World's 100 hottest mining stocks - up by an average of 367% in six months

A selection of 100 of the world's best performing mining stocks shows an aggregate value of USD 33bn, and a weighted average gain of 367% over the past six months, vastly outperforming any other known grouping of equities. There are multiple themes that emerge from the names on the list, but the presence of gold and silver miners and developers is close to overwhelming.

Sub-themes include clear evidence that investors are chasing potential acquisitions, companies with proven treasures in the ground, but lacking broader access to the substantial funds required to build big mines, and, in many cases, infrastructure as well. There are also names that were brutally sold down, and are simply bouncing back to perceived fair value, especially with something of a thaw in broader credit markets.

Canada listed Century Mining, as a sampling, was sold down to a cent a share, and then recovered to well above 15 cents on news that it had secured a substantial non-bank loan.

As a rule, Russian stocks rank as the most brutally oversold as all. The bounce back from some of these stocks, especially those with gold and/or silver in the equation, has been huge; JSC Polymetal, a silver and gold digger, is up 600% from lows. London listed Fresnillo, the world's biggest primary silver miner, is up more than 400%.

Among the top ten or so "hottest" global mining stocks sit a number of gold names that rank as clear acquisition targets: Novagold (for its huge Donlin Creek project in Alaska, where Barrick, world's No 1 gold name, is already a partner); Greystar (for its huge Angostura gold discovery in Colombia); San Anton Resources (for its superb Cerro del Gallo project); Guyana Goldfields (for its very neat Aurora project), and Moto Goldmines, for outlining more than 20m ounces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Further top gold names include La Mancha Resources, for fast-growing production and demonstrable entrepreneurial flair, Regis Resources, for its Duketon project, and Tanami Gold, which dramatically returned from a low stock price of, basically, zero, and also highly rated and highly valued Osisko. Another supporting sub-theme factor for gold stocks has been the strong generally rise in Chinese stocks; Zhaojin has cashed in on both fronts with a stock price that has bounced by nearly 500%. While gold stocks, in particular, remain well supported by underlying commodity prices, the connection is not as clear with other favoured sectors such as silver and uranium.

Gold bullion currently trades 9% off its dollar highs, while silver is far further out, at 33% below. Uranium prices have done little if anything for months. First Uranium (market value: USD 810m) ranks as one of the hottest in the mining field, along with Extract Resources, a Namibian uranium name that has come under the very close attention of mining major Rio Tinto and most recently by Polo Resources.

Another top performer, Niger Uranium, represents the far smaller exploration sector, but with management that has an enviable record. Then there is Ivanhoe Australia - part of the wider Robert Friedland clan - which continues to announce fan-gathering drill results from its molybdenum-rhenium Merlin project, but retains gold, of course, as one of its main broader targets. Ivanhoe itself ranks as a top 100 performing mining stock.

Corporate action, real or imagined, is always a theme; in the case of top-performer Aricom, it's very real, in the form of Peter Hambro. Investors are also prepared to chase certain stocks among the least generally favoured sectors; in diamonds, examples include Mano River Resources, Tsodilo Resources, Kopane Diamonds, Pangea Diamondfields, and Peregrine Diamonds, and in coal, Evergreen Energy, Homeland Energy, and Waratah Coal.

Copper stocks generally have run the hardest, after gold and silver names, but individual performances have been relatively subdued. Northern Dynasty stands out, however, with its huge copper-gold Pebble project in Alaska, where mining major Anglo American is the joint venture partner. Copper-gold is also a dominant theme for Ivanhoe, with Oyu Tolgoi, where major miner Rio Tinto is a partner.

