Value Microcaps Junior Miners

[Lone Clone]

KTN, IAU, KRR, IPT, CCW, TUO, SSL, GNG, MIRL, AXU, CEE

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KTN, IAU, KRR, IPT,

Kootenay Silver aka KTN announced they are beginning a new 15km drill programme at the Columba silver prospect in Chihuahua, Mexico. The drilling is designed to follow up previous promising findings in six separate locations on the property. The mineralization is high grade enough and extensive enough that I expect that success with the drill bit this year might be followed up by a Resource Report.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33836317

i-80 Gold aka IAU has developed a cozy relationship with Nevada Gold Mines (NGM), a JV between ABX and NEM that operates a number of gold mines and mils in Nevada. The predecessor company to IAU had a JV with NGM on several gold mines, and after they became IAU they came to agreement with NGM to use their nearby facilities to process sulphide ore until IAU's own autoclave at Lone Tree hill is refurbished.

And now NGM has sold two properties to IAU, extending the latter's Granite Creek property to the north and south, increasing their portion of the Getchell/Range Front fault structure by a total of 3.2 km. The northern section extends toward NGM's giant Turquoise Creek deposit, and importantly,, this piece of land directly borders IAU's recently discovered South Pacific Zone. The southern section extends their holding of the fault structure a further 1.6 km.

If, as they suspect, the SPZ extends onto the newly acquired property, the transaction will be a success for IAU, with anything else found on the two sections of land being a bonus.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33836344

We got some interesting news for Karora Resources aka KRR, who mine gold and nickel in Australia. Tony Makuch, who was CEO of Kirkland Lake Mining for the six years prior to its recent merger with Agnico-Eagle. Makuch does have persoinal connections with some of KRR's management, but that he would join then as an advisor is still a meaningful endorsement.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/mining-veteran-tony-makuch-joins-113500381.html

Impact Silver aka IPT released the Q1 results from their silver mines and mills in Zacarecas, Mexico. They actually managed to lose money, albeit only $60k, while maintaining production levels due to rising costs. The good news is that their cash stash remains solid at over $19M and they remain debt-free.

One thing that pisses me off about IPT is that they almost never include all the data you want to see in their quarterly PRs. This time they left out the grade of the ore they fed through the mill. Tomorrow I will dig into the MD&A to see if I can find what I can only assume is bad news.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33836385

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IPT, CCW, IAU

Yesterday I guessed that Impact Silver aka IPT had put out a PR that left out the grade of the mill on their silver properties in Mexico was because it was lousy. Well, I was wrong. It was actually up from last quarter and the same as Q1 last year. So why was it left out? Your guess is as good as mine...

Perhaps Canada Silver Cobalt Works should have the symbol OCD instead of CCW. Not content with exploring for silver and cobalt in Ontario, running a nearby lab, and exploring a few dozen battery metals properties in Quebec, they have decided they need to add some gold exploration to their portfolio. Thus they have added Eby-Otto, a gold prospect in Kirkland Lake area, and today they announced that exploration is underway, first geophysics and mapping and sampling followed by drilling. One assumes they have assembled this property with the idea of proving up some mineralization and then selling it, but you never know with OCD, er, I mean CCW.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33837654

I remember opining at the beginning of 2022 that we could expect a copious newsflow from i-80 Gold aka IAU this year, but their actual output has exceeded even my expectations. And these aren't the breathless and content-free "We have completed another half a hole" PRs you get from the promotionally oriented companies; IAU's always contain meaningful information.

Today we get two updates.

First, they have acquired a key property adjoining their McCoy-Cove property in Nevada, where they will be bringing Cove, one of the highest grade gold resources in North America, into production over the next few years. The new property includes not only some known gold minerlaization, but also a past-producing barite mine and mill, a rail spur that connects Mcoy-Cove to a main rail line, and perhaps most crucial, more than enough water rights to develop Cove.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33837674

IAU also released their Q1 results. The financial figures are what you expect at this stage of a company developing multiple mines, i.e. they lost money, but it is important to note that they still have much more than enough money to bring the four mines into production. And they even made some money this quarter by producing 1489 from the existing heap leaches at Ruby Hill and Lone Tree at a cash cost of $1019/oz, a nice little bonus.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33837685

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TUO, IAU

We get a welcome update from Teuton Resources aka TUO and its JV partners that drilling has resumed on their Treaty Creek gold/copper project in BC's Golden Triangle. Given how protracted the cool weather has been in BC this spring, I was starting to wonder if they would ever be able to get started, but apparently the temperatures haven't been as much below normal in that part of BC. Last year's drilling failed to find the limits to the mineralization in the already massive Goldstorm deposit -- hurrah! -- so they there will be more step out drilling to try to find those limits, as well as exploration drilling in the Eureka and Calm Before the Storm zones, so we can expect constant news flow.

