Value Microcaps Junior Miners

[Lone Clone]

Burkina Faso coup, MAI, RRI, MIRL, TUO, IAU

There has been a military coup in Burkina Faso, and a number of gold miners, include Iamgold and West African Ming, have rushed out brief PRs saying operations in BF have been unaffected. Here's the one from Endeavour Mining aka EDV.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/endeavour-operations-burkina-faso-unaffected-053000982.html

Minera Alamos aka MAI released the PEA for their Cerro de Oro heap leach gold project in Zacatecas, Mexico. The headline was very restrained, merely saying the results were 'positive', quite the understatement given the subheading -- 'After-Tax IRR of 111% and sub-$30 million CAPEX'. The PEA forecasts the production of ~60k oz Au per year for 8 years, with a payback period of less than a year. Given that MAi is at the top of its game, having just built the nearby Santana heap leach gold mine, plus the low capex and ample exploration upside, this projects looks like it will be a real money spinner (BTW, they already have a paid for mill on hand.)

We should hear about both the declaration of commerciality at Santana and the construction decision for Cerro de Oro in the next few months.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=34022239

Normally when you read a PR that a larger company has dropped its option on a property owned by a smaller company, it is bad news for the latter. But when the smaller company is an adept prospect generator like Riverside Resources aka RRI, it can be neutral or even positive news.

In this case, the news is that Hochschild has dropped its option on RRI's La Union gold/silver/zinc prospect in Sonora, Mexico. Hochschild had optioned it in May and spent over $500k defining four new drill targets, but now has apparently decided that La Union no longer fits into their corporate strategy. RRI is now on the hunt for a new partner with the lure of those four targets, and if they find one, which is likely thanks to the Sonora CDB belt becoming hot of late, this PR was indeed good news.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=34022224

The IKN newsletter brings us news abour Minera IRL aka MIRL that, of course, the company has told us nothing about. Apparently their Corihuarmi mine has been shut down for almost two weeks due to protests by locals regarding water pollution and land grabs. The two sides are supposed to meet for negotiations on Wednesday. I wonder when MIRL will tell us about this important development?

Saville notes that gold and gold mining indices have reversed upwards from new multi-year lows set last week, indicating that at least an intermediate term low in both has been set. If this is conformed, the trend of both reversing up or down in August/September has continued for the 6th year in in a row. This in turn means that once the $US reverses downwards, it's up, up, and away for both gold and gold miners. If the PoG ends the week above $1700, this will go a long way toward the aforementioned confirmation.

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TUO, IAU, SSL

Teuton Resources aka TUO released an omnibus PR covering a number of its properties in BC's Golden Triangle.

First, we hear about the latest drill results from their JVed Treaty Creek property. The Goldstorm deposit, on trend with Seabridge's KSM project and Newcrest's Brucejack deposit, is already enormous but continues to grow. The most interesting results in this batch, which focused on the north end of the deposit, further extend both the high grade gold pulses and the newly discovered copper mineralization over large distances. Drilling with continue for another few weeks before winter closes in, so we can expect another set of drill results before things shut down till spring. (And a reminder; almost all these results are from outside the existing resource envelope.

Next we hear about sample and drill assays from Harry, a JV with OPV.V. They have continued to extend multiple zones of interest for their gold and silver values, and a new zone has been discovered. The drilling was very shallow, so I will be interested in what is planned for next year's exploration.

Finally, we hear about sampling programmes from TUO's 100%-owned Big Gold and Eskay Rift properties. Most of the assays are still pending, but those that have been received might be promising, though it is still too early in the exploration to come to any conclusions.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=34026050

I-80 Gold aka IAU has released another excellent set of drill results from their Ruby Hill gold project under development in Nevada. Based on what they have been finding, they have expanded the current drill programme to 30 km, with the emphasis being on expanding the high grade Ruby Deeps zone slated for initial production, and it continues to deliver, as evidenced by intercepts like 14.8 g/t Au over 12.3 m , 11.8 g/t Au over 18.3 m, and 11.9 g/t Au over 16.8 m. Ruby Deeps remains open in multiple directions.

But that's not all, They recently discovered a new zone called Hilltop, and now they have added two new discovery zones, one dubbed 007 -- 10.5 g/t Au over 11.1 m, and it appears to be oxides -- and Blue Sky, where they have broad zone of medium grade mineralization.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=34024750

FWIW, in the wake of the closing of the latest highly dilutive finacing by Sandstorm Gold Royalties aka SSL, BMO has resumed coverage, keeping them at Outperform but reducing their target from $9 to $8, The analyst cite BMO's recent reductions in their 2023 prices for gold and silver, down 6% and 11% respectively, as well as the effects of the PP, which they are currently modeling as being used entirely, contrary to what SSL is saying, to pay down their line of credit.

The following day, SSL released its Q3 results, as usual in cursory fashion so we'll have to wait for the details. We do learn that SSL sold approximately 22,600 attributable gold equivalent ounces and realized preliminary revenue of $38.9 million. However, their cash operating margin was down about $200/oz from last year so I'll be interested to see their costs when they are released with the quarterly financials.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=34025899

FWIW, in response TD released a new analyst report on SSL calling the results Slightly Positive but maintaining them at Buy with a target of $10.50.

Saville points out that both HUI and GDX closed above their 50-day moving averages this week, signalling that an upward reversal has arrived, but also reminds us that the monetary headwinds (Aka strength in the $US) must dissipate before the PoG really gets going.