RIO, ORS, Blue Jay Gold
As expected Rio2 aka RIO has announced that its first official gold pour at its Fenix mine in northern Chile had occurred on Friday after a remarkably short 14-month construction. Between that pour and the what was produced during commissioning last month, they now have produced 1255 oz Au and 131 oz Ag, which together will generate more than $6M. Nice to have money coming in...
Based on my experience with this management team, I think they can largely avoid the teething problems that often dog newly producing mines. At Fenix, over the rest of 2026 they will concentrate on increasing processing to 20kt/day, and have guided for production of 60-70k oz Au in 2026. Meanwhile they will be planning for Phase 2, which will quadruple production over the coming years.
And then there is the recently purchased producing Conestable copper mine in Peru, which will be incorporated into their operations. With all this going on, $5 seems to be a very reasonable target for this year, with more returns to come after that.
Message 35407090
Orestone Mining aka ORS announced the beginning of this year's exploration at the Francesca gold/silver prospect in Salta, Argentina, in which ORS is earning an 85% interest over a number of years. (The remainder is held by an Argentinian company.)
Francesca was not explored using modern techniques until last year when ORS identified two prospects, imaginatively dubbed the North and South Gold Zones. The next phase of exploration will concentrate on the South zone, which has been defined over 500m strike length with a width of 50-100m. Work will begin with another programme of mapping and sampling, followed by a 10-hole drill campaign. Most of the holes will target the near surface oxide gold, but several will also test indications of an underlying porphyry.
If you look at ORS's chart, you will see there is a lot of anticipation about Francesca, with the share price sitting at a 5-year high. As always with drill plays, the outcome will likely be binary, either rocketing upward if it's successful or plummeting if the drilling come up empty. I have accumulated quite a few shares over the last few years, so I hope it's the former.
Message 35403961
Blue Jay Gold, recently spun out by Riverside Resources and due to be listed on the TSXV later in Q1, has completed and filed an initial Mineral Resource Estimate and associated Technical Report for its Steller gold/silver project in Yukon Territory, and it marks a good start for the property.
In the Indicated category, they found 1372 kt @ 7.57 g/t Au and 127.2 g/t Ag, or 9.06 g/t AuEq, containing 334 koz Au and 5612 koz Ag, while the Inferred category holds 2166 kt @ 5.63 g/t Au and 70.1 g/t Ag, or 6.45 g/t AuEq, containing 392 koz Au and 4880 koz Ag. This reports were done using US$2,850/oz and a silver price of US$34.20/o, so it is worth perusing the sensitivity tables included in the PR which show how much larger the Resources are at gold and silver prices closer to current levels.
The grades are good but they need to generate a lot more ounces to make Steller viable. To that end, mapping and sampling looking for new targets is underway, and a drilling campaign at Skukum Creek and other targets on Steller will begin in a few months.
Message 35407240 |
