Value Microcaps Junior Miners

[Lone Clone]

NTH, KTN, EDV, OGC, BTO, RIO

You might be wondering who NTH is. Why, Nord Precious Metals, of course. Personally I think they should have changed their symbol to ADHD. I first knew tham as TKK, then CSM, then CCW, now NTH, and they have changed their name without changing their symbol a few times along the way, as they repeatedly change focus and started new projects.

In their latest PR they are announcing the new name and a new focus, or rather an old one. Yes, they still have the nickel prospects, and the lithium prospects, and the gold prospects, and the lab, but now they are back to where they used to be, focused on the Castle Mine Ag/Au/Cu property near Cobalt, Ontario. They have been drilling on and off and have pulled some nice intercepts, both underground and near surface, but they have resumed the permitting process to extract a bulk sample.

Of course, their ADHD is still in play, as they also announced a new initiative to try to reprocess existing tailings dumps in and near old mines in the Cobalt area. The leopard may have changed its symbol and name, but not its spots....

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=34553092

If any of you were wondering why the selloff in Kootenay Resources aka KTN, it is related to an ETF adjusting their holdings in an index which includes KTN shares. Whatever the reason, I was happy to add a few more shares to my holdings at a good price, not the bottom but a price I am happy with.

After poking around a bit I discovered that this same buying opportunity lasted for a few hours or more for the rest of the silver stocks affected by this move.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/kootenay-silver-trading-activity-122500266.html

West African gold miner Endeavour Mining aka EDV has been going through a bit of a rough patch lately. Last month they had to fire their CEO for malfeasance, and now we hear that there has been a strike at Hounde in Burkino Faso, their second biggest mine which produced 11% of their gold last year.

We have heard nothing from EDV about this, but a Bloomberg report tells us that the strike started on Jan. 21, albeit but nothing about the reasons why. We also hear that a court has issued an order ending the strike, but we hear nothing about how well that order is working.

Something to keep an eye on...

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=34555771

In 2018 Oceanagold aka OGC enetered into an agreement with a private company called Tasman Mining to develop Blackwater, one of the deposits on its Reefton gold property in New Zealand. In the intervening years, Tasman has been working away on the project, and now OGC has agreed to sell Blackwater to them for $30M, a nice bit of cash to pick up for a non-core project. The deal is expected to close later in 2024.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=34555806

The Otjikoto mine in Namibia has been a good producer for B2Gold aka BTO, but current reserves will be mined out by 2026. Hence, it is good news to hear the latest drill results from Antelope, a deposit about 5 km from current operations. BTO believes the mineralization at Antelope can be mined using the same techniques as used at their nearby Wolfshag deposit, which recently started production as an underground mine.

Based on drill results like 12.88 g/t Au over 7.60m from 485.00m at the Springbok Zone and 9.86 g/t Au over 7.48m from 517.55m at the Oryx Zone, BTO believes it can start mining at Antelope by 2026, though before that they need to complete a Resource Estimate expected in Q3, followed by a scoping study in Q1 2025, and then a construction decision.

These discoveries increase the temptation for me to buy back in to BTO as the share price has remained depressed after recent problems in Mali.

https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=34555850

FWIW, in the wake of BTO's PR, TD issued a new analyst report calling the impact Slightly Positive, estimating that based on drilling results to date Antelope will amount to at least 200k oz Au, with plenty of potential for growth as exploration continues. They maintained BTO as Action List Buy (their highest rating) with a target of $9.

The INK folks, who track insider buying, today put out a special report on Chilean gold developer Rio2 aka RIO in the wake of RIO receiving the delayed permit to develop the Fenix project in far northern Chile. This report tells us that RIO has moved up to 4th place on INK's Top Mining List, and that there had been some insider buying in the wake of receiving the permit. (I added some more to my stash around the time of the insider buy, though I got a slightly better price.)