100 SELECTED TOP PERFORMING MINING STOCKS
	Stock	From	From	Value
	price	high*	low*	USD bn
Century Mining	CAD 0.18	-30.8%	1700.0%	0.024
La Mancha Resources	CAD 0.44	-22.8%	1000.0%	0.050
Ivanhoe Australia	AUD 1.49	-26.6%	893.3%	0.329
VorkutauGol	USD 4.00	-49.4%	900.0%	0.038
San Anton Resource	CAD 0.29	-64.2%	866.7%	0.024
Novagold	CAD 3.71	-62.9%	681.1%	0.538
Greystar	CAD 3.93	-32.8%	641.5%	0.165
JSC Polymetal	USD 7.00	-23.9%	600.0%	2.205
Regis Resources	AUD 0.42	-1.2%	566.7%	0.072
Tanami Gold	AUD 0.04	-41.7%	600.0%	0.087
First Uranium	CAD 6.70	-12.0%	556.9%	0.810
Golden Odyssey	CAD 0.13	-7.1%	550.0%	0.004
Extract Resources	AUD 4.70	-1.1%	526.7%	0.738
Niger Uranium	GBP 0.24	-5.1%	526.7%	0.039
Coral Gold	CAD 0.66	-48.8%	560.0%	0.013
US Gold Corp.	USD 2.26	-24.4%	494.9%	0.179
Marum Resources	CAD 0.15	-30.2%	500.0%	0.012
Zhaojin	HKD 10.98	-23.5%	490.3%	0.619
Mano River Resources	CAD 0.07	-84.3%	550.0%	0.016
Tsodilo Resources	CAD 0.38	-25.5%	484.6%	0.005
Yukon-Nevada Gold	CAD 0.13	-92.8%	550.0%	0.031
Brazauro	CAD 0.59	-34.4%	490.0%	0.040
Evergreen Energy	USD 1.36	-45.6%	491.3%	0.171
Queenston Mining	CAD 4.15	-1.9%	446.1%	0.190
Oremex Silver	CAD 0.12	-60.0%	500.0%	0.005
Silverstone	CAD 1.95	-33.9%	465.2%	0.191
Keegan Resources	USD 2.12	-63.2%	488.4%	0.060
Australian Solomons	CAD 0.15	-75.8%	500.0%	0.012
Aurizon	CAD 6.21	-0.5%	413.2%	0.735
Fresnillo	GBP 4.72	-17.9%	407.5%	4.938
Homeland Energy	CAD 0.23	-88.8%	475.0%	0.047
Pangea Diamondfields	GBP 0.02	-95.9%	480.0%	0.055
Guyana Goldfields	CAD 3.28	-55.6%	437.7%	0.154
NWM Mining	CAD 0.66	-55.6%	433.3%	0.007
African Queen	CAD 0.30	-25.0%	400.0%	0.008
Dynasty Metals	CAD 5.23	-23.6%	398.1%	0.148
Anatolia	CAD 3.25	-26.1%	400.0%	0.297
Western Prospector	CAD 0.53	-60.4%	430.0%	0.023
Golden Goose	CAD 0.37	-61.1%	428.6%	0.014
Western Goldfields	CAD 2.47	-26.9%	394.0%	0.267
Claude Resources	USD 0.61	-44.6%	408.7%	0.059
Aricom	GBP 0.28	-74.1%	437.1%	0.475
Kalahari Minerals	GBP 1.19	-3.5%	360.2%	0.309
Northern Dynasty	CAD 8.97	-15.4%	367.2%	0.663
Moto Goldmines	CAD 3.20	-35.2%	384.8%	0.224
Archipelago	GBP 0.10	-65.5%	412.5%	0.030
Oceanagold	AUD 0.77	-70.6%	413.3%	0.088
Colossus Minerals	CAD 2.10	-47.5%	388.4%	0.092
Centerra	CAD 4.56	-66.1%	406.7%	0.787
Kopane Diamonds	GBP 0.06	-59.7%	400.0%	0.015
