With gains of nearly 30 percent in 2024, gold has outpaced many other investments since the start of 2024.
The final high of Q3 was set on September 26, when the gold price hit US$2,682.79 per ounce. This was partly driven by the US Federal Reserve’s decision to slash 50 basis points from its benchmark rate following its meeting on September 17 and 18. The move bolstered investor sentiment across precious metals markets.
In addition to the Fed factor, gold has also been buoyed throughout the year by high levels of central bank gold purchases, particularly out of Asia, alongside rising tensions in the Middle-East that have sent investors looking for safe-haven assets amidst geopolitical uncertainty.
With that backdrop, how have record-breaking gold prices affected TSX-listed gold stocks? These companies are the best performers so far this year. Data was retrieved on October 10, 2024, using TradingView’s stock screener, and only companies with market capitalizations greater than C$50 million are included.
1. Perpetua Resources (TSX:PPTA)
Year-to-date gain: 203.3 percent
Market cap: C$794.22 million
Share price: C$12.86
Perpetua Resources is advancing its Stibnite gold-antimony project in Central Idaho, US, which has received strong support from the US government. The project is nearing a construction decision, which is expected next year.
The Stibnite project lies within a historic mining district that hosted large-scale operations dating back to the early 1900s. Perpetua is working to reclaim the historic Yellow Pine and Hangar flat open pit mines, while also reprocessing historic tailings and restoring streams and fish migration routes on the site.
In the company’s November 2020 feasibility study, it reported an after-tax net present value of US$1.9 billion based on an average gold price of US$1,850 per ounce, providing for an internal rate of return of 27.7 percent and a payback period of 2.5 years. It also indicated a total gold recovery of 4.28 million ounces of gold over a 15 year lifespan of the mine with an annual recovery of 301,000 ounces.
The site also hosts significant amounts of antimony, which is classed as a critical mineral, with measured and indicated quantities of 205.89 million pounds. This has allowed the company to secure funding from the US government under the Defense Production Act, with the most recent US$34.6 million being awarded on February 12.
Perpetua spent much of 2024 awaiting a critical decision from the United States Forest Service (USFS) on the authorization of its mining plan. This came in early September, when the USFS issued a draft record of decision authorizing the gold project and completed the final environmental impact assessment. The final Record of Decision is expected by the end of the year.
Shares in Perpetua reached a year-to-date high of C$13.61 on September 25.
2. Jaguar Mining (TSX:JAG)
Year-to-date gain: 191.16 percent
Market cap: C$413.73 million
Share price: C$5.27
Jaguar Mining is a mining and development company that owns several gold-mining complexes near the city of Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Jaguar’s MTL complex hosts the Turmalina mine and a processing plant. According to the company’s Q3 production update released on October 10, the mine site produced 6,479 ounces of gold, a decrease from the 8,529 ounces produced in the same quarter of 2023.
In addition to mining operations, the MTL complex is home to the advanced stage Faina exploration project. A December 2023 mineral resource estimate from the project pegged measured and indicated resources at 1.43 million metric tons of ore with an average grade of 5.08 grams per metric ton (g/t) gold for 233,000 ounces of contained gold. Inferred resources stand at an additional 232,000 ounces of gold from ore grading 5.09 g/t.
In Jaguar’s management and discussion analysis on August 7, the company reported it is accelerating development at Faina to define its ore structures. Ore taken from the site during the second quarter was processed by the Turmalina plant, and gold recovery exceeded expectations at 414 ounces. The company said production from stoping should gradually increase through the start of 2025 to 15,000 metric tons per month, before reaching full capacity of 25,000 metric tons in 2026.
The company’s other producing mining operation is the Caete complex, which includes the Pilar gold mine and the Caete processing plant. Production for Q3 saw the mine deliver 10,433 ounces for the quarter, an increase from the 8,787 ounces produced in Q3 2023.
Jaguar announced on September 5 that it had progressed on access development at the Pilar mine’s BA zone in the first half of the year, with 374 meters completed across five sub-levels. Processing the 30,547 metric tons of ore feed generated from those activities in H1 resulted in 4,032 ounces of gold at an average grade of 4.64 g/t.
Shares in Jaguar mining reached a year-to-date high of C$5.69 on September 23, alongside a surge in the gold price.
