Rua Gold Inc. (TSXV: RUA, OTC: NZAUF, WKN: H8E)
An Emerging Gold Explorer with Two Highly Prospective Land Packages in New Zealand’s historical gold fields.
The combined market capitalisation of the world’s 50 most valuable mining companies, as calculated by MINING.COM, stood at $1.43 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2024, an increase of $42 billion from the end of March, as higher prices for copper and gold offset declines in market capitalisation for lithium and iron ore companies.
Year-to-date, the sector’s traditional big five – BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Glencore, Vale and Anglo American – have seen their combined market capitalisation evaporate by $59bn since the start of the year, despite combined gains of 33% for copper miners. In addition, two companies, Cleveland Cliffs and Fortescue, appeared on a list of the worst performing mining stocks in the first half of the year, impacted by falling iron ore prices.
Two more lithium stocks, Perth-based Mineral Resources and China’s Tianqi Lithium, fell out of the Top 50 Mining Companies list at the end of the second quarter due to the plummeting price of lithium. Mineral Resources has just been overtaken by China’s Ganfeng Lithium, however, based on its performance so far in July, the Australian hard rock lithium miner is likely to return to the list soon.
Ganfeng Lithium barely managed to hold on to its Top 50 position at the end of June, but with the gold price continuing to rise and the two gold miners (Yintai and Alamos) gaining momentum, it is likely that there will only be three lithium miners left in the Top 50 for some time to come.
It’s worth pointing out that while the spot price of uranium has fallen back below the triple-digit price it hit in January, the sector’s total market capitalisation is still up 42 per cent on the same period last year, and it now outranks lithium miners in the Top 50 mining stocks.
The world’s largest uranium producers – Saskatchewan-based Cameco and Kazakhstan’s state-owned uranium producer Kazatomprom – only made the top 50 in 2021, and have remained obscure in the years since. This year, Cameco and Kazatomprom are ranked 24th and 36th, respectively, on the list.
In addition, Navoi is likely to be included in the list of top 50 mining companies due to its ownership of the world’s largest gold mine, Muruntau, which produces 2.9 million ounces of gold annually and has grades that are the envy of the industry.
If Navoi joins the list, the number of nuclear fuel producers in the Mining 50 will increase to five, including Canada’s Nexgen Energy, which, despite having a market capitalisation of just $4bn, is likely to have mergers and acquisitions in the pipeline as interest in the sector and mining M&A grows.
