Morning Briefing: Precious Metals Make a Strong Statement

Welcome to Mining Stock Daily. I’m Trevor Hall. And I’m Paul Harris.

Today is Wednesday April 5th.

On Tuesday, after treading water overnight between $1995 and $2000 per ounce, gold launched like a Falcon 9 about an hour before the Comex opened. The price soared from $2000 to as high as $2043, June gold basis, before the yellow metal pulled back to settle the afternoon session at $2037. Silver similarly shot up from $24.07 to as high as $25.19 per ounce and settled at $25.17. The Mining Stock Journal said that the price action was likely a product of short-covering in Comex paper gold and silver derivatives as well as large, fundamentals-base investors moving into gold and silver for their wealth preservation attributes. The newsletter elaborated on the latter dynamic by commenting that a wider investor audience is now aware that most of the non-western world is moving away from using the dollar as a reserve currency for trade settlement purposes. 

The big move Tuesday in gold and silver followed the news that France settled a large trade with China in yuan. This is on the heels of several countries announcing that bi-lateral trade would be settled in domestic currencies and not dollars. The newsletter added that it would be a mistake to dismiss this recent development with respect to the dollar's reserve currency status. The mining stocks soared in response to the outsized moves in gold and silver. The GDX closed up 3.4% from the previous day. The Mining Stock Journal is expecting a pullback to consolidate recent gains in the sector but noted that the current move higher could still have legs.

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.

ASCU is an early-stage copper developer and explorer of the Cactus Mine and its satellite project, Parks/Salyer, both situated on a 4km mine trend on private land in Arizona’s porphyry copper district. Opportunity for significant growth and scale exist along the mine trend, while future capex requirements outlined in the Cactus PEA benefit from significant onsite and nearby access to infrastructure. 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. For more information, please visit www.arizonasonoran.com.

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

Orezone Gold (TSX: ORE, OTCQX: ORZCF) Burkina Faso’s newest gold mine, produced 41,301 oz in the March quarter at its Bomboré Mine, which it sold for an average realized price of US$1,892 per oz resulting in sales proceeds of US$81.6 million. It ended March with a cash position of US$45.2 million and repaid US$9.8M of principal on senior loans. During the quarter, the Bomboré mill continued to exceed design by achieving an average throughput of 13% above nameplate capacity while maintaining an average gold recovery of 92.2%. Its 2023 annual production guidance is 140,000 to 155,000 ounces. The Phase II Sulphide Expansion feasibility study update remains on track for completion in Q3. Orezone Gold Corporation (TSX: ORE OTCQX: ORZCF) news release

McEwen Copper, 52%-owned by McEwen Mining reported assay results from infill drilling at Los Azules in San Juan, Argentina. Highlights included an enriched zone of 152m grading 0.87% Cu in hole 183 which expands mineralization from adjacent high-grade results drilled in prior programs. Hole 184A also saw an enriched zone with 276m grading 0.92% Cu in a hydrothermal magmatic breccia within the core of the deposit, and hole 186 hit 282m grading 1% Cu. After resuming the exploration program in October 2022, drilling has now reached the 25,000m initially planned and will continue until the end of the field season. Key objectives include increasing drilling density to upgrade the classification of shallower copper resources to measured and indicated categories, and providing metallurgical, hydrological and geotechnical data for the feasibility study mine design to be completed in late 2024. McEwen Mining trading at a 52-week high. McEwen Mining (NYSE: MUX) (TSX: MUX), news release

Brixton Metals received the third payment of USD$500,000 for the Hog Heaven advanced-stage, high-sulphidation, epithermal copper-silver-gold project with porphyry potential in Montana, which is operated under an earn-in JV Agreement with Ivanhoe Electric. Ivanhoe Electric holds an option to acquire up to 75% interest by completing USD$44.5 million of total project spending. Recent work at Hog Heaven has focused on evaluating the historic drill hole database including re-logging 14,500m of drill core and assaying 3,600 drill core pulps for processing using current mineral assay technologies. Brixton understands that Ivanhoe Electric will compile and create a comprehensive geological model for the property with drill target identification underway and drilling expected to begin this summer to identify potential porphyry copper-gold mineralization. Brixton Metals (TSX-V: BBB, OTCQB: BBBXF) news release

Arizona Metals says step-out exploration drilling has intersected a potential new zone of copper-gold-zinc VMS mineralization located 600 m north and along strike of the Central Target EM anomaly. Hole KM-22-95 intersected 2.7 m grading 0.5% CuEq. at a vertical depth of approximately 320 m. Clasts of massive sulphide mineralization have been observed in this interval, which can be indicative of proximity to primary massive sulphide mineralization. Follow up drilling is planned to test for extensions of the mineralization encountered in this hole. In addition, extensional drilling located at the northern edge of the Kay Mine Deposit intersected 8.8 m of 4.8% CuEq in hole KM-23-97. This hole extended mineralization by 100 m north of hole KM-22-71A and confirmed the vertical continuity of high-grade mineralization in the 160 m between holes KM-20-11 and KM-21-19. Arizona Metals trades on the TSX with AMC and on the OTCQX with AZMCF. News Release

Outcrop Silver & Gold reported their updated metallurgical results on its Santa Ana silver project in Colombia. The second phase of metallurgical testing was completed to confirm high recoverability using flotation and is a critical de-risking milestone for Santa Ana. Testwork confirms flotation is an attractive recovery option for Santa Ana with excellent recoveries and concentrate grades as recoveries for both silver and gold confirmed 93.4% and 96.7%, respectively, consistent with previous metallurgical testing. The results will be incorporated in Santa Ana's upcoming maiden resource report. Outcrop trades on the TSXV with OCG and on the OTCQX with OCGSF. News Release

Skeena Resources said Hochschild Mining terminated its option to earn into 60% of the Snip Gold Project in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia and so Skeena has reassumed management of the Project and retained 100% ownership. Hochschild satisfied the minimum annual expenditure requirements which implies a minimum C$15 million on Snip. Skeena views this as a positive and plans to investigate opportunities to bolster its nearby Eskay Creek mine development project life by processing Snip ore at the Eskay Creek mill. Skeena Resources (TSX: SKE, NYSE: SKE) news release

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