3. Orvana Minerals (TSX:ORV)
Year-to-date gain: 156.25 percent
Market cap: C$51.23 million
Share price: C$0.41
Orvana Minerals is a gold, silver and copper miner with assets in Spain and Bolivia.
Its principal asset is the OroValle operation in Northern Spain. The site consists of the El Valle Boinas underground mine and El Valle processing plant, as well as the Carles open pit and underground mines, which are currently on care and maintenance.
The company also owns the Don Mario District in Eastern Bolivia. Mining operations at the site were suspended in 2019 following the depletion of resources. Since then the company has been working to raise capital to finance a plant expansion to begin treatment of ore stockpiles.
In the company’s consolidated financial results for Q2 released on August 12, it noted that it had completed 80 percent placement of its bond program units, raising US$37.7 million toward restarting operations at Don Mario. The company said it expected construction on the plant expansion to begin before the end of 2024.
The announcement also detailed the production of 10,832 ounces of gold from OroValle during the quarter, and revised full year gold production guidance to 37,000 to 39,000 ounces.
Shares in Orvana reached a year-to-date high of C$0.43 on September 19.
4. G2 Goldfields (TSX:GTWO)
Year-to-date gain: 130.67 percent
Market cap: C$406.196 million
Share price: C$1.73
G2 Goldfields is a gold exploration and development company that is working to advance projects in South America and West Africa. Company founders were previously involved in the financing and development of the Aurora gold mine in Guyana, the country’s largest gold mine, for Guyana Goldfields, before Zijin Mining (OTC Pink:ZIJMF,SHA:601899) acquired the latter company in 2020. The company graduated to the TSX from the TSXV in April.
G2’s flagship Oko-Aremu gold project is located in Guyana’s Cuyuni mining district. The company released an updated mineral resource estimate for the combined Oko Main Zone and Ghanie Zone in April, with an increase of 320 percent in indicated gold resources to 922,000 ounces and a 69 percent increase in total contained gold to 2 million ounces. G2 said the maiden resource estimate for Ghanie is a step toward realizing the scale of the Oko gold system.
On September 10, G2 announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire exploration rights to a 30,000 acre land package within the Oko-Aremu district, which brought its land holdings for the project to 58,000 acres. The new properties are composed of three sets of permits and host multiple historic gold occurrences, but have not been subject to modern exploration methods. G2 is working to fast-track drilling on several targets in the area.
The company is performing a drill program using five diamond drills with the objective of expanding mineral resources at Oko. In the most recent update from the project on October 15, the company reported it had discovered multiple new gold zones, including the Eastern Ghanie zone. One of the drill holes in the release included an interval of 3 meters grading 18.8 g/t gold, as well as an interval of 23 meters grading 4.4 g/t gold, including 9 meters grading 8.5 g/t.
Shares in G2 Goldfields reached a year-to-date high of C$1.95 on September 15.
5. Calibre Mining (TSX:CXB)
Year-to-date gain: 105.88 percent
Market cap: C$2.044 billion
Share price: C$2.80
Calibre Mining is a gold mining and development company that owns several producing assets in Nicaragua as well as the Pan gold mine in the US. Additionally, it is constructing the Valentine gold mine in Canada, which it acquired through a merger with Marathon Gold in November 2023.
Between its El Limon, Libertad and Eastern Borosi properties in Nicaragua, the company owns seven producing mines, two mills with a total capacity of 2.75 million metric tons per annum and several exploration targets. In the US, its Pan gold mine is located along Nevada’s Eureka gold trend.
According to the company’s second quarter consolidated results released on August 12, Calibre produced 120,521 ounces of gold during the first half of the year, down from the 134,526 ounces produced in H1 2023. The company attributed the decline to a geotechnical issue at the Limon Norte open pit.
The release also noted that construction at the Valentine gold project in Newfoundland, Canada, was 77 percent complete, on track for gold production to begin in Q2 2025. Calibre said that it had received Federal approval for the development of the additional Berry open pit mine at Valentine.
Once complete, the mine is expected to produce 195,000 ounces of gold per year, drawing from a combined 3.96 million ounce measured and indicated mineral resource.
Shares in Calibre reached a year-to-date high of C$2.86 on October 10.
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, own shares of Calibre Mining.
