WRLG, SNAG, WM, QRC, WEX
West Red Lake Gold aka WRLG released an update on its Madsen gold mine in Ontario, which recently resumed production. Thanks to developments like having received all but one haul truck, plus (they say) improvements in management, ore production was up 24% from September to October. They will soon be starting to store waste rock underground, which is not only reduce costs but also free up trucks for delivering ore, and moving them closer to full production.
But of course, it will all come down to how many ounces are in the ore produced at what cost...
Message 35334018
I hope I haven't waited too long to add more shares of Silver North Resources aka SNAG, who are drilling up prospects near producing silver mines in Yukon Territory. Today we hear about assays from the first three holes drilled recently into their Haldane property, which adjoins Hecla's producing Keno Hill mine. These are the first of 8 holes drilled to follow up last year's discovery in the Main Fault zone.
The feature intersect is 3.2m @ 2014 g/t Ag, 1.72 g/t Au, 4.73% Pb, and 1.1% Zn within 13.15m @ 818 g/t Ag, 1.39 g/t Au, 2.54% Pb, and 0.98% Zn. The Ag, Pb, and Zn values are similar to the ore being mined at Keno Hill, but the real bonus the high Au grades.
You can rest assured that Hecla has noticed this PR, and will be looking forward to seeing what the remaining five holes contain. SNAG estimates we will have all remaining assays by January.
Message 35333033
While Wallbridge Mining aka WM's main focus remains on their Fenelon gold project in Quebec, this year they devoted more resources to exploration at the nearby Martiniere project. The have now released the assays from the final 13 holes along the Bug Lake deformation corridor, which found many useful intersections, from narrow high-grade intercepts like 38.50 g/t Au over 0.6n to wider intercepts like 2.71 g/t Au over 4.5m.
Wallbridge tells us their goal is to declare over 2M oz Au of Resources at Martiniere, and feels that with this year's discoveries they have created the basis for achieving that goal. We shall see how they are doing when we get a revised Recourse Estimate in Q1.
Message 35332933
Queen's Road Capital aka QRC announced their year end results. (Unfortunately, for some reason their fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31.) QRC's modus operandi is to generate income by granting convertible debentures to mining companies.
It was a good year for QRC. They ended August with more than $130M of liquid equity investments as well as $213M of debentures, which has since grown to $223M which will generate about $22M of interest this fiscal year. And at the end of August QRC's NAV was at an ATH. As well, the new DRIP plan is working, with over 60% of holders taking their dividends in shares rather than cash.
Message 35332942
Western Exploration aka WEX released the assays from the first five holes of a drill programmer targeting a kilometre long section of the Tomasina fault, located one km west of the Gravel Creek Au/Ag resource on WEX's Aura property in Nevada.
WEX needs to increase the ounces on Aura, and the assays indicate that once they have finished drilling up the Tomasina fault zone they will have made substantial progress. One hole found 3.0m of 7.1 g/t Au and 4.8 g/t Ag down hole within a broader interval of 44.20 meters 0.38 g/t Au and 1.71 g/t Ag, with more than one km strike length of that zone yet to be tested.
Perhaps more significantly, another hole assayed 15.24m 0.13 g/t Au and 10.0 g/t Ag in an epithermal system very similar to that found above the Wood Gulch Resource a kilometre to the east, indicating there might a deeper analogue deposit. Drilling continues.
Message 35332973
FWIW, Scotia released a new analyst report on gold, revising their price forecasts to $3450/oz for 2025, $3800/oz for 2026, $3600/oz for 2027, and $3500/oz in 2028. Their long-term forecast remains at $2600/oz for 2029 onward. They also included a table showing the forecasts from other financial institutions, almost all roughly in line with Scotia's.
FWIW, The folks at INK, which tracks insider transactions, noted that there has been some recent insider selling in gold stocks, particularly LUG and AGI, attributing it to taking profits after recent large gains in the share prices. |
