  
  )

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

1. Baroyeca Gold & Silver

Exploration company Baroyeca Gold & Silver has honed its efforts on gold and silver projects in Colombia. The company’s flagship asset is the Atocha silver-gold project in the country, and it also has an option to acquire a 100 percent stake in the Santa Barbara property.

Last Tuesday (July 6), Baroyeca

announced the discovery

of a widespread system of parallel veins at Atocha’s La Ye target. Aside from that, it found another high-grade gold and silver mineralized zone at the project’s Veta Grande area, and identified a new mineralized zone lining with the Tavera vein system at Atocha. Baroyeca’s share price increased 50 percent on the news to close the week at C$0.30.

2. NEO Battery Materials

With a focus on

battery metals

exploration in North America, NEO Battery Materials has staked new mining claims in BC that are along strike with a quartzite bed. The company intends to become a silicon anode materials supplier to the electric vehicle industry.

There were two news releases from NEO last week. First, on Monday (July 5), the company said its silicon

technology


showed performance effectiveness

on low-cost metallurgical-grade silicon microparticles. Then, on Thursday (July 8), it

shared an update

on the pilot plant for its proprietary silicon nano-coating technology. NEO’s share price rose 39.19 percent last week to end at C$1.03.

3. St. James Gold

St. James Gold has an option to acquire 29 claims covering 1,791 acres in North-Central Newfoundland, as well as an option to acquire 28 claims covering 1,730 acres in the central part of the province. It also has an option and joint venture agreement to gain a stake in the Yukon-based Florin gold project.

Last Monday, St. James received final

TSX Venture Exchange approval

for its option and joint venture agreement to acquire up to an 85 percent interest in the Florin gold project from Florin Resources. The company’s share price jumped 25 percent last week to finish the period at C$4.25.

4. Graphite One

Graphite One describes itself as exploring, with the intent to develop, its Graphite Creek project in Alaska. It believes it has the potential to become the dominant American producer of high-grade coated spherical

graphite

integrated with a domestic graphite

resource

.

There was no fresh news from Graphite One last week, but shares leaped 26.21 percent to hit C$1.30.

5. Aurania Resources

Led by

Keith Barron

, Aurania Resources identifies, evaluates, acquires and explores properties in South America, with a focus on

precious metals

and

copper

. Its key asset is the the Lost Cities – Cutucu project in the eastern foothills of Ecuador’s Andes mountain range.

Last week, the company

announced its participation

in a virtual roadshow and

shared its presentation

from the event. Aurania’s share price increased 22.18 percent over the five day period to reach C$3.03.

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.