RRI, WRLG, MTA, SURG
What attracted me to prospect generator Riverside Resources aka RRI in the first place is how prudently they manage their assets. To wit, they begin their review of 2024 and forecast for 2025 by noting that after many years of operating, in addition to numerous prospects in Ontario, BC, and Mexico, they currently have over $4M cash, no debt, and fewer than 75M shares out. Add in a crew of expert geologists and you have a great company.
One of the ways RRI rewards investors is to spin out certain of its properties into separate companies, Capitan Mining aka CAPT being the latest example. In this PR we hear that they plan to spin out their Ontario gold assets, which I expect to be done in 2025. Likewise, I will not be surprised if the BC REE properties they have been gathering and exploring are eventually also be spun out.
RRI's other main focus this year will be the JV on the Cecilia property in Meisco with FVI, who are obligated to step up the exploration process with new funding. As well, RRI geologists are constantly testing potential new purchases and well as pushing forward their existing properties. As well, once in a while out of the blue they are able to announce a JV with larger company to advance those assets.
So I expect good news flow through 2025 from this crew of savvy operators.
Message 34984929
Speaking of Capitan Silver aka CAPT, their share price got a big boost this morning when they announced a PP to raise $4.2M. The kicker is that, although it also includes warrants priced at 50 cents, the units are priced over 30% above yesterday's market price. And even better, as part of the PP Jupiter Silver & Gold Fund will end up owning 9.9% of CAPT. The new investor is an arm of one of the world's largest investment funds, so them getting on board is a marl of approval for the potential of CAPT's Cruz de Plata prospect in Mexico.
CAPT says they are now fully funded to ramp up their drill programme, so expect plenty of news flow.
newsfilecorp.com
West Red Lake Gold aka WRLG released results from infill drilling at the near surface McVeigh deposit on its Madsen Mine property in Ontario, which is being brought back into production. McVeigh already has a high grade resource, so it is no surprise they are pulling intercepts like 3.85m @ 45.70 g/t Au and 16m @ 8.75 g/t Au.
Even as they extract a bilk sample and prepare an FBS expected soon in preparation for resuming mining H2, WRLG is systematically doing closer-spaced drilling on existing resources like in this PR to help avoid the inconsistent grade problems that helped drive previous operator Pure Gold into bankruptcy, so expect plenty of similar drilling news to come.
Message 34988605
Metalla Royalty & Streaming aka MTA released an update. They reviewed developments at a number of their streams, mostly positive and few negative. They also announced that as of the end of January they will have fully repaid a loan from Beedle Capital, some with cash and the rest by converting it to shares, moving Beedle's ownership to 10.3% of MTA.
The law of smaller streamers like MTA is 'eat or be eaten' I wait to see which it will be.
Message 34990024
I have added a new horse to the stable with the purchase of a small position in Surge Copper aka SURG. SURG owns a large swath of land bordering the producing Huckleberry mine in central BC which hosts a number of porphyry Cu/Mo/Au/Ag deposits similar to Huckleberry. A PFBS for the most advanced one, Berg, will be released shortly.
I am thinking of this as a trading position, aiming to sell around 15 cents a share for more than 50% profit, but am willing to change plans depending on how things develop. The share price has been much higher than current levels several times, so we'll see what happens.
In the latest PR, SURG released assays from the last two holes of the 2024 drilling programme at the Ootsa property. These two holes were drilled near existing deposits to follow up a discovery hole and found, as expected near sruface mineralization plus multiple sections of breccia at depth. There will be followup drilling in 2025 to further define these new deposits.
Message 34990109
The IKN newsletter shared an interesting chart regarding silver production. In 2011, 33% of silver production was from mines that were primarily silver producers, with 67% produced as a byproduct of mining other metals. Since then that number has been trending down, reaching 28% vs. 72% last year. This underlines why the PoS is so hard to forecast -- not only is much of the production determined by the price of other metals, but it is also both an industrial metal and a PM. Lots going on...
BTW, after a long discussion IKN is turning somewhat bullish on silver again, while Saville still thinks it will bottom around $25 before heading back up along with gold.
IKN also brings us news that the new Mexican government under Sheinbaum has released its National Development, and it is very pro-mining, aiming to increase the size of the industry. Note also that the PDN designates Durango, Zacatecas, and Sonora states as the primary drivers for mining development.
LC |
