IAU, IPT, TECT, AUX
A key part of i-80 Gold aka IAU's plans for heir gold mines under development in Nevada is he refurbishment of the Lone Tree Mill, one of only two mills in Nevada capable of processing refractory (sulfide) ore, given that three of their mines under development will produce refractory ore. Today IAU released an update about the Engineering Study for the refurbishment.
It won't be cheap, with the estimated costs rising to $430M. But thanks to elevated gold prices the payback period is estimated at less than a year. During the process, existing processing circuits will e upgraded to modern standards and new circuits added. The upgrade will also allow the processing of oxide ore at Lone Tree.
The economics are helped by the benefits from bringing processing of refractory ore currently being produced in house. The current timeline is to submit permits Q1 and begin construction H2, with commissioning at the end of 2027, by which time IAU's Granite Creek and Archimedes underground mines will both be producing plenty of refractory ore.
This is happening within a larger recapitalization process for IAU. One tidbit in the PR mentions that now the recapitalization is not expected to be completed until the middle of 2026. Meanwhile, IAU's share price continues to rise, reaching levels not seen since early 2024. And those IAU U warrants are now more than a 10-bagger for me.
Message 35364904
Impact Silver aka IPT hasn't bothered to put out a PR yet, but a company called J2 Metals has announced the purchase of a section of IPT's Zacualpan properties that are prospective for silver. They are calling the property Sierra Plata and it covers 2200 ha, including past-producing mines.
JTWO will have to meet work commitments over the next three years, while over that period IPT will receive $375k, 6.5M shares of JTWO, and a 1.5% NSR. And if JTWO wants to accelerate the acquisition, it will cost them another $500k.
Especially at the snail's pace they work at, IPT has barely begun to scratch the surface of their extensive Zacualoan properties, which contain dozens of former mines, so I think it is good for them to start selling off the property. I hope they can make some other deals to raise the share price to where I can sell .
Message 35367834
Tectonic Metals aka TECT released another 11 holes from its completed drill programme on the Flat gold project on Alaska. There are still 103 more holes with pending assays, which at this point I hope we get before the next drill campaigns starts. Again, I wish they would cough up for expedited assays, but to be fair I am saying that without knowing what it would cost to do that.
As usual, all 11 holes hit long intersections of mineralization, and 10 of 11 ended in mineralization. (This raises another question; why aren't they drilling dapper holes, particularly given the holes barely exceeded 100M in length?)
The holes released today extends the near surface Adit zone to over 550m in length, and Adit remains open in all directions, with the featured intersection being 4.05 g/t Au over 30.48m, including 8.84 g/t Au over 13.72m. TECT hopes that Adit extends the entire length of a 2km long prospect defined by geophysics and gold-in-soil assays. So far, between TECT's and historical drilling mineralization has been found over a 1kn strike length to a depth of 200m.
As well, oiher drilling at the nearby Chicken Mountain bulk tonnage target, which intersects the Adit zone at nearly a right angle, intersected a 550m mineralizaed section with lower grades than Adit but that are said to be amenable to heap leaching, though we are still a long way from economic studies.
TECT continues to trade strangely compared to its peers, which I attribute largely to the type of promotional activity, not by the company itself, which tends to occur at companies associated with Quinton Hennigh and Crescat Capital, though it is notable neither of them are mentioned in this PR.
Message 35367850
It is interesting to read Saville these days. Normally he exhibits the certainty of a technical analyst. If the charts show him something one week and the opposite the next, he normally has no problem completely switching gears. But these days, at time he seems almost nervous about making predictions. (Though given the times, who can blame him for that...)
Anyway, he says recent developments in the PM sector 'muddy the waters'. Silver and gold stocks have broken out to new highs, but gold itself has not. His latest call is that gold will either break out or range trade for a few months before resuming its uptrend, while to him silver appears stretched, raising the risk of an intermediate term top. He also expects that oil will soon begin a multi-year uptrend, which is negative for producing miners. As well, Minera Alamos aka MAI has appeared in his list of 5 candidates for new buying |
