Weekly Metals Mining Rundown for Week Ending 6 Feb 2026

This past week’s top & bottom metal price and mining company peer group movers include:

This past week’s top 40 performing metals mining stocks (out of Peer Table’s 504) include (share price rounding errors apply, as sourced from Google Finance):

Covered mining company announcements incorporated into this week’s Peer Table (resource updates, economic studies, changes in project ownership):

• Copper explorer Abitibi Metals Corp (CSE:AMQ) announced Thursday (5 Feb) an updated resource estimate for its flagship B26 polymetallic project in Quebec, of which it owns 50% with an option to earn an additional 30% for 80%.

  The update incorporated 42.98km of drilling completed in 2024/25, and grew attributable resources by ~70% (since 2024) to 1.16 Blbs CuEq (80% ownership basis) – which are 54% from Cu, 25% from Au, 14% Ag, rest Zn – at our 3-month trailing average metal pricing with no recovery factors.

  The reported tonnage and grades for the underground resource estimate were (100% basis):

  • Indicated: 12.96Mt @ 1.19% Cu, 1.16% Zn, 0.44 g/t Au, 30.8 g/t Ag, 0.05% Zn, 0.01% Pb (2.08% CuEq or 2.81 g/t AuEq)

  • Inferred: 12.34 @ 1.60% Cu, 0.16% Zn, 0.68 g/t Au, 8.1 g/t Ag, 0.01% Pb (2.20% CuEq or 2.97 g/t AuEq)

   

  And this deposit should continue to grow, including from another 40km of drilling that is already underway as part of the 2026 program.

  AMQ stock gained on the news, and is up +12% over the past week (ending 6 Feb, intraday) – strongly outperforming our 39-company Cu explorer median weekly loss of -3.3%.

  AMQ stock closed up +6.5% on Friday alone (6 Feb) at 82c/sh, market cap C$154m, and market cap/lb resource US$0.097/lb CuEq ($78/oz AuEq) assuming 80% ownership of project resources – just below the upper-quartile-range (75-percentile) of our 39-company Cu explorer peer group, and just above the mean US$0.073/lb CuEq ($59/oz AuEq) and well above median US$0.033/lb CuEq ($27/oz AuEq). And these group average market cap/lb valuations appearing rather low, as many Toronto listed junior copper mining stocks continue to appear shorted by bad actors.

• Silver producer and senior gold producer FRESNILLO PLC (LON:FRES) announced a few weeks ago (on 22 Jan) the completion of its acquisition of gold developer Probe Gold Inc. (TSX:PRB) and its ~8Moz flagship Novador project in Quebec which includes 4 past-producing mines, along with additional resources of some ~2Moz split across a few other project areas (also in Quebec). The all-cash deal was first announced a few months ago (on 31 Oct 2025), and was valued at C$3.65/share PRB or ~C$780m (US$560m), for a 24% premium to PRB’s 30-day VWAP (on 30 Oct 2025). Fresnillo is one of the world’s largest primary silver producers and a major Mexican gold producer, with a portfolio of 8 key operating mines in Mexico plus exploration/development properties, and this deal marks the company’s (welcomed) slight diversification into Canada/Quebec 🤝🫡 . FRES adds 10Moz of resources for a price of US$56/oz (and P/NAV of 0.13x from 2024 PEA at recent spot gold $4,441/oz – in-line with gold developer median 0.13x at same gold price) - increasing FRES’s resource inventory by ~13% to 88.2Moz AuEq (now 41% from Ag and 53% from Au for a huge 94% from precious metals, rest Pb-Zn byproduct), now trading (on 6 Feb) at a FRES market cap/oz resource of US$419/oz AuEq ($6.74/oz AgEq) – a 29% discount to 13-company senior gold producer group median US$594/oz AuEq, and a 46% discount to fellow silver dominant peer Coeur Mining, Inc. NYSE:CDE $703/oz AuEq ($11.3/oz AgEq) and an 81% discount to the top silver dominant peer Wheaton Precious Metals NYSE:WPM US$2,165/oz AuEq ($34.82/oz AgEq) – AFTER FRES stock gained +72% over past ~3 months since closing this deal (nearly double the performance of the senior gold group median of +40% for exact same period - suggesting FRES shareholders liked it).

