Morning Briefing: B2Gold pulls Gramalote project

Welcome to Mining Stock Daily. Standing-in for Trevor Hall, I’m Paul Harris.

Today is Thursday, August 4th

Wednesday evening and into early Thursday morning, the gold price rose $13 per ounce from Wednesday’s  low to $1,786 then pushed lower as the Asian physical markets closed down for the day and the paper traders in London took over. After a brief rally that took the price from $1776 up to $1789, a flash-crash took gold down to $1770 before the yellow metal bounced and settled at $1782. The Mining Stock Journal said the flash-crash trigger event is a mystery but likely was started by the price management team at 33 Liberty Street in New York, which is the address of the NY Fed. 

Silver followed the same trading pattern as gold, only it was considerably more volatile. After launching from $19.80 per ounce back over $20 to $20.13, it was flash-crashed back down to $19.80 before running back up to settle a couple pennies above $20. The Mining Stock Journal commented that, while the trading action in the metals is frustrating, the trading tape seems to suggest that the path of least resistance for gold and silver may be up. 

The mining stocks continue to be subjected to assault and battery. Despite the big move higher in the overall stock market, the GDX was hit 1.3% and the Amex Gold Bugs index dropped 2%. Although it looks gloomy for the mining stocks right now, the Mining Stock Journal believes that investors with cash to allocate to the sector will be richly rewarded if they hold their breath and start to add to existing positions or start new positions.

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…Arizona Sonoran Copper Company.

Arizona Sonoran Copper Company is a lower-risk copper developer with a significant exploration potential on private land just south of Phoenix, in an infrastructure rich area of Arizona. The Cactus Project PEA illustrates an 18 year mine life, generating US$1 Billion post-tax free cash flow. It is a scalable, low capital intensity project with strong leverage to the copper price. The Company is led by an executive management team and Board which have a long-standing track record of successful project delivery in North America complemented by global capital markets expertise. Read more about the company at arizonasonoran.com.

And here’s what you need to know this morning….

B2Gold has pulled the plug on the Gramalote open pit gold development project in Antioquia, Colombia which is a joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti. With a feasibility study due before the end of the September quarter, the partners determined that the project does not currently meet their investment thresholds for development at this time and they will review the alternatives for the project over the coming months. B2Gold trades on the TSX under BTO and on the NYSE AMERICAN under BTG. News release

B2Gold is not the only company dealing with cost pain, but while B2 sort to head it off before development began, IAMGOLD is not so lucky at its Cote project in Ontario. The company again revised higher the development cost to $1.9 billion from $1.3 billion in May. The original estimate was $710 million-$760 million. The project is over 57% complete and the start of mine operations has been delayed to early 2024 from the end of 2023. The cost inflation means IAMGOLD will need additional liquidity to fund it. IAMGOLD trades on the NYSE under IAG and on the TSX under IMG. News release

McEwen Copper, a subsidiary of McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE: MUX) (TSX: MUX), reported drilling results from its Los Azules project in San Juan, Argentina, which continue to deliver long intercepts of good grades. Highlights included 222m grading 0.95% Cu in hole 158. Drilling aims to improve confidence in the resource by converting Inferred mineral resources to the Indicated category; accelerate project advancement with metallurgical, hydrological and geotechnical drilling and Test the limits of the depth extension of the higher-grade mineralization. A PEA update is due early next year. McEwen Mining trades on the NYSE and TSX under MUX. News release

Regulus Resources TSX-V: REG, OTCQX: RGLSF reported the results from four more drill holes from its AntaKori copper-gold project in Cajamarca, Peru which aimed to fill-in a gap in the drilling for an eventual resource update and obtain additional information on the higher-grade breccia mineralization encountered in nearby drill holes.  Highlights included 171.95m grading 0.67% CuEq in hole 51 which intercepted skarn mineralization overprinted by intermediate-sulphidation mineralization. It also returned 1.41% Zn, which is not included in the Company’s normal CuEq calculation. Regulus Resources trades on the TSXV under REG and on the OTCQX under RGLSF. News release

P2 Gold reported the final fourteen reverse circulation drill holes at the Lucky Strike and Car Body zones at its Gabbs Project on the Walker-Lane Trend in Nevada, where a preliminary economic assessment (“PEA”) is underway. Highlights included 112.77m grading 0.62 g/t gold and 0.18% copper for an 0.81 g/t gold equivalent in hole 45 including 24.39m grading 1.57 g/t gold equivalent. The PEA will evaluate a heap leach only option and a combination heap leach and milling option and is targeted for completion in the December quarter. P2 Gold trades on the TSXV under PGLD. News release

That concludes today’s morning briefing.

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