I find it surprising that with a strong dollar, gold is not only holding its own, it’s rising. What is this telling us?
Since gold is denominated in dollars, when the dollar rises, gold falls and when the dollar falls, gold rises. That is how it should be and that’s how it usually works. But lately, things are not working out the way they usually do.
Eleven months ago the dollar bottomed at 89.65, which was the low point for 2018. Gold was $1,350 at the time. From that point forward, the dollar moved up to its current level at 96.52. In other words, the dollar is up 7.7% in the last 11 months. All things being equal, gold should be down 7.7% from its price then, of $1,350. Gold should be around $1,250. But it’s not. It’s $1,331.50
David’s Commentary:
Does that alert you to the fact that gold is performing very well now? It does to me.
The Fed has indicated that they are through raising interest rates. The next logical step would be for the Fed to start lowering them again, and if the economic data comes in weaker than expected, that should happen. That will send the dollar lower. If gold is rising while the dollar is rising, gold should rise even faster when the dollar starts to drop. Yes, there is reason to be bullish about gold. The anticipated “correction” that would pull gold down below $1,300 did not materialize.
Frank Holmes, CEO of U.S. Global Investor, told investors at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, “Currency differentials will be the key to rising gold prices. Any type of a drop in interest rates, gold in a blink of an eye, is $1,500.”
For the first time in a long time, gold has moved above its year-ago number, and is currently $7.50 higher than one year ago today.
As Ted has pointed out…the precious metal market certainly has a different feel to it over the last three months since the DoJ made the conviction of the ex-JPMorgan trader public. It remains to be seen whether or not this all ends in the same old way, or if it’s really different this time — and the commercial traders get overrun.
Check out his view on gold in the following Kitco interview.
We are getting close to a point where gold will really break out to the upside. Gold is quietly moving up against the strong headwinds of a strong stock market and a strong dollar. There is big money behind the scenes accumulating gold. Otherwise, gold would be close to $1,000.
“The same old tired, failing inflationist responses are being lined up, despite the evidence that monetary easing has never stopped a credit crisis developing…”
Michael Oliver – We Are Going To See An Upside Crash In The Gold Market
With the Dow in the final phase of staging a bear market countertrend rally and gold surging to the $1,340 level, Michael Oliver, who is well known for his deadly accurate forecasts on stocks, bonds, and major markets, just said, “We are going to see an upside crash in the gold market.”
An Upside Crash In The Gold Market
February 19 (King World News) – Michael Oliver: We are going to see an upside crash in the gold market. Gold will spike violently once it clears $1,350 – $1,360. Gold is doing this with a strong dollar. Gold is doing this with a strong S&P. That’s because there’s a crisis coming…
“Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? What I said in 2006 sounded ridiculous too. I hope I am wrong, but fear that I will be proved right.” – Albert Edwards
Should we be worried about inflation – or is hyperinflation in the cards? Check out the following commentary from JSMineset.
Modern Monetary Theory (or as it should be known, Magic Money Tree).
“There is just one problem with this “theory”:
Alas, there is no free lunch. For one, the economy might not have enough resources — in the form of workers and industrial capacity — to meet the combined demand from the government and the private sector. The result would be inflation, as too much money chased too few goods and services.”
First Bill Gates saw the light:
‘… the establishment is starting to get worried. To wit, last week it was one of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates, who slammed MMT as “Crazy talk” saying that the theory’s core principle of “not worrying about the deficit” and that “we’ll just print the money and do it” is “Well crazy.
Now Dudley sees the light.
‘And not just inflation, but hyperinflation. However, to the socialists who pitch MMT, the fact that inflation hasn’t broken out yet – largely due to the relentless monetization of debt by central banks which has kept inflation in check so far, taking the experiment to its surreal extreme should not result in any dire outcome. And yet, that’s nothing but lunacy for two reasons. First, assume the current model remains in place indefinitely – the outcome would be as follows:
America as a whole consumes considerably more than it produces — and depends heavily on foreign investors to lend it the money needed to keep doing so. But they don’t have to make dollar-denominated loans or buy U.S. Treasury securities. If U.S. debts were to keep growing, at some point the Fed would face a dilemma. It could increase interest rates to maintain foreign (and domestic) demand for dollar assets, at the cost of damping U.S. economic growth. Or it could keep interest rates low and allow the dollar to weaken, which would push up inflation as imported goods and services became more expensive. Neither outcome would be pleasant.”