Pan Palladium	AUD 0.04	-61.2%	400.0%	0.008
Azteca Gold	CAD 0.10	-63.6%	400.0%	0.014
PC Gold	CAD 0.54	-56.8%	390.9%	0.013
Andean	AUD 1.85	-1.6%	335.3%	0.529
Dragon Mining	AUD 0.07	-40.0%	371.4%	0.034
NWT Uranium	CAD 0.10	-68.8%	400.0%	0.010
Catalpa Resources	AUD 0.09	-19.0%	347.4%	0.031
Bannerman	AUD 1.09	-58.1%	382.2%	0.120
North Atlantic Resources	CAD 0.10	-78.7%	400.0%	0.002
Osisko	CAD 5.90	-3.3%	321.4%	1.201
Medusa	AUD 1.73	-5.7%	322.0%	0.204
Frontier Mining	GBP 0.01	-90.2%	400.0%	0.002
Colombia Goldfields	CAD 0.05	-94.9%	400.0%	0.004
Plexmar Resources	CAD 0.12	-57.4%	360.0%	0.015
Seabridge	CAD 29.86	-0.8%	298.1%	0.890
Peregrine Diamonds	CAD 0.65	-20.7%	318.0%	0.042
Reunion Gold	CAD 0.12	-82.9%	380.0%	0.005
Uranium One	CAD 2.67	-48.5%	345.0%	1.000
Iamgold	USD 8.82	-2.0%	297.3%	3.220
Atlanta Gold	CAD 0.29	-80.2%	375.0%	0.013
East Asia Minerals	CAD 0.55	-68.4%	358.3%	0.016
Richmont Mines	CAD 4.75	-3.7%	292.6%	0.099
Ivanhoe	CAD 8.55	-32.1%	315.0%	2.578
Caledon Resource	GBP 0.33	-79.2%	361.3%	0.100
Allied Nevada	CAD 7.91	-3.4%	284.0%	0.361
Nevsun	CAD 1.45	-34.1%	314.3%	0.148
Eldorado	USD 9.14	-5.8%	284.0%	3.383
Chariot	CAD 0.27	-75.2%	350.0%	0.071
Rainy River	CAD 2.60	-45.3%	319.4%	0.117
Adamus Resources	AUD 0.40	-25.9%	300.0%	0.044
Minco Silver	CAD 1.30	-67.5%	333.3%	0.032
S American Silver	CAD 0.40	-37.5%	300.0%	0.016
Exeter Resources	CAD 4.01	-20.9%	281.9%	0.199
African Minerals	GBP 0.39	-79.9%	333.3%	0.107
Aura Silver	CAD 0.09	-71.7%	325.0%	0.003
Blue Sky Uranium	CAD 0.13	-71.6%	316.7%	0.004
Mines Management	USD 1.90	-51.9%	295.8%	0.043
Golden Star	USD 1.59	-58.5%	297.5%	0.299
US Silver Corp	CAD 0.13	-81.1%	316.7%	0.021
Darnley Bay	CAD 0.20	-66.7%	300.0%	0.008
Detour Gold	CAD 11.13	-56.2%	289.2%	0.399
Silvercrest	CAD 0.72	-48.2%	278.9%	0.026
Hochschild Mining	GBP 2.44	-44.4%	275.0%	1.093
Lingbao	HKD 2.87	-29.0%	258.8%	0.110
Searchgold Resources	CAD 0.04	-74.2%	300.0%	0.004
Waratah Coal	CAD 1.55	-63.5%	287.5%	0.076
Moneta Porcupine	CAD 0.10	-56.8%	280.0%	0.008
Hunan	HKD 1.50	-56.4%	275.0%	0.316
PMI Gold	CAD 0.04	-84.6%	300.0%	0.003
Verena	CAD 0.15	-61.5%	275.0%	0.012
Herald Resources	AUD 0.40	-86.6%	300.0%	0.057
Averages/total		-46.2%	433.4%	33.215
Weighted averages		-34.4%	366.9%
* 12-month
Source: market data; table compiled by Barry Sergeant