Morning Briefing: Eloro Resource Estimate and Mining Begins at Manh Choh

Welcome to Mining Stock Daily. I’m Trevor Hall. 

Today is Wednesday August 30th. 

On Tuesday, after treading water sideways overnight, gold was smacked for $10 on no news about an hour after the LBMA a.m. fix, getting hit down to $1942 per ounce. But just after 8:30 a.m., the yellow metal shot up from $1942 to as high as $1966. The catalyst was weaker than expected economic reports, most notably the JOLTS report which showed that the number of open jobs in the U.S. was much lower than expected. Worse, the number of openings for the previous 2 months were revised sharply lower. The expectation is that the weak economic data will prompt the Fed to halt interest rate hikes, which is wildly bullish for gold and silver. 

Speaking of which, silver shot up from $24.22 per ounce to as high as 24.85 and settled at $24.76. It was up 2.1% from the previous day outperforming all of the broad stock indices except the SOXX and the Nasdaq 100. The mining stocks rose, though not as much as the Mining Stock Journal would have expected given the move in the metals. But the GDX jumped 1.8% and several silver stocks were up anywhere from 2% to 4%. It's possible that the big move the Mining Stock Journal is expecting after Labor Day may be starting now.

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… Fireweed Metals.

Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit fireweedmetals.com.

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

Minera Alamos provided its June quarter results and an operations update for its Santana gold mine in Sonora, Mexico. The company reported a net loss of C$2.1M for the quarter including a $3.7 million foreign exchange loss due to the strengthening peso. The company ended the quarter with $8.3M in cash and working capital of $20.6M. Subsequent to quarter end, it received a $2.6M VAT refund. Work at Santana focused on development and infrastructure in advance of a planned improvement in mining operations in the second half. Since June mining and stacking operations have been increasing steadily. The 3-year regional drought that inhibited production rates appears to be over as more typical weather patterns have returned. The company advances discussions with environmental regulator SEMARNAT regarding permit amendments to triple overall pad capacity. At the Cerro de Oro gold project, permit applications were completed and handed to its permitting consultants to guide the project through the permitting process. Minera Alamos (TSX VENTURE:MAI) News Release

Eloro Resources posted an inaugural mineral resource estimate for the Iska Iska silver-tin polymetallic project in the Potosi Department of Bolivia. The inferred mineral resource is 541Mt at 0.69% Zn, 0.28% Pb and 13.6 g Ag/t. The tin inferred mineral resource sits at 110Mt at 0.12% Sn, 0.14% Pb and 14.2 g Ag/t. The overall estimate contains almost 300Moz of silver, 4.1Mt of zinc, 1.7Mt of lead and 130,000t of tin for a total of 1.15Boz silver equivalent. The company says the overall in situ value based on the net net smelter return values is approximately US$6.8B of which US$3.3B is in the shallower high-grade zone in the potential open pit. (TSX: ELO; OTCQX: ELRRF) News Release

Contango ORE said mining started at its 30% owned Manh Choh Mine in Alaska with the Project on track and on budget to see production start in the second half of 2024. Mining operations primarily consist of pre-stripping, with any ore encountered to be stockpiled for transport to Kinross Gold’s Fort Knox mill for processing. Mill modification continues at Fort Knox. Manh Choh is expected to produce 225,000 gold equivalent ounces per year over a 4.5 year mine life. Contango’s share is expected to average 67,500oz/y. Manh Choh is 70% owned by Kinross Gold. Contango also initiated a surface drill program on the Coleman segment of the Lucky Shot vein at its Lucky Shot project. 12 to 15 drill holes for 3,000m will be drilled in-fill and extend the Coleman Segment, which contains 95,092oz of Indicated gold resource averaging 15.6 grams per metric tonne. Contango ORE (NYSE American: CTGO) news release

Copper Fox Metals announced an updated resource estimate on its Eaglehead copper-gold-molybdenum-silver porphyry copper project in northwestern British Columbia. It features an indicated resource of 70.8Mt grading 0.326% copper equivalent containing 509Mlb using metal prices of  US$3.50/lb copper, US$20/lb molybdenum, US$1,750/oz gold and US$20/oz silver. It also contains an inferred resource of 242.3Mt grading 0.246% CuEq for 1.3Blb. Copper Fox Metals (TSXV: CUU) (OTCQX: CPFXF) news release

AbraSilver posted assay results for the final set of drill holes completed as part of the Company’s Phase III drill program, on its wholly-owned Diablillos property in Salta Province, Argentina. Hole 70 was drilled to test the northeastern edge of the JAC zone and returned 64 m grading 148 g/t Ag. Hole 75 was drilled to test the northeastern edge and returned 15.0 m at 93 g/t Ag and 0.78 g/t Au. This particular results demonstrates the continuity of mineralization between the JAC zone and the main Oculto deposit, and the possibility of a combined open pit.  The Phase III drill program has now been successfully completed. The Company is preparing an updated MRE which remains on schedule to be completed within the next few weeks, to be followed by a PFS on the Diablillos project.  (TSX.V:ABRA) (OTC:ABBRF) News Release

Marathon Gold received confirmation from the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada that changes to the Valentine Gold Project to accommodate an open pit and associated infrastructure at the Berry Deposit do not constitute a new Designated Project, and do not require a new impact assessment. This means the assessment and subsequent permitting of Berry can proceed with an Environmental Assessment of a “new undertaking” by the provincial regulator, and a modified Decision Statement by the federal regulator. Marathon anticipates these processes will be completed during 2023 and 2024, in advance of the scheduled commencement of mining at Berry in the second quarter of 2025. Marathon Gold; TSX: MOZ news release

The Mining Stock Daily morning briefing is produced by Clear Commodity Network and Investment Research Dynamic’s Mining Stock Journal. It is distributed throughout the world through your podcast network of choice, and by our friends at the Junior Mining Network. 

The information presented should not be considered investment advice. Mining stock daily and its affiliates are not responsible for any loss arising from any investment decision in connection with the material presented herein. Please do your own research or speak with a licensed financial representative before making any investment decisions.