Morning Briefing: B2Gold entered into an Agreement to buy Australian junior Oklo Resources
Welcome to Mining Stock Daily. Standing in for Trevor Hall, I’m Paul Harris.
Today is Thursday, May 26th
On Wednesday, the gold price sold off overnight with no rationale other than the usual coercive selling in advance of the release of the FOMC meeting minutes. The propagandist explanation is that "quote-unquote" investors were bracing for a hawkish surprise in the FOMC meeting minutes released Wednesday afternoon. Strangely, the same concerns did not seem to affect the general stock market. Wednesday was also the expiration of June gold Comex futures options, an event that ritualistically is preceded by a beat-down from predatory selling by the price management team. Gold fell Wednesday from the mid $1860's per ounce to as low as $1841. It then bounced to settle $1851 after both the Comex closed and from the absence of any surprises in the FOMC minutes. Silver similarly sold off overnight from $22.08 per ounce to as low as $21.72 before bouncing back over $22 but settling just below that level. $22 is turning out to be a dog-fight for now for silver.
The mining stocks were sold off pretty hard during the morning trading but bounced back with the metals, although the GDX closed down 0.46%. The Mining Stock Journal noted that sentiment readings for the mining stocks are turning bullish. Unless the stock market goes off another cliff, the newsletter expects the precious metals sector to rally. In that regard, the next issue of the Mining Stock Journal will be released this afternoon. The issue will contain an overlooked micro-cap explorer trading just below cash value per share and which received a big cash infusion from a large mining company. You can learn more about the newsletter at InvestmentResearchDynamics.com
We will get to the news from the miners and explorers in a moment, but first a word about today’s sponsor.
This episode of Mining Stock Daily is brought to you by Western Copper and Gold.
Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com.
And here’s what you need to know this morning….
B2Gold entered into an Agreement to buy Australian junior Oklo Resources in a cash and stock deal to acquire 1,405 km2 of concessions covering highly prospective greenstone belts in Mali, West Africa, including the Dandoko Project about 25km from the Fekola Mine and the Anaconda area, where B2Gold is currently undertaking 225,000m of drilling. B2 will pay 0.0206 of a B2 share and 5.c Australian cash for each Oklo Share representing a purchase price of about 17.3c in a transaction valued at A$91.3 million. In March 2021, Oklo delivered an JORC Measured and Indicated resource of 8.7 million tonnes grading 1.88 grams per tonne gold for 528,000oz across the Seko, Koko, Disse and Diabarou deposits. B2Gold believes that 65% of the resource is contained in soft oxidized material, which would be amenable to processing at B2Gold's Fekola mill. B2Gold trades on the TSX under BTO and on the NYSE AMERICAN under BTG. News release
SilverCrest Metals said it has completed construction of the Las Chispas processing plant in Sonora, Mexico ahead of schedule and commissioning is now underway, with the plant expected to reach commercial production in the December quarter. It said due to extensive underground development, there is a significant amount of stockpiled ore on surface to allow for a more measured ramp-up of underground mining over the first few years of production and increased operational flexibility. While the final capital costs incurred remain to be settled, the capital cost of the Project is anticipated to be below the US$137.7 million budget estimated in the Feasibility Study. SilverCrest Metals trades on the TSX under SIL and on the NYSE American under SILV. News release
Marathon Gold said a draft Environmental Assessment Report has been filed by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada for its Valentine Gold Project in Newfoundland and Labrador. The draft Report, and accompanying draft conditions for environmental assessment release, will be available for 30 days for public review and comment. At the conclusion of this period, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada will be in a position to make a Decision Statement on the acceptability of the Project for development. A positive Decision Statement will mark the completion of the federal environmental assessment. A parallel provincial environmental assessment concluded successfully in March. The draft environmental assessment Report concludes that the Project is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects. The Minister’s agreement with this finding will mean that the Minister is able to make a Decision Statement without reference to the federal Cabinet. The Project’s Environmental Impact Statement was filed in September 2020 but Marathon hit a speed bump in November last year, delaying the start of early works by one or two quarters after the local environmental authority requested additional information as part of the environmental impact statement approval process. Marathon aims to produce 173,000 ounces a year for 10 years from Valentine within a 13-year mine life. Marathon Gold trades on the TSX under MOZ. News release
SolGold released an updated mineral resource estimate for its Tandayama-America (TAM) porphyry copper-gold deposit at the Cascabel project in Imbabura, Ecuador. TAM now hosts a measured and indicated resource of 528.5 million tonnes grading 0.36% copper equivalent for 1.27Mt of contained copper and 3.16 million ounces of gold using metal price assumptions of US$3.40 per pound copper and $1,400 per ounce gold. The update represents an increase in contained metal of about 740,000t copper and 1.96Moz Au compared with the October 2021 maiden resource. TAM is 3km north of the Alpala deposit and shares the same geological and structural setting. Alpala hosts a measured and indicated resource of 2,663Mt grading 0.53% CuEq containing 9.9Mt of copper, 21.7Moz of gold and 92.2Moz of silver. Between TAM and Alpala is the Moran target which SolGold is currently drilling. The company said the first hole continues to intersect bornite and visible chalcopyrite copper sulphide mineralisation from 19.1m to its current depth of more than 400m. SolGold trades on the LSE and TSX under SOLG. News release.
Freegold Ventures announced results from an additional six holes for 3,559m from drilling designed to expand, upgrade and increase the overall resource grade at its Golden Summit Project near Fairbanks, Alaska. Highlights included 559.9m grading 1.22 grams per tonne gold in hole 65 in the Dolphin zone, including a sub interval of 408.5m grading 1.36g/t. Freegold Ventures trades on the (TSX under FVL and on the OTCQX under FGOVF. News release
Galleon Gold has begun the 2022 exploration drill program at its West Cache Gold Project in Timmins, Ontario. The initial 5,000m program will focus on high-priority drill targets identified during the Company's drill program in 2020-2021. In February 2022, Galleon released an updated resource estimate and a preliminary Economic Assessment with an Underground indicated Resource (4Mt grading 3.63 g/t gold for 472,000 ounces. Galleon Gold trades on the (TSXV under GGO. News release
That concludes today’s morning briefing.
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