Lord help us all,
David’s Commentary:
It’s very possible that one of the recent drivers of the gold price is backing the yuan with gold. Pay attention to the gold price in yuan. When the dust settles, it will be gold dust in China and paper ash in the U.S.
The point here, in the article below, is not about China’s holdings of gold.
Or the mad rush by many nations to accumulate sizable quantities.
But rather, the move away from the U.S. Dollar.
More to the point, backing the Yuan with gold as a replacement to the Dollar in global trade and investment.
Crucially, the size of the gold addition is far less important than the signaling effect – why did China decide now was the right time to publicly admit its gold reserves are rising?
After months of seeming stability in the yuan relative to gold, Q4 2018/Q1 2019 saw China seemingly allow gold to appreciate relative to the yuan
One wonders if Alasdair Macleod is on to something when he notes that if the yuan is to replace the dollar for China’s trade, officials will have to back it with gold…
China Accelerates Renewed Gold-Buying Spree “To Diversify Its Reserves”
After China’s official gold reserves rose for the first time in around two years (since Oct 2016) in December, Beijing appears to have joined the global gold rush, increasing its gold reserves for the second month in a row in January to 59.94 million ounces.
As we previously noted, China has long been silent on its holdings of gold as many countries are turning away from the greenback.
The value the country’s holdings of the precious metal reached US$79.319 billion, increasing by more than $3 billion compared to the end of last year.
Yuan Gold (XAUCNY) is gold leading the way higher through 9000 RMB per ounce and through US Gold $1380 US its swing high equivalent. And the only way to prevent much higher US Gold prices from there, is for more pronounced weakness in Chinese Yuan against the dollar (CNYUSD). IMO, a weaker Chinese Yuan (CNYUSD) exchange rate is not desirable by the Fed, Treasury, ESF, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets nor the PBOC/SAFE. And to be sure, a higher Yuan Gold (XAUCNY) price is the last thing the Fed, Treasury, ESF, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets seek but is at the top of the bullet point list of the PBOC/SAFE white papers for meeting the CCP goals of prosperity.
Mathematically: Yuan Gold (XAUCNY) x Chinese Yuan (CNYUSD) = $US Gold Price
Albeit a weaker Chinese Yuan (CNYUSD) may have been tolerated by the FED and Treasury when the U.S. and world economy was buzzing along nicely with PBOC/SAFE accumulating new U.S. Treasury offerings. However, a weaker Chinese Yuan (CNYUSD) is certainly not desired by U.S. now. Trade wars, embargoes, worldwide economic slowdown, and debt saturation still can’t create an environment that encourages PBOC/SAFE or other foreign CB’s to accumulate U.S. Treasuries. And for China itself, a lower Chinese Yuan (CNYUSD) may help Chinese exports but conversely also increases the FX debt burden of Chinese borrowers, albeit a small one, who borrow in dollars but whose revenue is denominated in Yuan. However, a higher or stable Chinese Yuan (CNYUSD) clearly increases the standard of living for its burgeoning middle class that represents the biggest meal ticket for the next 50 years for those same Chinese companies that are currently exporting to U.S. but have their eye squarely on their own domestic market’s near and long-term growth. Conclusion: Chinese Yuan (CNYUSD) stability at a minimum and strength are likely now that the world economic slowdown, ensuing financial collapse is on. And when the dust settles, it will be gold dust in China and paper ash in the U.S.
Correspondingly, a higher Yuan Gold (XAUCNY) price is also not desired by the Fed, Treasury, ESF, and the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets because that will drive worldwide gold prices higher, allow for a Chinese gold price discovery market based on physical gold not U.S. paper contracts levered 92:1, and create even more havoc for U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status and balance of trade account. But the Fed, Treasury, ESF, and the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets are helpless in preventing a significant rise in Yuan Gold (XAUCNY) either. They no longer have the means to do so because so much physical gold has moved East over the last 10 years and is now being accumulated in record amounts by central banks worldwide at a time when world production is set to decline with M&A in mining exploding. This is a perfect storm for higher gold prices worldwide. Conversely, higher Yuan Gold (XAUCNY) prices would greatly benefit China’s saving minded middle-class households who have plowed some 17,000 MT or 530 million ounces of physical gold since restrictions were lifted in 2008.
