Newcore Increases Drill Campaign; UPC joins Sprott

Welcome to Mining Stock Daily. This is your host, Trevor Hall

Today is Wednesday, April 28th. 

Gold had another volatile day on Tuesday, bouncing like a yo-yo between $1775 and $1785, in the absence of any specific news that would have triggered the price volatility. Silver, on the other hand, ran from $26.10 late Monday evening to as high as $26.51 mid-morning Tuesday, before turning lower for the rest of the day, ostensibly with the helping hand of the Comex bullion banks using paper silver to push the price lower. The Mining Stock Journal believes that gold and silver are being subjected to an aggressive effort by the banks to shake loose as much of the May silver open interest possible ahead of Thursday's first notice day

in order to minimize the amount of contracts that remain open going into the silver delivery period and thereby minimize the amount of silver that will need to be delivered by the end of May. The mining stocks took an unwarranted lashing on Tuesday as GDX endured a 1.9% spanking after being turned away at its 200 day moving average last Wednesday.  Though the Mining Stock Journal believes that the metals will rally after tomorrow's FOMC policy statement release, it noted that sentiment toward the sector needs some serious uplifting. Perhaps an unexpectedly dovish FOMC decision will generate the much-needed animal spirits.

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

This episode of Mining Stock Daily is brought to you by… Rio2.

Rio2 is advancing the Fenix Gold Project in Chile, the largest undeveloped gold heap leach project in the Americas. Fenix consists of 5 million ounces in the measured and indicated resource category and 1.4 million ounces in the inferred resource category. With a robust PFS in place, Fenix is set up for fast-tracked construction and production. You can find a list of project and company information on their website, rio2.com.

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

There was two pieces of news out this morning from Newcore Gold and their Enchi gold project in Ghana. First, the company announced they have intersected the longest intercept to date at Kojina Hill with .79 g/t gold over 59 meters, which also included 3 g/t over 10 meters. The Kojina Hill Gold Target does not currently have a defined resource and is outlined on surface by a two-kilometre-long by one-kilometre-wide gold-in-soil anomaly. At Nyam, the company intersected 1.32 g/t gold over 9 meters. They also had another hole intersected two gold mineralized structures, including 1.03 g/t gold over 4 meters, which was the oxide zone, and .67 g/t gold over 10 meters from the sulphide zone. In addition to these drill results, the company has decided to increase their drill campaign to a total of 66,000 meters, that is 8,000 meters more than originally planned. Newcore trades on the TSX Venture with NCAU and on the OTCQX with NCAUF. News Release

Sokoman Minerals says its ongoing Phase 6 drilling at the Moosehead Property has intersected additional near-surface gold mineralization at the Footwall Splay and South Pond Zones, as well as discovered a new, near-surface, mineralized structure at South Pond. Visible gold-bearing quartz veins were intersected in eight recently completed drill holes at the Footwall Splay, including 3.5 meters of 12.39 g/t gold, 11.6 meters of 21.07 g/t, and 5.1 meters of 15.51 g/t. At South Pond, the company reported 3.04 meters of 16.54 g/t gold. Sokoman Minerals trades on the TSX Venture with SIC and on the OTCQB with SICNF. News Release

South Star Mining says they have received positive initial results from its advanced testing program with its technology partner, United States laboratory. Positive outcomes in the first three phases of testing confirm the suitability of the flake graphite from the Santa Cruz Project for expandability, fire retardant, gaskets & seals, specialty paints & coatings and other value-added applications. The results are consistent with the Company’s previous value-add test results. Next steps in the ongoing testing program include purification, micronization, spheronization, classification and surface coating to determine the potential use in the rapidly growing lithium-ion battery industry. South Star Mining trades on the TSX Venture with STS and on the OTC with STSBF. News Release

First Cobalt says they were  awarded funding from the US Department of Energy's Critical Materials Institute (CMI), an Energy Innovation Hub, for research on innovative mineral processing techniques for its Iron Creek copper-cobalt project in Idaho.

This interdisciplinary, collaborative research effort will be conducted in conjunction with the Kroll Institute for Extractive Metallurgy (KIEM) at the Colorado School of Mines over a two-year period with the objective of identifying more efficient and environmentally friendly methods to process cobalt ore from pyrite material. The funding from CMI will consist of US$600,000 over a two-year period, with an in-kind match from the Company, as part of a total US$1.2 million program. First Cobalt trades on the TSX Venture with FCC and on the OTCQX with FISSF. News Release

Uranium Participation Corp announced says they are entering into an arrangement agreement with Sprott Asset Management pursuant to which UPC shareholders will become unitholders of the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust, a newly formed entity to be managed by Sprott Asset Management. On closing of the Transaction, Sprott Asset Management will make a cash contribution equal to 1% of UPC's net asset value as of March 31, 2021 – the proceeds of which may be used by the Trust to purchase additional uranium holdings. As part of the Transaction, Sprott Asset Management will reimburse UPC for up to CAD$1.0 million in direct transaction costs and to fund approximately CAD$5.3 million in related management termination fees. UPC says the trust structure offers lower annual corporate costs and aligns UPC's business with the world's leading physical commodity investment vehicles. UPC trades on the TSX with the symbol U. News Release

Also in the Uranium space, Uranium Royalty Corp will commence trading on the Nasdaq Capital market today under the symbol UROY. Common shares will also continue trading on the TSX Venture with URC. 

And shareholders of Newmont will be receiving a dividend of $.55 per share of common stock payable on June 17th. However, The declaration and payment of future quarterly dividends remains at the discretion of the Board of Directors and will depend on the Company's financial results, cash flow and cash requirements, future prospects, and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.

That’s it for the news briefing this morning. We’ll be back later today with more news and interviews. 

The Mining Stock Daily morning briefing is produced by Clear Creek Digital 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.