Historically, violent downs are usually followed by violent ups in this gut-churning sector.

The 60 to 90 days of recent gains, were most welcomed after approximately 1200 days of slow torture.

The global market crash, commodities meltdown, dam disasters, massive write-downs... it couldn't get any worse...and you know what? It didn't.

New investors are ecstatic over their tremendous gains in the mining sector. Long term holders, while happier, still have a lot to complain about.

It's always shocking to observe a mining stock that surges 100% to 200%, yet it can still be down over 50% from its 5 year high.

Detour Gold is up 132% for the year. It's interesting to note that $DGC ran up 636% over the last 3 years. And get this...it still needs to rise over 80% to reach its 2011 high.

Cobwebs are coming off the wallets. Over $600 million in equity, debt, and streaming deals were announced last week.

Complete coverage of the weeks events can be viewed here in one of the best research reports in the country, from Haywood Securities (Link).

Instead of categorizing the senior, intermediate, and junior miners (featured below), this piece will focus on stocks over $5, and under $5 (except Glencore which used to trade at $8.10, and Vale, that peaked at $37.25).

They both suffered similar, and extremely different types of disasters, and their market caps are way too large not to include, in the $5 plus category.

A few more that stand out:

Harmony Gold (up 466%) implemented a USD $400 Mil hedging contract with the rand/dollar. This allows the company to establish an attractive minimum exchange rate on the dollars received when they sell gold. Shareholder's will continue to benefit on any upside in the (dollar) gold price.

$HMY is enjoying improved production, however, a higher gold price and local currency leverage are the dominant factors.

Endeavour (up 167%) insider buying by #TakeoverKing Frank Giustra, and a 10 for 1 rollback propelled $EDV to the top of the $5 plus group.

Read Haywood broker Riley Skinner's latest article: In Search of Skin in the Game

McEwen Mining (up 194%) announced a 15 million share repurchase program on October 10th. $MUX shares ran from $1.27 to a Friday close of $2.47 on 20,220,877 shares, at an average price of $1.69 ($34,083,104 dollar volume).

Rio Tinto (up 17%) had a low percentage gain so far this year. $RTP has been very stable compared to their rivals $VALE and $BHP.

Over $5:

$EDV ENDEAVOUR (10 for 1 Rollback)

  • Year High 12.44
  • Year Low 4.35
  • Last 11.62
  • Up 167%

$ABX BARRICK

  • Year High 19.99
  • Year Low 7.88
  • Last 18.27
  • Up 132%

$DGC DETOUR

  • Year High 22.82
  • Year Low 9.08
  • Last 21.06
  • Up 132%

$AU ANGLO

  • Year High 12.87
  • Year Low 5.64
  • Last 12.15
  • Up 115%

$FCX FREEPORT

  • Year High 23.97
  • Year Low 3.52
  • Last 7.43
  • Up 111%

$NG NOVAGOLD

  • Year High 6.95
  • Year Low 3.42
  • Last 6.48
  • Up 89%

$AGI ALAMOS

  • Year High 9.00
  • Year Low 3.26
  • Last 5.82
  • Up 79%

$GLCNF GLENCORE

  • Year High 4.84
  • Year Low 1.01
  • Last 1.77
  • Up 75%

$AEM AGNICO

  • Year High 51.49
  • Year Low 27.63
  • Last 46.72
  • Up 69%

$PAA PAN AMERICAN

  • Year High 13.54
  • Year Low 7.77
  • Last 13.02
  • Up 68%

$NEM NEWMONT

  • Year High 27.90
  • Year Low 15.39
  • Last 25.35
  • Up 65%

$SLW SILVER WHEATON

  • Year High 27.28
  • Year Low 14.51
  • Last 20.85
  • Up 44%

$SSO SILVER STANDARD

  • Year High 10.56
  • Year Low 5.22
  • Last 7.47
  • Up 43%

$G GOLDCORP

  • Year High 27.90
  • Year Low 13.55
  • Last 18.73
  • Up 38%

$VALE

  • Year High 9.14
  • Year Low 2.13
  • Last 2.71
  • Up 27%

$BHP

  • Year High 49.65
  • Year Low 18.46
  • Last 22.56
  • Up 22%

$RIO RIO TINTO

  • Year High 49.72
  • Year Low 21.88
  • Last 25.52
  • Up 17%

Under $5:

$HMY HARMONY

  • Year High 3.18
  • Year Low .53
  • Last 3.00
  • Up 466%

$MUX MCEWEN

  • Year High 2.56
  • Year Low .84
  • Last 2.47
  • Up 194%

$CDE COEUR

  • Year High 6.35
  • Year Low 1.62
  • Last 3.55
  • Up 119%

$IMG IAMGOLD

  • Year High 3.55
  • Year Low 1.50
  • Last 3.19
  • Up 113%

$K KINROSS

  • Year High 4.63
  • Year Low 1.79
  • Last 3.91
  • Up 118%

$AR ARGONAUT

  • Year High 2.15
  • Year Low .78
  • Last 1.55
  • Up 99%

$YRI YAMANA

  • Year High 5.40
  • Year Low 1.89
  • Last 3.67
  • Up 94%

$HL HECLA

  • Year High 3.42
  • Year Low 1.45
  • Last 2.48
  • Up 71%

$BCM BEAR CREEK

  • Year High 1.46
  • Year Low 0.50
  • Last .85
  • Up 70%

$BTO B2GOLD

  • Year High 2.21
  • Year Low .86
  • Last 1.45
  • Up 69%

$NGD NEW GOLD

  • Year High 5.04
  • Year Low 2.52
  • Last 4.25
  • Up 69%

$HBM HUDBAY

  • Year High 12.61
  • Year Low 2.26
  • Last 3.79
  • Up 68%

$CKG CHESAPEAKE

  • Year High 2.59
  • Year Low 1.39
  • Last 2.30
  • Up 65%

$ELD ELDORADO

  • Year High 7.25
  • Year Low 2.67
  • Last 3.92
  • Up 47%

$DPM DUNDEE

  • Year High 3.19
  • Year Low .84
  • Last 1.15
  • Up 37%

$NSU NEVSUN

  • Year High 5.35
  • Year Low 3.27
  • Last 4.42
  • Up 35%