According to Credit Suisse Wealth Databook 2018 (pages 63 & 103)
https://www.credit-suisse.com/corporate/en/research/research-institute/global-wealth-report.html total Chinese Household Net Worth equals about $51.8T. Average Chinese wealth has enjoyed a 10% annual increase since 2008 while the median Chinese household has enjoyed a lesser yet respectable 7% annual increase. At the current Yuan Gold (XAUCNY) price of 8879 the value of 530 million ounce is about $700B US representing 1.4% of total Chinese Household Net Worth. Bearing in mind that not all of that non-monetary gold is in the hands of households, but it is clear that it is not in the hands of the PBOC/SAFE. So ask yourself two questions. Do you think that the PBOC/SAFE would encourage its private sector and households to accumulate so much gold if it was not meant to be a sound investment that increased in value? Do you think that the private sector in China has accumulated more gold than the PBOC/SAFE? IMO the answer is “no” to both questions.
But how much Chinese PBOC/SAFE monetary gold or how much value of that monetary gold is enough to create a new Chinese Style Bretton Woods agreement so to speak with a twist that involves true price discovery of physical Yuan Gold (XAUCNY) not just a U.S. dictated price that the 1944-45 agreement dictated. Paraphrasing James Dines’ in The Invisible Crash published in 1975, “Back then only the U.S. could change the price of gold, and all other nations were forced to upvalue or devalue in terms of dollars. And the world’s currencies were expressed in and closely held in dollars. The problem was that Bretton Woods required reserves to be composed of either gold or any currency convertible into gold. And that was the killer because it included the dollar that was run into the ground through debt creation while gold prices were fixed at an abnormally low price.” For a Chinese Style Bretton Woods system to work, true price discovery for Yuan Gold (XAUCNY) must exist and PBOC/SAFE need an ample amount of current gold reserves and future gold reserves to maintain the value of the YUAN. According Charles A. Coombs, former Senior Vice President of Federal Reserve Bank of New York responsible for U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve operations in the gold and foreign exchange markets in his book The Arena of International Finance, to paraphrase, “At the end of the war and beginning of Bretton Woods system the U.S. gold stock amounted to $20B roughly 60% of total official central bank gold reserves and amounted to 4x the value of total dollar reserves of all foreign central banks and foreign dollar deposits.” Doing that today for the US would be impossible with only 8,133 MT or 261.5M ounces unless it were valued at 4x the $6.7T of allocated and unallocated US dollar exchange value held by foreign central banks. That would require the value of 8,133 MT of US gold to be worth $26.8T or $100,000/oz. But for the Chinese the picture is quite different.
“The majority of Chinese public debt is not officially owed by the central government. However, all of that debt is ultimately guaranteed by the national government of China and should rightfully be recorded in its entirety as the Chinese national debt. True debt to GDP ratio for China’s national debt up to 92.8%” https://commodity.com/debt-clock/china/ . That includes central government debt, municipal debt, shadow banking debt, local government debt, and all other hidden debt. GDP is about 83T Yuan or $12.2T and places total Chinese “public and public guaranteed” debt at about 76T Yuan or $11.2T. “Yet the majority of debt issued by Chinese government and organizations is in local currency. And the great bulk of that, in turn, is held by domestic institutions and individuals. China’s external debt is at 13 percent of GDP. And is very low by world standards. External debt refers to the total amount of public and private debt owed to non-resident individuals and entities. Foreigners own a tiny 3 percent of China’s debt. By comparison, Japan’s external debt is 74 percent of GDP. It’s 126 percent in Australia, 97 percent in the U.S., 38 percent in Brazil, and 24 percent in India (and the U.S. 30%+).”
