Morning Briefing: Gold Rises from Bank Fallout and Treasury Intervention
Welcome to Mining Stock Daily. I’m Trevor Hall. And I’m Paul Harris.
Today is Monday March 13th.
Gold and silver rose enough on Thursday and Friday to enable gold to close higher for the week though silver was down for the week. Gold was up 1.8%, or $32 per ounce on Friday and silver jumped 34 cents per ounce or 1.7% in response to the reports that Silicon Valley Bank was put into receivership by the FDIC after word of its insolvency caused a depositor run on the bank. The metals diverged positively from the stock market, as the stock market was hammered on the news. Sunday evening gold was up another $16 and silver another 24 cents on the news that the Fed and the U.S. Treasury would cover the uninsured depositors of the bankrupt bank.
The Mining Stock Journal said that coin dealers reported a big spike in the sale of silver coins over the weekend. The newsletter, disgusted by the SVB news, suggested that this could trigger a big rally in the precious metals sector, as the Fed and the Government have now signaled that the Fed put is now back in place and money will be printed to address the fall-out from systemic moral hazard. Despite a 1.5% drop in the S&P 500 Friday, the mining stocks reacted positively to the rally in the metals, with the GDX jumping nearly 2%. The Mining Stock Journal offered the observation that it looks like 2008 is starting to repeat, only this time it will be worse, which is bullish for the precious metals.
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….
New Found Gold announced results from one diamond drill hole that was completed as part of a follow-up drill program at the new Iceberg discovery, located 300m northeast of Keats Main along the highly prospective Appleton Fault Zone. Hole 1120 returned 29.85m of 49.65 g/t gold starting at 63m depth, and included other intervals of 4.35m of 183 g/t and 2.95m of 158 g/t. Characteristics of mineralization remain consistent with those seen at Keats Main, further supporting the interpretation that Iceberg is hosted by the Keats-Baseline Fault Zone (“KBFZ”) and is likely the eastern extension of Keats Main that has been displaced by faulting. Drilling is ongoing at Iceberg with a focus on both expansion of this new discovery and exploring along strike. Several assays remain pending. New Found Gold trades on the TSXV with NFG and on the NYSE American with NFGC. News Release
Fortuna Silver Mines provided an update on its Sunbird drilling program at the Séguéla Gold Project located in Côte d’Ivoire. Infill drilling at Sunbird to upgrade resource confidence has commenced, with the first batch of results returning shallow high grade intersections from modelled low grade areas from within the pit optimization shell, including highlights such as 10.6 g/t Au over a true width of 21.7m in hole 1572 and 14.9 g/t Au over a true width of 14m from hole 1570. In addition to the initial infill results, extension drilling to test the northern strike beyond the pit shell has been successful in intersecting additional high grade results such as 12 g/t Au over a true width of 5.6m in hole 1566 and 6.6 g/t Au over a true width of 6.3m in hole 1567. Fortuna Silver trades on the NYSE with FSM and on the TSX with FBI. News Release
ArcWest Exploration entered into an earn-in agreement with Freeport-McMoRan to advance ArcWest’s Todd Creek copper-gold project in BC’s Golden Triangle which adjoins Newcrest Mining’s Brucejack mine. Freeport has a two-stage option to earn up to an 80% ownership interest in Todd Creek over up to a 10-year period. To earn an initial 51% interest, Freeport is required to fund C$20 million of work expenditures over a 5-year period and make staged cash payments to ArcWest totaling $900,000. ArcWest will be the operator during the initial earn-in period. Upon obtaining a 51% interest, Freeport can elect to earn an additional 29% interest by sole funding a further $30 million within the following five years and make staged cash payments to ArcWest totaling $750,000. ArcWest Exploration (TSX-V: AWX) News release
Bear Creek Mining revised the terms of the heads of agreement with Equinox Gold for the final US$25 million installment for the purchase of the Mercedes Gold Mine in Sonora, Mexico. The Revised Terms convert the Deferred Payment into a secured interest bearing promissory note that matures on October 2024 at a nominal rate of interest of 12.5% per annum plus the greater of the 90-day average Secured Overnight Financing Rate or 2.50% per annum. The Note will amortize at a fixed rate of US$700,000 per month until 2024 and thereafter at an amount equal to the greater of US$700,000 or 50% of the free cash flow generated from Mercedes. Bear Crrek may prepay, without penalty, any portion of the Note at any time prior to Maturity. The Note will be secured with liens on Bear Creek holding companies. The company will also issue Equinox Gold 2.75M shares. Bear Creek Mining (TSXV: BCM) (OTCQX: BCEKF) new release
Wesdome Gold Mines announced an updated Resources and Reserves at its Kiena Mine Complex in Val d'Or, Quebec and at the Eagle River Mine near Wawa, Ontario. At December 31, 2022, Wesdome’s combined proven and probable reserves totalled 1Moz with 2.4Mt grading 12.9g/t gold; measured and indicated mineral resources (exclusive of reserves) were 350,000oz with 1.4Mt grading 7.7g/t. Reserves and Resource estimates at both sites reflect higher cut-off grades, reduced exploration in H2, a higher allocation towards definition and infill drilling as well as a more stringent and robust approach to reconciliation, 3D modeling and resource classification. This year the Company has budgeted 137,000m of drilling, with a primary focus on the expansion of reserves and mineral resources and delineating the new discoveries made in 2022. At Kiena, an exploration ramp is budgeted to follow-up and expand on the near-surface Presqu’ile Zone. Effort will also seek to convert a portion of resources to reserves. Wesdome Gold Mines (TSX: WDO) 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.