TSXV climbs in the first trading week of 2023

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index gained 11.62 points or 2% over the Jan.2-6, 2023 trading session to end at 581.89.

Electra Battery Materials closed the week as the top value gainer on the Venture Exchange, adding $1.22 to close at $3.47. Electra announced on Jan. 4 that it had amended an option agreement with Kuya Silver Corp. for its Ontario Cobalt camp assets. Under the terms of the agreement, Kuya can acquire 100% in the Silver Kings joint venture properties by paying $1 million in cash or scrip to Electra by the end of January. Electra will retain a 2% net smelter return royalty on commercial production as well as the right of first offer to refine any base metal concentrates from the assets at its refinery, also in Ontario. CEO Trent Mell said that accelerating the terms of the initial agreement with Kuya will allow Electra to focus on advancing its strategy of developing an integrated battery materials complex that combines the production of cobalt, nickel, and manganese sulphates with the recycling of battery black mass.

Fission 3.0 registered the highest volume of trades during the week, seeing 13,789 shares in play. The equity gained 9¢ to close the week at 40¢ per share. The company announced on Jan. 3 that it is mobilizing a drill team to conduct step-out drilling at its high-grade uranium zone at the Patterson Lake North deposit in Saskatchewan’s western Athabasca Basin. The Fission 3.0 technical team draws from previous experience with resource definition and zone expansion drilling of basement-hosted mineralization at Fission Uranium’s Triple R deposit at Patterson Lake South. The company plans to drill 20 holes to expand on the encouraging drill results from November 2022 that confirmed shallow depth, wide and continuous mineralization in basement rock. One notable drill result from this work included 15 metres grading 6.97% uranium oxide, including a high-grade 5.5-metre interval averaging 18.6% uranium oxide in hole PLN22-035.

Sigma Lithium registered the trading week’s most significant loss, closing on Friday $1.97 lower at $36.11. The company’s equity has been on a steady downward trend since mid-December, when it announced it has started commissioning the first module of the production plant – the Greentech plant – at its 100%-owned Grota do Cirilo lithium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The Canadian miner said that the dry module crushing circuit began operating on time and within budget, adding that it expected the entire plant to be up and running by February 2023. Commissioning on the wet module dense media separation circuit is scheduled to start in February and be completed by April, when the company intends to begin commercial production.