China Domestic Gold Production amounted to 426 MT or 13.7m oz in 2017 accounting for 13.03% of global gold production, making China the world’s largest gold producing nation for the 11th consecutive year and double that of the U.S. China’s Established in Ground Gold Resource Reserves were 13,195 MT in 2017, for YoY growth of 8.45%
If PBOC/SAFE true current gold reserves were to amount to 60% of all central bank reserves like the US had in 1945 or even 70% like the US had as late as 1957, some 20,000 MT seems reasonable, and it also amounts to slightly more than the Chinese private sector’s 17,000 MT. If those 20,000 MT or 643 million ounces had a value of 4x external Yuan debt, it would need to be valued at $6.8T or US Gold $10,575. That means either a stable Chinese Yuan (CNYUSD) and an 7x increase in Yuan Gold (XAUCNY) or a combination thereof. Makes no difference to $US Gold because mathematically: Yuan Gold (XAUCNY) x Chinese Yuan (CNYUSD) = $US Gold Price.
And it makes no difference to Chinese Official or private sector as it is a win win for them too.
David’s Commentary:
As you know, I have always believed that Harry Dent was way off target with his projections that gold would drop to $500 or $750 an ounce. Dent doesn’t believe that there is any meddling in the gold market either. By my count he is zero for two. He should stick to writing about what he knows best, demographics.
Federal Judge Tells Traders They Can Combine Cases Accusing JP Morgan Of Rigging Metals Market
A group of traders from across the U.S. who allege that J. P. Morgan Chase manipulated precious metals markets for years are one step closer to bringing a class action suit against the nation’s largest bank.
Earlier this month, a federal judge said five separate lawsuits making similar allegations against the bank could be combined, potentially including thousands of people who traded in the precious metals market from Jan. 2009 through Dec. 2015.
Litigation in a separate civil case has been put on hold until at least May at the behest of the Justice Department, which is investigating a “related criminal case” that involves alleged market manipulation by precious metals traders at J. P. Morgan.
So what is the best asset to own to protect your wealth when things finally start to fall apart? David Stockman say GOLD. So do we.
“It should be no surprise that the financial planners or pension fund managers never recommend gold or silver as part of an investment portfolio. This will turn out to be a huge mistake.” – SRSrocco
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Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – February 21, 2019) – Miramont Resources Corp. (CSE: MONT) (OTCQB: MRRMF) (FRA: 6MR) (“Miramont” or the “Company”) announces that it has granted stock options to acquire up to 1,145,000 common shares of the Company, 900,000 of which were granted to certain directors and officers of the Company. Each of the stock options is exercisable for a five year term expiring on February 21, 2024 at a price of $0.415 per common share. On February 20, 2019, the last day that the Company’s common shares traded prior to the granting of the stock options, the closing trading price of the common shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange was $0.415. The options are subject to vesting provisions, with one-third vesting on the date of grant, an additional one-third on the first anniversary of the date of grant and the remaining one-third on the second anniversary thereof. The stock options are non-transferable. Any common shares issued pursuant to the exercise of the stock options will be subject to a four month hold period expiring on June 22, 2019.
About Miramont Resources Corp.
Miramont is a Canadian based exploration company with a focus on acquiring and developing mineral prospects within world-class belts of South America. Miramont’s two key projects are Cerro Hermoso and Lukkacha, both located in southern Peru. Cerro Hermoso is a diatreme-hosted copper dominant polymetallic prospect. Lukkacha is a classic copper-porphyry prospect.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
MIRAMONT RESOURCES CORP.
This news release may contain statements which constitute “forward-looking information”, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company’s future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, successes of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws.
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Group Ten Metals Inc. (TSX.V: PGE; US OTC: PGEZF; FSE: 5D32) (the “Company” or “Group Ten”) announces results from the Chrome Mountain and East Boulder target areas on the west side of the Stillwater West Project in Montana, USA. This is the second in a series of planned news releases to report results of 2018 exploration programs, on-going historical data compilation, and modeling work at the Company’s flagship PGE-Ni-Cu project adjacent to Sibanye-Stillwater’s high-grade PGE mines in the Stillwater Igneous Complex. With more than 41 million ounces of past production and current M&I resources, plus another 49 million ounces of inferred resources at over 16 g/t palladium and platinum, the Stillwater Complex is recognized as one of the top regions in the world for PGE-Ni-Cu mineralization1,2.
