New PEA for the Bunker Hill Mine: FPX Concludes Drilling at Decar

Welcome to Mining Stock Daily. I am Trevor Hall.

Today is Monday September 20th. 

Last week, after spiking up to $1812 after Tuesday's CPI report, gold and silver spent the rest of the week in the throes of the price management squad, with most of the damage occurring after the Asian and Indian markets had closed for the day on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Gold closed out the week at $1751, down about $37 from the previous week's close while silver was bloodied for $1.45, closing out the week at $22.34. This is silver's lowest price since July 2020. The Mining Stock Journal said that, given the lack of news or events that might have triggered the sell-off of paper gold and silver, and given that interest rates and the dollar didn't move much - or at least not enough to support the narrative that rising rates and a higher dollar hurt the metals, it can only be concluded that the manipulation effort targeted getting the gold price down as much as possible ahead of this week's FOMC meeting. The newsletter believes the Fed will not offer any more clarity on the timing of its threatened taper and that should be bullish for metals. The COT report shows that the banks continue to reduce their paper short positions in both gold and silver.

We’ll get to the news out of the miners and explorers in a moment, but first a quick mention of 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.

Bunker Hill Mining shared the results of their updated PEA for the Bunker Hill Mine in Idaho. The updated PEA contemplates a $44 million initial capital cost (including 20% contingency) to rapidly restart the mine over an 18-month period, generating approximately $25 million of annual average free cash flow over an extended 11-year mine life while producing nearly 1 billion zinc equivalent pounds of metal, including over 8 million ounces of silver. The company says an increased use in long-hole open stoping mining drives a 29% reduction in All in sustaining costs to $.47 per pound of payable zinc. Concurrent with engineering studies designed to further enhance the project’s economics, the Company and its advisors are actively engaged with capital providers that have expressed an interest in financing the rapid restart of the mine. Bunker Hill trades on the CSE with BNKR and on the OTCQB with BHLL. News Release

Equinox Gold, whom we spoke with at just a short few days ago, produced their results for the pre feasibility study on the expansion at the company’s Aurizona Gold Mine in Brazil. The company says by mining the underground and satellite open-pit deposits concurrently with the existing Piaba open-pit, the expansion would extend the Aurizona mine life to 11 years with average annual production of 137,000 ounces of gold per year and total life-of-mine production of 1.5 million oz of gold. Peak production in years 2026 to 2029 averages more than 160,000 oz of gold per year. Updated Mineral Reserve and Resource estimates for Aurizona, incorporating the new underground and open-pit deposits and offsetting 18 months of mining depletion, show a 73% increase over the December 31, 2019 estimate with 1.7 million oz of Proven & Probable Mineral Reserves grading 1.60 grams per tonne gold plus 868,000 oz of Measured & Indicated Mineral Resources (exclusive of Reserves) grading 1.49 g/t gold. The underground mine comes with a $154 million price tag, and included a $20 million contingency. Equinox Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE with EQX. News Release

FPX Nickel says they have completed the drilling programs at the at the Decar Nickel District in Central British Columbia, which was also the most active campaign on the project since 2012 with a focus on resource conversion of the Baptiste Deposit plus a maiden drill campaign at the Van Target, located 6 kilometres north of Baptiste. At the Van Target, a total of 2,689 metres of drilling in nine widely-spaced diamond drill holes has been completed. The size of the Van Target defined by outcrop sampling is comparable to the Baptiste deposit, which measures 3.2 kilometres along strike with widths of up to 1,080 metres. At Baptiste, a 10-ten hole, 2,710-mere infill diamond drilling program has been completed. Assays from the Van and Baptiste programs are pending, and first results are expected to be reported by the Company in October. FPX Nickel trades on the TSX Venture with FPX. News Release

Red Pine Exploration reported new holes from its Wawa gold project today, which also included the discovery of gold mineralization in the Jubilee Shear Zone more than 400 metres down-dip of the current boundary of the Surluga Deposit inferred resource. That result was 4.78 meters of 25.73 g/t gold, which also included .92 meters of 45.8 g/t. The company also noted that there are indications the higher-grade gold mineralization extends down-dip of the Surluga Deposit inferred resource, in the northern extension of the Surluga Deposit. Red Pine Exploration trades on the TSX Venture with RPX. News Release

Heliostar Metals provided results from six revere circulation holes completed at the Aquila vein target, part of the large scale Unga district in Alaska. Results included 1.77 g/t gold over 18.28 meters and .5 g/t gold over 41.15 meters. These results position Aquila as a third centre of mineralization at the Unga project. The company says there is geological evidence this shallow mineralization is only the top of the system. Heliostar Metals trades on the TSX Venture with HSTR and on the OTCQX with HSTXF. News Release

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