TUO, ARK, RRI x 2, SIG, TECT, WGX, IPT
What a crazy couple of days! Today alone I had a dozen of my holdings up mire than 10%, led by TECT up 51%, and I more PRs to post on my Mining News board than since I started it15 years ago, and there were no fewer than seven important PRs just from stocks I own.
My portfolio value is up over 25% just in the last month. We must be near a top.
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Even as the continuing bull run in its share price likely indicates negotiations to do with Treaty Creek are nearing a conclusion, Teuton Resources aka TUO and JV partner Tudor Gold have released a new Resource Report for the Goldstorm deposit. (TUO has a 20% carried interest in the property.)
The emphasis in the new Resource Report is firmly on its sensitivity to metal prices. sThey actually present a variety of different Indicated and Inferred Resource numbers based on different NSR (Net Smelter Value) per tonne of ore. Whatever the level chosen, the numbers are impressive including 5.8M to 28.9M oz Au, 20M to 167M oz Ag, and 223M to 3.4B lb Cu when you combine the Inferred and Indicated categories.
Next up is metallurgical resting and developing a Mine Plan followed by a PEA. And of course completing whatever negotiations might be underway to determine the ownership of Treaty Creek.
Message 35402576
The shares of Arras Minerals aka ARK, which is looking for large copper/gold porphyries in Kazakhstan, tripled in short order a year ago based on results from the Berezski trend of its Elmes property, and held at or near that level through the year as they discovered more and more mineralization. In today's PR they lay out this year's exploration plans.
They have expanded this years' drilling programme to 20km, with two drills starting next month and two more in March. A small portion of the drilling will be at the nearby Aimandai target, but most will be devoted to Berezski. Their main goal this years is to establish whether new discoveries like Berezski East are part of the Berezski Central porphyry or seperate porphyry systems on their own.
Thinking back a year, Berezski was just one of a number of properties ARK was exploring, but most of the others have now been pushed to the sidelines by the success at Berezski. I assume the alliance with Teck on a number of properties is still in affect, but there is no mention of that in this PR.
Message 35402467
Prospect generator Riverside Resources aka RRI recently told us they would be looking to increase their holdings in BC, and today we hear about the first transaction. They have optioned a property called Redtop that is contiguous to their Jacket property, and combined the two into a new prospect they are calling Red Jacket.
What attracted them to these properties is that they share similar mineralization to that which hosts a number of nearby deposits, in the particular Taseko's large Yellowhead deposit, which is at feasibility stage and is considered to be a mine in the making. There are also strong similarities to the Harper Creek deposit, located 10km SE across a pull-apart basin.
In particular Red Jacket hosts a 4 km long trend that hosts multiple VMS showings. RRI has dug up past samples and data, and added to it through mapping and sampling. Further exploration will commence in the coming months.
Considering its prospectivity, the new land was pretty cheap, costing only $180k, an NSR, and $750k in exploration over three years. Note that the payments don't kick in until RRI receives an exploration permit, and that the property will be returned to the vendors if they do not get a permit (which would be a surprise.
Message 35401590
Then today Riverside Resources aka RRI and JV partner Questcorp released more results of exploration on the La Union prospect in Sonora, Mexico. QQQ is earning 100% ownership over a number of years, while RRI is benefiting by receiving money and QQQ shares, being paid for running the exploration, and an NSR.
In the PR we hear about results of channel sampling and the rest of the holes drilled in 2025. The drill programme tested six targets, and found gold in each one, while finding both CRD mineralization and possible Carlin-style mineralization, previously unknown in the area.
We also hear about assays from 10 30m trenches from near the past producing La Union Mine. Selecting the best 24m samples from each trench generated a weighted average grade of 25 g/t Au and 277 g/t Ag over 24m.
With multiple targets established, planning is now underway for the 2026 exploration programme, details of which will be released in due course.
Message 35402446
Sitka Gold aka SIG released the final set of assays from the 2025 drilling on the Rhosgobel Zone on its RC Gold project in the Tombstone Gold Belt in Yukon Territory. Encouragingly, this time good results did not provoke a selloff.
With the headline intersections including 150.3m of 1.49 g/t Au and 99.1m of 1.33 g/t Au, Rhosgobel, which was discovered only 12 months ago, has now been established over a 1.1 km strike length and remains open in all directions.
And it is starting to look like tungsten could make a substantial contribution to the economics of Rhosgobel, with many intercepts, the best ones being 85.4 m of 0.138% WO3 , 60.0 m of 0.134% WO3 from 202.0m, and 35.0m of 0.121% WO3. These grades are typical for producing tungsten mines, though much work remains to define the economics. SIG is encouraged enough to go back through all the 2025 drill core to further understand the tungsten mineralization, which occurs as veins of scheelite.
This year's 60 km drill programme is scheduled to start in February.
Message 35402412
Hallelujah! Tectonic Metals aka TECT has finally broken out of whatever has been suppressing the share price. It took an outstanding headline intercept of 9.94 g/t Au over 36.58m including 15.73 g/t Au over 22.86m with 104.23 g/t Au over 3.05m at Chicken Mountain on their Flat gold project in Alaska to do it.
In total, today's PR reported assays from 42 holes from the southern end of Chicken Mountain, with another 34 holes, some from other targets on the property, still pending. As with previously released assays from Chicken Mountain, all found substantial mineralization, two thirds of them actually ending in mineralization. Chicken Mountain has now been established over a 3 km strike length, and remains open at depth and in several directions. Perhaps, most importantly, assays like the one mentioned above are starting to define high grade corridors running through Chicken Mountain. As well, all mineralization starts near surface.
Now we wait to see whether TECT can hold this higher share price beyond today. In the meantime I will enjoy being green on my TECT shares for the first time in a while.
Message 35402277
West Australian gold miner Westgold Resources aka WGX released what it calls its Q2 results, covering the period from October through December. They were excellent, pushing the stock to a new ATH over $7 at the open yesterday before the price settled back a bit., but it climbed back over $7 today.
In the quarter, WGX managed to produce a record 111418 oz Au, with 22317 oz of that produced from ore they purchased from other companies and processed. As a result, even after repaying $50M of debt plus paying out $29N in dividends and share buybacks they managed to increase their cash stash by $182M to a new record of $654M. The company is now debt free and remains unhedged.
It is important to note that due to sequencing of mines their internal production of both ore and gold was approximately flat compared to the previous quarter, but is expected to improve over the next few quarters.
With all that cash, will WGX be a buyer of new assets or will they be bought out by someone who wants to get their hands on it? Or they could just increase the dividend and share buybacks, or do a special dividend.
Message 35400979
In keeping with the theme of using the metals boom to clear out stocks I am no longer comfortable with, I sold all my shares of Impact Silver aka IPT because I no longer trust management after the unnecessary and ill-tined PP a few months ago. There might be more upside but I will out the money into companies I am more comfortable with. Overall, I just about broke even on my IPT shares, some acquired long ago at higher prices, others recently at lower prices.
FWIW, TD issued new analyst reports increasing its metal price deck. Specifically, they have increased their forecast average gold price for 2026 from $3900 to $4650/oz, and increased their long term gold price by $100 to $3600/oz, while silver's 2026 forecast was increased from $46 to $72.64 with the long term price increasing from $41 to $45. As a result, they have increased their targets on every PM stock they cover, some significantly. For example, EDV's target price was increased from $73 to $94, while OGC's was increased from $38 to $56. These target increases are based on increasing margins and hence FCF. |