RIO, SVB, KTN, CKG, MAI
Rio2 aka RIO released an FBS for its Fenix gold project in northern Chile, and the numbers look good, with an after tax IRR of 25.8% and a payback period of 2.5 years, with initial capex of $117M (some already spent vs. a discounted NPV of $210M. The construction timeline is 14 months after receipt of permits to produce 91k oz Au for 12 years followed 54k per year for 5 more years.
But of course, the key words in the above paragraph right now are 'after receipt of permits. The current Chilean government started out as anti-mining and managed to delay the granting of permits to a number of mining projects including Fenix. But the government has now divested itself of the anti-mining types, and the new new mining minister has vowed to speed up permitting. The IKN newsletter this weekend also detailed a number of other indicators indicating RIO's permit appeal may happen very soon, and in a much more favourable atmosphere than even 6 months ago.
Message 34405742
We got some interesting news from Silver Bull Resources aka SVB regarding its litigation against the Mexican government regarding its Sierra Mojada project, which has been subject to an illegal blockade for more than four years, keeping SVB from accessing the property. SVB is seeking $178M in damages for what what they are now terming a de facto expropriation of the land due to the Mexican government being unwilling to act against the bloackade.
Most recently, there was a failed mediation effort. Now that the 90-day mediation period has expired, they have hired a leading lawyer in the field to lead their claim, with the best news being that the firm is willing to take on the case on a contingency basis, i.e.their $9.5M fee will come out of any settlement. If these experts are certain enough of the validity of the claim to operate on a contingency basis, I'll take their word for it....
I do find it interesting that the share price has not moved in response. Maybe SVB needs to clarify what they will do with any money they are awarded.
Message 34407065
In June Kootenay Silver aka KTN announced they now owned 100% of the Columba silver prospect in Chinhuahua, Mexico, and then we got two PRs early last month detailing why KTN thinks they can really make something of the property. Now we hear that a new drill programme has commenced.
This campaign will consist of 12-15 holes totalling 3000m, and will focus on extending minerlaization at the D Vein, which already has a horizontal extent of 400m and depth of up to 400m, with the feature intercept being 34.45m downhole length @ 540 g/t Ag with 0.26 g/t Au, 0.37% Pb, and 1.56% Zn.
If this drill campaign is successful, they will drill another 19 holes totalling 7000m, with more exploration on other veins and prospects planned over the next year.
Message 34407093
Chesapeake Gold aka CKG has been working on Metates, a very large but low grade Au/Ag deposit in Durango, Mexico for many years, advancing various scenarios that have failed to catch the attention of the market, Their latest efforts involve speeding up the oxidation of the sulfide materials, something at which they are having some success, according to the results reported in this PR. Next up will be testing cyanide leaching on the oxidized ore, the results of which will be part of a PFBS that CKG will release next year.
Will this approach finally realize the value in Metates? Personally, I doubt it, but maybe higher PM prices will finally do the trick. And then there are the concession problems...
Message 34407139
The IKN newsletter this last weekend ran a very detailed analysis of Minera Alamos aka MAI's Q2 results and came to a similar conclusion as I did. Using simply Santana and ignoring everything else, IKN generated a target of 35 cents. In other words, if you are patient, this is a good time to buy or add to your holdings. I wish I had been paying close enough attention to grab some of those shares that were sold for 26.5 cents last week, though judging by today's trading on a bad day for PM stocks I may get another chance.
Saville, noting that an upward reversal in the gold price has yet to be signalled, has moved his time frame for the PoG to break above the triple top to a new ATH from Q4 to Q1 2023. Consequently, he expects HUI to exceed its 2020 high in H1 2023. |
