Top 5 Junior Gold Stocks on the TSXV in 2023

Year-to-date gain: 642.86 percent; market cap: C$42.26 million; current share price: C$0.26

2023 has been a transformative year for Canadian Gold. The company, previously named Satori Resources, is working to fast track development of a past-producing gold asset: the Tartan Lake gold mine project in the Flin Flon greenstone belt of Manitoba, Canada. The mine operated in the late 1980s and produced 47,000 ounces of gold.

Back on February 6, the gold company — which was then still Satori — announced plans to acquire 100 percent of Rob McEwen’s exploration company Apollo Exploration, which has exploration projects near significant gold mines and projects across Canada. As part of the deal, McEwen, who is the founder and former chairman and CEO of Goldcorp, was to acquire 37.6 percent ownership in Satori and become its largest shareholder.

The proposed deal, which closed on April 25, started an upward trend for Canadian Gold’s share price. On April 27, the company announced that Ian Ball had been appointed interim president and CEO, replacing Jennifer Boyle. Ball has worked with McEwen extensively, including as president of McEwen Mining, and he is a co-founder of Apollo. On May 5, Satori began trading under its new name and ticker symbol and its share price reached a year-to-date high of C$0.345.

The next week, the new Canadian Gold announced plans for a Phase 1 exploration program at the Tartan mine, as well as prospecting at the recently acquired HEES and Hammond Reef North and South projects. The program began on June 1. Canadian Gold’s most recent news came on June 5, when it laid out initiatives it’s undertaking to improve future returns and sustainability, including using electric mining equipment.

Year-to-date gain: 420 percent; market cap: C$129.93 million; current share price: C$0.26

Rusoro Mining is a gold company that had two producing mines and a portfolio of gold projects in Venezuela. However, the company has been embroiled in a series of legal disputes with the country after it expropriated Rusoro’s assets without compensation in 2011. In 2016, an arbitration tribunal found that this violated international law and ordered Venezuela to pay the mining company just over US$970 million, which the country has fought against.

Rusoro has been working to prove that Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, is an alter ego for Venezuela. This was previously determined to be true by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2019, but was subsequently appealed by Venezuela. If it is proven, the oil company’s assets can be legally seized to pay the debt, which now stands at over US$1.4 billion due to interest.

On April 11, Rusoro announced that “the enforcement process in connection with its arbitration award against the Republic of Venezuela has taken several significant steps forward.” The company’s share price began climbing in mid-May, when it broke above the C$0.10 mark for the first time in four years; by June 2, it had broken C$0.20.

The embattled company’s latest news came on July 10, when it shared a significant appellate victory. The US Court of Appeals affirmed its previous decision that Petróleos de Venezuela is an alter ego for the country, and thus its property can be seized to pay the debt. The news has sent Rusoro’s share price even higher, hitting a year-to-date high of C$0.29 on July 12.

‘Rusoro welcomes the Court of Appeals’ ruling and remains hopeful that … (Venezuela) will voluntarily pay its obligation to the Company and allow the parties to bring this longstanding dispute to its overdue conclusion,’ Rusoro CEO Andre Agapov said in a release.

Year-to-date gain: 220 percent; market cap: C$19.54 million; current share price: C$0.32

Dynasty Gold is advancing its Thundercloud gold project in Ontario, Canada, and also owns the Golden Repeat gold project in Nevada, US.

Dynasty’s share price shot up on January 10, moving from C$0.11 to C$0.36, when the company intersected bonanza gold grades in two cores from its 2022 drilling at Thundercloud, with one containing a highlight interval of 1.5 meters grading 246 grams per metric ton (g/t) gold within 12.5 meters grading 25.66 g/t gold.

In May, the company closed a C$3.74 million private placement that featured McEwen, founder of Goldcorp, among other participants. Proceeds are going towards Dynasty’s 2023 exploration program at Thundercloud in May, which is following up on high-grade results from 2022; it will involve at least 5,000 meters of drilling and relogging historical drill cores.

On June 20, Dynasty Gold announced assay results from previously unsampled sections of the two high-grade drill cores. These assays extended mineralization in both, including one section that was expanded from 51 meters to 73.5 meters at an average grade of 8.42 g/t gold. The company’s share price jumped from C$0.25 to C$0.33 on the news and has remained elevated since.

Year-to-date gain: 158.33 percent; market cap: C$22.14 million; current share price: C$0.31

Canada-focused Delta Resources has the Delta-1 gold-nickel-copper project in Ontario and the Delta-2 gold-copper project in Quebec. The gold company kicked off the first phase of its two phase 2023 drilling program at Delta-1 in mid-January.

Delta announced on March 1 that the exploration at Delta-1 was intersecting visible gold in drill cores. Its share price started climbing following the news, and a run in the gold price supported the company’s gains. Delta started March at C$0.14 and by March 31 its share price had climbed to C$0.40.

Multiple news items in April brought Delta’s share price to further heights. On April 20 and April 25, Delta shared assays that included wide zones of gold mineralization, and on April 24 the company commenced the next phase of its drilling. Lastly, on April 27, Delta announced a C$7 million bought-deal private placement financing. After climbing steadily over the previous week, that day the company’s share price hit a year-to-date high of C$0.60.

While its performance has cooled, Delta has continued to release significant news related to its work at Delta-1, including the addition of 20,000 meters of further drilling to expand the mineralized zone and test property-scale targets. The company’s most recent news came on July 13, when it acquired four mineral exploration properties contiguous to Delta-1, doubling its land position.

Year-to-date gain: 142.86 percent; market cap: C$11.4 million; current share price: C$0.085

Altan Rio is an exploration company working on its Southern Cross North project in Western Australia’s Southern Cross greenstone belt. The project is made up of two tenement packages, Hopes Hill and Corinthia North, the former of which includes the Pilot mine joint venture.

Altan Rio’s share price first spiked in February, rising from C$0.04 to C$0.10, a year-to-date high, over the course of the month. During that time, the company exercised an option to purchase a 90 percent interest in a large exploration license application alongside its Southern Cross project

Throughout the year, the company has continued to develop and add to its land package. On June 19, it announced a successful gold pour of 1,500 ounces, which it produced from an old mineralized stockpile at the Pilot mine and processed at a nearby third party plant.

Later that month, Altan Rio signed an agreement to purchase 100 percent of the Bullfinch gold project. Bullfinch is adjacent to the company’s Southern Cross land package and will more than double it once the acquisition is complete.

On July 4, the company announced the successful acquisition of 100 percent of the Southern Cross North project. With that, it now has 932 square kilometers of tenure in the region.