Welcome to the Investing News Network’s weekly round-up of Australia’s top-performing mining stocks on the ASX, starting with news in Australia’s resource sector.
This week, rare earths focused explorers and developers appear on the top list, alongside gold-antimony and hydrogen companies.
Among these is the week’s top performer American Rare Earths (ASX:ARR), which released leach recovery results from metallurgical testing at its Halleck Creek project in Wyoming, US, and is progressing optimization work and test mining.
In resource news, gold prices rose on Wednesday following news reports that US President Donald Trump planned to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but trimmed gains after Trump denied the claim.
Market and commodity price round-up
The S&P/ASX 200 index opened at 8,570.40 on Monday (July 14) and closed at 8,639.00 on Thursday (July 17), marking a 0.8 percent increase over the period.
As for precious metals, gold demonstrated a 0.77 percent fall in US dollars, going from US$3,354.74 on July 14 to US$3,328.90 on July 17 at 5 p.m. AEST. On the other hand. gold increased 0.8 percent in Australian dollars, moving from AU$5,102.33 to AU$5,142.94 over the same period.
Silver pulled back in US dollars through Thursday, starting the week at US$38.41 in US dollars and closed at US$37.77, a 1.67 percent decrease. In Australian dollars, ended the period flat, going from AU$58.39 to AU$58.35.
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 we break down their operations and why these mining stocks are up this week.
Stock data for this article was retrieved at 4 p.m. AEST on July 17 using TradingView’s stock screener. Only companies trading on the ASX with market capitalizations 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. American Rare Earths (ASX:ARR)
Weekly gain: 75 percent
Market cap: AU$220.73 million
Share price: AU$0.455
American Rare Earths is a rare earth exploration and development company advancing its flagship Halleck Creek rare earths project in Wyoming, US. The project’s Cowboy State Mine area is currently in the pre-feasibility and test mining stage.
On Wednesday (July 16), the company announced the results of an extensive leach testing program undertaken on allanite-enriched mineral concentrate from Halleck Creek, reporting “strong leach recoveries and low impurities.”
American Rare Earths reported on Friday that mineral processing optimisation tests at Halleck Creek are underway. Test mining at Halleck Creek’s Cowboy State Mine area is also scheduled to commence.
Shares of the company peaked at AU$0.475 on Thursday, a day after the announcement of the leach testing results.
2. Critical Resources (ASX:CRR)
Weekly gain: 66.67 percent
Market cap: AU$13.85 million
Share price: AU$0.005
Critical Resources is an exploration company developing lithium and rare earths projects in Australia and Greenland.
Its flagship project is the Mavis Lake lithium project in Canada, located near Dryden in Northwestern Ontario.
In Australia, its main focus is the Amoco gold-antimony project in Armidale, New South Wales.
On July 10, the company commenced a soil geochemistry program at Amoco, marking a step towards a maiden drill program.
“The systematic multi-element geochemical survey is being supported by modern geochemical assay techniques, which have led to significant improvements in the detection limits of critical pathfinder elements,” CEO Tim Wither said.
The soil mapping program is expected to be completed by the end of July, while final assay results are anticipated in late August.
Shares of the company peaked at AU$0.005 on Wednesday.
3. Rokeby Resources (ASX:RKB)
Weekly gain: 60 percent
Market cap: AU$19.62 million
Share price: AU$0.016
Rokeby Resources, previously named Inca Minerals, is an exploration company focused on Australian gold and antimony projects across Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The company completed its name change on Thursday, and announced an ASX ticker symbol change from ICG to RKB effective July 21.
Rokeby is currently exploring its flagship Hurricane project in North Queensland, located in the Hodgkinson Province.
The company reported rock chip sampling results at Hurricane on Wednesday, including a peak antimony sample grading 6.53 antimony and 6.44 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and a peak gold sample grading 69.5 g/t.
“The results extend the footprint of known high-grade gold and antimony mineralisation, building on previous sampling that confirmed the presence of a significant orogenic system,” Rokeby said.
The company is now performing field preparations at Hurricane, with drilling to commence upon site work completion.
Shares of Rokeby hit their highest point of the week on Thursday at AU$0.016.
4. Provaris Energy (ASX:PV1)
Weekly gain: 53.85 percent
Market cap: AU$14.76 million
Share price: AU$0.02
Provaris Energy is a compressed hydrogen transport and storage solutions company with projects in Norway.
It also used to hold a green hydrogen project in the Tiwi Islands, part of Australia’s Northern Territory. However, in a July 10 article by Renew Economy, Provaris told the publication it has officially dropped its Tiwi hydrogen project due to a slow process for economic and land agreements, alongside a waning offtake interest from Singapore.
The company has transferred its focus and technical learnings to its FjordH2 project in Norway and its proprietary gaseous hydrogen containment tank. It is progressing its H2Neo carrier and H2Leo barge, which use the technology, towards “final marine classification and approvals, along with critical safety studies.”
The company’s share price began gaining earlier this week following a Monday report on the stock by RaaS Research. The firm stated it believed Provaris was significantly undervalued based on its analysis of the company’s business, with its tank technology providing upside. RaaS estimated a net asset value range of AU$83 million to AU$147 million, translating to AU$0.11 to AU$0.19 per share.
5. RareX (ASX:REE)
Weekly gain: 50 percent
Market cap: AU$24.84 million
Share price: AU$0.027
RareX is a critical minerals company focused on rare earths, niobium and gallium.
The company’s assets include the Cummins Range rare-earth-phosphate, Khaleesi niobium-gallium and Mount Manbridge heavy rare earths projects in Western Australia, and the Mrima Hill rare-earth-niobium project in Kenya.
RareX has been re-assaying its previous drill cores from Cummins Range after discovering gallium oxide grades of up to 6,826 grams per tonne in historical drill cores in late March.
In late June, the company reported that the first 15 holes of the re-assaying confirmed the significance of the gallium resource, with consistent results including 60 meters at an average grade of 99 g/t gallium oxide.
Its most recent project news came on July 7, when it shared news from the first few days of exploration at the Mount Manbridge project.
On Thursday, RareX halted trading at its request pending an important announcement related to a capital raising. Trading is scheduled to commence on Monday.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Australia for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: American Rare Earths and Provaris Energy are clients of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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