Meanwhile, I continue to wonder if this will be the year Newmont buys Treaty Creek as well as Seasbridge's KSM deposit to combine with its recently acquired operating Brucejack mine located nearby.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33838929

i-80 Gold aka IAU put out another PR late yesterday. This one concerned the initial drilling results from Ruby Hill, one of four gold mines in Nevada they will be bringing into (or back into) production over the next few years, in the case of Ruby Hill as an underground mine under the old pit on the property. The 50k of drilling planned for Ruby Creek will include both infill and step out drilling to support the company's plans to plan being to initially mine oxide mineralization from the 426 Zone and then deeper sulphide minerlaization once the Lone Tree autoclave is available to process it.

And the minerlaization is high grade. The featured results in this PR include 7.1 g/t Au over 78.6M including 10.1 g/t Au over 41.8M, as well as 7.0 g/t Au over 71.6M, 9.1 g/t Au over 24.7M, and 9.0 g/t Au over 18.3M.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33838885

FWIW, Scotia has released a new analyst report on IAU, albeit one based on IAU's Investor Day presentations rather than the three PRs over the last two days themelves. Overall they saw the impact of what was discussed as Positive, although they are keeping IAU at Sector Outperform with a target of $4.75.

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SSL, KRR

Sandstorm Gold Royalties aka SSL released their financial quarterlies, touting several records such as highest ever quarterly sales, at 18741 AuEq, and highest ever revenue, with cash costs of $283/oz, leaving a very healthy margin. But all this is somewhat moot due to the set of transformative transactions the company recently announced. The jury is still out on them.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33840397

FWIW, in response TD issued a new analyst report seeing the the impact of this NR as Neutral and keeping SSL at Buy with a target of $13. Like everyone else watching SSL, they are waiting and watching.

We already knew that Q1 gold production from Karora Resources aka KRR's Australian mining complex was 27,489 oz Au; now we get the financial results. The bad news is that costs were up by about a third compared to both last quarter and Q1 2021 due primarily to Covid impacting labour force availability, higher costs from material purchased, and supply chain issues. Labour availability was only 60% during the quarter, forcing KRR to hire more expensive contractors to fill the gap. They do expect this to improve, and they are reiterating their 2022 guidance, albeit with plenty of 'hedgy' words attached. Overall this led to a loss of $11M during the quarter. They do still have a cash stash of $78M even after the tough quarter, and remain debt free.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33840441

One thing that will help KRR stay afloat during the second half of this year will be restarting the mine of nickel on its properties, and to that end they also released an updated Resource Report. M&I Resources increased by 22% to 19,600t Ni, whiled Inferred Resource increased by 52% to 13,200t. They were already guiding to the production of 460-500t Ni in 2022, and PEA for increasing nickel production will be released this qaurter. There is also significant exploration potential for more nickel on their properties.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33840485

BTW, GDX and HUI have lost about 25% of their value over the last month while gold itself has held up far better. Saville points out that similar conditions prevailed in April and May 2019 and in March 2020, and in both cases there was a sharp rally back to former levels. He and I both expect this to happen again this time.

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IAU, GNG, MIRL, AXU, CEE

Given the way PG pivoted towards Nevada during its transition into bcomeing i-80 Gold aka IAU, I have been expecting this move for a while. As of May 19, they hey will be listed on the NYSE using the symbol IAUX

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/80-gold-announces-approval-listing-100000256.html

For the last few years Golden Goliath Resources aka GNG has been beavering away at its Kwai property in western Ontario, finding all sorts of positive indicators for gold but never anything substantial. Perhaps they are now pivoting away from Kwai, because their latest PR is all about the upcoming exploration on their Wish Ore gold prospect, located not too far away from Kwai. Past prospecting has found some decent gold values plus mineralized boulders in several locations. These leads will be followed up in the coming months with geophysics and more mapping and sampling.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33845109

Minera IRL aka MIRL released its quarterly reports. They continue to limp along , managing to lose money in spite of the high price they are getting for the gold produced by its Corihuarmi min in Peru. No surprise with this bunch, we get no word on developing or selling the Ollachea mine, also in Peru, or on getting rid of its corrupt CEO who is not only vastly overpaid but also siphons shareholder money to friends and family via secret subsidiaries.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33845118

Alexco aka AXU released its quarterly report for its silver/lead/zinc mines and mill in the Yukon Territory. This was an other quarter of development, with ore mined up over 60% from last quarter, much of that production occurring in March. Bermingham continues to deliver as expected, while mining began at Flame & Moth. As expected, although the volume of ore processed at the mill was up, grades and therefore production of metals were down compared to last quarter. The declines should be reversed in Q2 with increased mining volume at higher grades. AXU will also begin a major exploration drilling campaign this quarter.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=33845136

FWIW, RBC finally got around to releasing a new analyst report on Centamin aka CEE two weeks after they released their Q1 results. The underline what they call 'optionality' -- I would call them future catalysts -- that are likely to move the share price upward, but for now kept them at Outperform with a target of $C2.21.

I will mention that the IKN newsletter, saying that you can't 'fight the Fed', has lowered the rating on the more speculative of its recommendations, and is selling a few others.

I will also mention that Saville continues to believe the US Dollar Index is close to a top, and not coincidentally, that gold and gold stocks are close to a bottom. As with IKN, he is currently building his cash reserve.