WGX, WRLG, GQC, WM
New Murchison Gold announced that their deal with Westgold Resources aka WGX has been 'activated'. NMG is bringing the Crown Prince Gold deposit into production and will be selling 30-50kt of ore a month to WGX. The ore will be trucked to WGX's Bluebird Gold plant for processing, and the agreement is initially for a two year period. Production at Crown Prince is expected to begin mid-2025.
As far as I can tell, the only thing WGX gets out of this deal is that they increase mill throughput, which they say will reduced per ounce processing costs. Pretty murky...
Message 35095362
When I saw the headline on West Red Lake Gold aka WRLG's latest PR, West Red Lake Gold Reflects on Madsen Mine Achievements To Date, I figured it would be a puff piece and a waste of my time, but it turned out to be packed with details that were useful to learn. We get updates on many different aspects of bringing the Madsen Mine in Ontario back into production, scheduled for H2, of which I will highlight a few.
We learn that the bulk sample has been extracted and partially processed at the new mill, but no results were provided. We learn that dewatering has reduced the water to levels not seen since 1972, opening up new access to known ore bodies and clearing the way for more exploration.We learn that the Connection Drift , which will reduce operating costs, has been completed and is in use.
I am still worried about more dilution, given Frank Guistra is involved, but things appear to be proceeding well operationally.
Message 35096965
Dominican Republic explorer/developer Goldquest aka GQC has been on a run lately due to positive signs that the DR government will finally issue the permits for the development of its Romero Au/Cu deposit. Another good sign is that they have hired a heavy hitter as their new VP of Exploration. Leandro Sastre is very experienced, including running large exploration campaigns at Barrick, and hence is very familiar with the geology of the DR.
GQC is all cashed up, and I expect a lot more news flow from them this year compared to recent years.
Message 35095386
FWIW, BMO put out a new analyst report on Quebec gold mine developer Wallbridge Mining aka WM in the wake of last week's release of an updated PEA for the Fenelon project. They liked the smaller initial capex and more conservative approach, but also remind us that this is just a start and much more optimization needs to be done. BMO also reminds us that doing a PFBS would cost about $50M while WM currently has about $20M on hand. (As I have been saying, they need to attract a development partner.) They maintained WM at Ourperform but dropped their target to 20 cents.
FWIW, Scotia put out a new analyst report on miners in the wake of Trump's Destruction Day, reducing commodity price expectations and multipliers for most miners, resulting in an average target price reduction of 7%. |