• Intermediate gold (and copper & silver) producer Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) announced Monday (2 Feb) the acquisition of copper developer Foran Mining (TSX:FOM) and its flagship 100%-owned McIlvenna Bay project in Saskatchewan which is under construction with commercial production due mid-2026. FOM shareholders will receive 0.1128 shares EGO (and US$0.01/sh) per share FOM in a mostly all-share deal worth C$3.8b - an 8% premium to the 20-day VWAP and nil premium to closing price on 30 Jan (after FOM gained +35% during Jan – outperforming our 35-company copper developer peer group median monthly gain of +17%). Eldorado already had 4 producing mines across Canada, Greece and Turkiye – and now adds the McIlvenna Bay 4,900 tpd UG mine with resources of 39 Mt @ 2.02% CuEq (indicated) and 5Mt @ 1.8% CuEq (inferred) – and also a pipeline of other similar projects including Bigstone with a starter 4.4Mt resource and Tesla with an exploration target 28-45Mt grading 0.9-1.3% Cu. EGO’s pre-existing resources of 31.71 Moz AuEq (81% from Au, 10% from Cu, rest Pb-Ag) now become slightly diversified with FOM’s C-Zn dominant resources (growing on this deal by ~10% to 35.0 Moz AuEq, still a dominant ~75% from Au). FOM’s resources of 2.6 Blbs CuEq (48% from Cu, 22% from Zn, rest Ag-Pb-Au) had traded at the very top of our Cu developer peer group at market cap/lb of US$0.90/lb CuEq ($728/oz AuEq) and P/NAV of 3.9x at 3-month trailing average Cu price $5.50/lb. The valuable premium may be partly justified by FOM’s deep pipeline of projects, and might also be slightly overhyped on its near-term production status. The high valuation makes deal a win for FOM shareholders. It’s also a win for the gold sector (as it TAKES THE PUCK from the copper sector with this acquisition/absorption of this poster child asset). The scarcity value of the near-term cash flows from Cu (whose price has risen ~+40% over past year) and especially from Zn (whose price has risen ~21% over past year to US$1.50/lb, and for which there are few to no primary Zn mines that can be ramped up to plug widening supply shortages). EGO’s basic shares outstanding will rise ~24% to ~265m. And partly given FOM’s super high valuation vs. peers, investors traded EGO stock down ~9% (over past week) to US$39.02/sh, market cap C$10.36b, and market cap/oz US$216/oz AuEq – a 24% discount to the int. gold producer group median US$283/oz AuEg (giving FOM shareholders renewed upside). And although the drop in EGO share price raises the question/possibility that its shareholders might not approve this deal, continued rising of the copper and ZINC prices in the near term on widening supply deficits could ease any concerns EGO shareholders have on FOM’s valuation, and help push the deal over the line.

• Former lithium brine explorer – now developer – Pursuit Minerals Ltd (ASX:PUR) announced Monday (2 Feb) results of a PFS and maiden reserve for its flagship, 100%-owned Rio Grande Sur project in Salta Province, Argentina. The study contemplates 5,000 tpa for 25-yr mine life from 6 production wells and a network of evaporation ponds, yielding a post-tax NPV8 of US$364m from initial capital of US$136.5m at a LT Li price of $27,500/t Li carbonate (that the study assumes is variable, starting at US$15,714/t Li carb first year, and rising to $22,500/t Li carb by year 4, and finally to $27,500/t Li carb from year 6) - with low all-in sustaining costs US$6,520/t. PUR stock inched higher following this news, and is up +8% over past week (ending 3 Feb) - strongly outperforming our 16-company Li brine developer peer group median weekly performance of -15% - to A$0.13/sh (3 Feb) and market cap A$24m, market cap/oz resource US$13/t LCE (36% discount to group median US$20.5/t LCE) and P/NAV of 0.21x at our 3-month trailing average Li price US$16,264/t LCE (in-line with Li brine developer median 0.21x).

Disclaimer: Provided for informational and educational purposes on an ‘as-is’ basis, and is not investment advice. For full disclosures, visit www.hostrockcapital.com/disclosures.