Michael Rowley, President and CEO, commented, “We are pleased to report results of our work to date in the Chrome Mountain and East Boulder target areas at the middle-west portion of the 25-km-long Stillwater West project (see Figure 1). Mineralization including platinum group elements (PGE), nickel, copper and cobalt at these target areas is associated with two major electro-magnetic geophysical conductors that are approximately 2.9 and 2.6 km in length respectively, and correspond with broad coincident soil and rock geochemical anomalies. The scale of these targets demonstrates the potential for discovery of a major new bulk-tonnage “Platreef-style” PGE-Ni-Cu deposit in the Stillwater Complex, geologically similar to those in the Bushveld Complex of South Africa.”
“Chrome Mountain, in particular, is one of our highest priority target areas and has advanced very rapidly with the discovery of a new style of platinum and palladium mineralization associated with nickel and copper sulphides at the Hybrid Zone (see December 17, 2018 news release). This discovery has attracted significant interest in the Stillwater West project with wide intervals of platinum, palladium, nickel, copper, and cobalt mineralization starting at surface, including nine intervals of over 100 meters in thickness with grade-thickness values of more than 100 gram-meter Total Platinum Equivalent (TotPtEq), including six holes which returned composite mineralization of over 200 meters with grade-thickness values of 200 to 294 gram-meter TotPtEq (see Table 1). Grade-thickness values of 25 gram-meter or more are considered economically significant, with the grade-thickness values at the adjacent J-M Reef mines averaging approximately 34 gram-meter palladium and platinum1. Values of 100 to 300 gram-meter are exceptional, highlighting the strength of the Stillwater West system.”
“Rock sampling programs at Chrome Mountain in 2018 returned up to 16 g/t 3E(8.72 g/t Pt, 7.25 g/t Pd and 0.03 g/t Au) (see Table 2) in previously unrecognized areas, confirming the underexplored nature of the lower Stillwater Complex, and the substantial potential for new discoveries of both higher-grade and bulk tonnage deposits in this famously metal-rich district.”
Chrome Mountain – Overview
As shown in Figure 1, the Chrome Mountain target area is one of eight major bulk tonnage target areas identified by Group Ten Metals across the Ultramafic and Basal Series of the Stillwater Complex. These target areas are highlighted by strong, multi-kilometer electro-magnetic conductive signatures that are characteristic of large bodies of interconnected to strongly disseminated sulphides. These conductive geophysical targets have overlapping highly elevated platinum, palladium, gold, nickel, copper, and chromium values in soils and rock sampling. The limited drilling completed to date on these large geophysical and geochemical targets confirms the presence of corresponding PGE-Ni-Cu mineralization within the 31 holes drilled across the broad Chrome Mountain target area. In addition, the Company has obtained most of the core samples drilled on the property since 2001 for re-logging and sampling as part of the ongoing modeling work, which has allowed the Group Ten team to identify and confirm the potential for Platreef-style deposits in the Stillwater Complex.
Figure 1 – 14 Target Areas Across the 25-Kilometer Width of the Stillwater West Project
The Chrome Mountain target area covers an area of approximately 2.9 km by 2.3 km that includes bulk tonnage “Platreef-style” PGE-Ni-Cu targets within the Hybrid Zone (the Discovery, Dunite Ridge, Bald Hills, and Tarantula Targets), as well as potential bulk tonnage PGE-enriched Ni and Cu sulphide mineralization targets within the basal portion of the complex. Potential also exists for higher-grade PGE “reef-type” targets. Comprehensive soil geochemical data has been collected across Chrome Mountain with high levels of PGE, Ni, Cu and Cr in soils shown across kilometer-scale areas coincident with high level electro-magnetic conductors shown in geophysical survey results (see Figures 2, 3 and 4).
Chrome Mountain – Hybrid Zone
The Hybrid Zone is characterized by broad intervals of highly anomalous PGE levels associated with chromite and nickel and copper sulfides with complex pegmatoidal and magmatic breccia textures in the Ultramafic Series lithologies. The complexly textured host rocks, together with broadly disseminated chromite and sulphide, are geologically similar to the Platreef setting in South Africa’s Bushveld Complex.
