KDK, WGX x 3, HMLO, MAI, NTH
Till now, Kodiak Copper aka KDK has been solely focused on finding copper-gold porphyries on its MPD property in south central BC, located between the producing Copper Mountain and Highland Valley mines, with New Afton a bit further north. But with today's announcement that KDK has acquired the 112 sq km Aspen Grove property, which borders MPD to the north, KDK now controls over half the area between Copper Montain and Highland Valley that hosts similar porphyry centres to those in production.
The purchase from a private company, cost 1.4M shares of KDK, and increases the total land package to 338 sq km. Aspen Grove has already been subject to a good deal of exploration, with two porphyries similar to those on MPD already established plus a number of other prospects. The most advanced is Ketchan, which has yielded intercepts like 266m of 0.26% Cu, 0.11 g/t Au incl.78m of 0.50% Cu, 0.15 g/t Au (Let me remind you that these are similar grades of mineralization to what is being extracted from those nearby mines.)
One useful aspect of Aspen Grove is that it has year round access, which should also mean year round news flow from KDK.
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Yes, West Australian gold/nickel miner Westgold Resources aka WGX has traded on the TSX since the merger with Karora but there definitely remain primarily an ASX stock, exhibiting several intricacies I am still getting used to. For one, ASX companies rarely put the name of the company in their headlines, a practise which seems counterproductive to me. Second, they have a tendency to put multiple PRs in close proximity, in this case three in four hours. Then there is the very long disclosure stuff at the end of every PR, which I guarantee no one reads and which is a pain to cut and paste.
(If I was an IR person I would be so tempted to put, say, the word 'booger' randomly somewhere in those pages of disclosure to see whether anyone notices.)
Enough of that. On to the PRs...
The first concerns the declaration of an Exploration Target for the Fletcher Zone. (This is another difference with the ASX -- their JORC regulates how these exploration targets can be derived, Sometimes North American listed stocks declare similar targets, but it is not closely regulated.) In the case of Fletcher, they think they can find 23-27Mt @ 2.1-2.5g/t for 1.6-2.1M oz Au. To that end, they have added two more drill rigs and have committed to having at least three drilling at all times.
We are told to expect lots of news about Fletcher drilling in Q2 and Q3 next year.
Message 34826076
One minute later WGX released another PR concerning guidance for 2005. (To remind you, for some annoying reason, WGX's financial year ends in June, so they are already into FY 2025. )For FY 2024 they had guided production of 220k-230k oz Au at an AISC of $A2100-2300/oz Au, both of which were achieved. With the addition of Karora's assets, FY25 guidance is considerably increased from FY24, forecasting production of 400-420k oz at an AISC of $2000-2300. (Gold is currently valued at $A3800.)
They also warn that FY25 will see higher than usual expenditures due to mine construction and increased exploration, but that increased production should be able to cover those expenses with plenty left over.
newswire.ca
The third WGX PR, released a few hours later, reported their latest Resource and Reserve estimates as of June 30 this year. An interesting tidbit in the PR; Their Reserves had declined every year since 2017 due to mining depletion, but during FY24 they managed to increase them to 50Mt at 2.05g/t Au for 3.3M oz Au. (These are equivalent to 43-101 P&P Reserves.) Meanwhile, Inferred Resources were 63Mt at 2.47g/t Au for 5.0M oz Au, and M&I Resources totaled 116Mt at 2.19g/t Au for 8.1M oz Au.
With 19 drill rigs operating across their increased roster of properties, I expect WGX will be able to increase these numbers in FY25 in spite of increased production.
Message 34826166
When Hemlo Explorers aka HMLO last week announced they had acquired a large land package in Newfoundland, I mused that perhaps this meant less than stellar exploration results at their Ontario properties, but it appears not with this PR concerning their Pic gold prospect, JVed out to ABX. Over the last six months ABX has carried out an extensive programme of mapping and sampling, particularly in the Wire Lake prospect, revealing that the 'gold corridor' now stretches over 2.7 km in length with a vertical depth of 150m, and remains open along strike and at depth. They have also revealed the existence of what they call 'satellite corridors' parallel to the main Wire Lake mineralization.
Assays are pending, and we are also promised along with an updated geological model.
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Thanks to 31floors who dug up links to a presentation by and an interview with Doug Ramshaw who runs Mexican gold miner Minera Alamos aka MAI. The first includes visuals and is more a review of MAI's assets, which the second is audio only and concentrates more on Mexican politics of mining.
Each is about 15 minutes long and both are worth your time.
gowebcasting.com
podcasters.spotify.com
Last week, in an unnecessary PR, Nord Precious Metals aka NHT told us we would find out this week whether Miller Creek tailings on its Castle Mine property in Ontario contained native silver. Now, a few days later that we learn that yes, there is. They were able to produce a very high concentrate using gravity concentration followed by flotation holding 786,809 g/t Ag and 79 g/t Au.
These PRS should have definitely been combined into one. Not impressed.
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