Morning briefing: South32 invests again in Aldebaran

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

Today is Tuesday August 1st. 

The gold price on Monday shot up from $1991 per ounce to as high as $2010, October futures basis, surprisingly right after the a.m. London price fix. After hitting $2010 the Comex banks had seen enough and pushed the price down over the last 40 minutes into the Comex close and the price settled the afternoon Globex digital session at $2,003. The Mining Stock Journal is interested by the move because it accompanies a continued reflation of the stock market, perhaps signalling the potential onset of Central Banks currency hyperinflation. At the same time gold shot up in price, silver rocketed from $24.32 per ounce to as high at $24.98 before getting pushed lower in the low-volume post-Comex Globex session. Silver settled at $24.83. The mining stocks outperformed every other sector of the stock market by many multiples percentage-wise. The GDX rose 2.25%. The mining stock journal offered that, while the mining stocks right now are the only true value sector in the stock market and may have attracted some interest from fundamentals-based funds, a meaningful part of the move may have been short-covering. That in and of itself is potentially bullish for mining stocks.

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 focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.

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

Aldebaran Resources announced a C$17.5 million non-brokered private placement led by investments from South32 and Route One Investment Company Proceeds to advance the Altar copper-gold project in San Juan, Argentina. South32 will acquire 8.5 million shares at $1.01 to increase its interest from 9.9% to 14.8%. A second tranche will see Route One acquire 8.2 million shares, South32 acquire 1.5 million shares and management acquire 400,000 shares at 88c per share. The additional investment means South32 now has anti-dilution rights and can nominate a director to the Aldebaran board of directors. These benefits materialise when it obtains a 12.5% equity interest in the company. Aldebaran Resources (TSX-V: ALDE, OTCQX: ADBRF), news release 

SilverCrest Metals announced the results from an Updated Independent Technical Report for the Las Chispas silver mine in Sonora, Mexico confirming strong economics for an eight-year operation generating average annual production of 57,000 oz/y Au and 5.5Moz/y Ag for 10Moz/y AgEq during the first seven full years at all-in sustaining cost of $11.98/AgEq. The updated Reserve is 3.4 Mt grading 719 gpt AgEq for 78.6 Moz AgEq, a 13% reduction from the 2021 FS, the production plan is simplified through the use of bulk mining, which has reduced LOM mined grade about 18%. However, metallurgical recoveries, based on those achieved in the process plant improved. LOM sustaining capital of $219.9M has increased by 77.5% as development unit costs and the amount of infrastructure required increased due to the expanded mine footprint. SilverCrest will target growth through a $10M exploration program focused on targeting 40% of the updated Inferred Resource for conversion to M&I for future Reserve consideration. SilverCrest has paid off all of its $90M debt since commercial production was announced in November 2022 and at the end of Q2, 2023 had accumulated a treasury a cash balance of $59M. SilverCrest TSX: SIL | NYSE American: SILV news release

EMX Royalty executed a binding term sheet with Franco-Nevada for the joint acquisition of newly created precious metals and copper royalties sourced by EMX. Franco-Nevada will contribute 55% (up to US$5.5 million) and EMX will contribute 45% (up to US$4.5 million) towards the royalty acquisitions, with the resulting royalty interests equally split ( 50/50). The initial term is for three years from the signing date, or until the maximum contributions totaling US$10 million from both companies have been met, and may be extended. The companies see opportunity to finance junior explorers are a time where equity capital is difficult to source. EMX will be responsible for managing all Royalty transaction sourcing, asset analysis, due diligence review, contract negotiations and other related activities in connection with the acquisition of Royalties. EMX Royalty (NYSE American: EMX) (TSXV: EMX) Franco Nevada TSX : FNV news release

 Faraday Copper  announced the final two drill holes from the Phase II program at the Copper Creek Project in Arizona, U.S. These two holes were drilled to test vertical extension of high-grade breccia mineralization above the American Eagle underground footprint and target previously undrilled areas. Highlights included 30.50m at 0.95% copper, 3.62 g/t silver and 0.02 g/t gold including 14.84 m at 1.61% copper, 2.05 g/t silver and 0.04 g/t gold in hole -037 at the Bald breccia, which confirmed near-surface, high-grade breccia mineralization within the Bald resource pit shell and highlights the potential for resource expansion above the American Eagle porphyry. A 20,000m Phase III drill program is planned to commence in the December quarter. A metallurgical program has commenced and is focused on grind size optimization, gold deportment and further test work on near surface mineralization. Faraday Copper (TSX:FDY) (OTCQX:CPPKF) news release

Calibre Mining announced additional near surface, resource expansion drill results from its 2023 program at the Pan Gold Mine in the Battle Mountain – Eureka gold trend in Nevada. Results at the Dynamite North and Palomino targets located immediately north and south of the current open pit operation continue to expand zones with grades higher than Pan’s stated Mineral Resource grade of 0.4 g/t gold. These additional higher-grade results, in combination with the newly discovered Coyote target announced earlier this year, continue to demonstrate the potential to increase resources, grade, and confidence around the Pan mine. Highlights included 38.1m at 1.23 g/t Au in hole 80 at the Palomino Target including 12.2m at 2.97 g/t. Calibre Mining (TSX: CXB; OTCQX: CXBMF) news release

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