Table 1 presents highlight intercepts from ten holes drilled in the Discovery target where nine separate intercepts exceeded 100 meters thickness with continuous highly elevated PGE, Ni, Cu and Co mineralization, starting at surface, including 118 m at 1.73 g/t TotPtEq (0.36 Pt, 0.56 Pd, and 0.09 Au for 1.0 g/t 3E along with 0.12% Ni, 0.03% Cu and 0.01% Co for 0.17% NiEq). In addition, six holes returned composite mineralization of over 200 meters in thickness that occurs over a strike length of approximately 600 meters which remains open in all directions and occurs within a broader one kilometer wide area of highly anomalous metals in soils. These holes were targeted on highly elevated platinum and palladium values in soils that characterize the entire Hybrid Zone (see Figure 3). Along with the untested additional soil targets and geophysical conductors, these drill results demonstrate the potential for significant bulk tonnage mineralization at the Chrome Mountain target area.
Chrome Mountain – Dunite Ridge and Bald Hills Targets
Several intrusive dunite targets have been identified in the core of the Hybrid Zone (see cross section CM-6 in Figure 7). Work at Chrome Mountain in 2018 led to the discovery of the Dunite Ridge and Bald Hill targets where mapping of olivine chromite-rich intrusive returned chip samples of up to 16.0 g/t 3E (as 8.72 g/t Pt, 7.25 g/t Pd, and 0.03 g/t Au) at Dunite Ridge. A second sample at Dunite Ridge returned 7.45 g/t 3E as 2.32 g/t Pt, 5.10 g/t Pd, and 0.02 g/t Au (see Table 2). These samples occur within a highly elevated PGE, Ni and Cu soil anomaly covering at least 750 meters of strike. Intrusive dunites can have spectacular grades in the Bushveld Complex, but have not been systematically explored for in the Stillwater Complex. The intrusive dunites identified at the Chrome Mountain target area are one of several occurrences across the overall Stillwater West Project. Dunite Ridge and Bald Hills are priority targets for follow-up work in 2019.
TABLE 1 – Highlight mineralized drill intercepts from the Chrome Mountain Target Area
INTERVAL
PRECIOUS METALS
BASE METALS
TOTAL METAL EQUIVALENTS
GRADE THICKNESS
HOLE ID
From
To
Width
Pt
Pd
Au
3E
Ni
Cu
Co
NiEq
TotPtEq
TotNiEq
Grade x Width
(m)
(m)
(m)
(g/t)
(g/t)
(g/t)
(g/t)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(Pt g/t)
(Ni %)
(gram-meters)
CM2007-01
3.1
148.1
145.1
0.24
0.21
0.01
0.46
0.07
0.01
0.009
0.10
0.89
0.22
129.5
including
7.9
25.9
18.0
0.46
0.54
0.02
1.02
0.08
0.01
0.010
0.12
1.52
0.37
27.4
including
56.7
77.4
20.7
0.34
0.35
0.01
0.70
0.07
0.00
0.010
0.11
1.15
0.28
23.8
AND
261.5
448.1
186.5
0.04
0.04
0.01
0.08
0.12
0.02
0.014
0.18
0.82
0.20
153.9
including
294.4
362.7
68.3
0.07
0.07
0.02
0.17
0.16
0.04
0.016
0.24
1.15
0.28
78.5
including
305.4
334.7
29.3
0.10
0.10
0.02
0.22
0.18
0.06
0.018
0.27
1.34
0.33
39.2
CM2007-02
0.0
210.6
210.6
0.20
0.28
0.02
0.49
0.10
0.01
0.011
0.14
1.08
0.26
227.4
including
13.4
109.4
96.0
0.37
0.56
0.03
0.96
0.12
0.02
0.012
0.17
1.65
0.40
158.5
including
38.7
68.6
29.9
0.60
1.25
0.09
1.93
0.19
0.04
0.014
0.26
3.03
0.74
90.4
AND
300.8
387.7
86.9
0.04
0.03
0.01
0.08
0.10
0.02
0.010
0.14
0.66
0.16
57.0
CM2007-03
0.0
47.5
47.5
0.30
0.44
0.13
0.87
0.13
0.05
0.010
0.19
1.68
0.41
79.9
including
0.0
17.7
17.7
0.33
0.42
0.16
0.92
0.14
0.06
0.011
0.21
1.82
0.44
32.1
including
23.5
41.8
18.3
0.38
0.62
0.13
1.13
0.15
0.06
0.010
0.21
2.03
0.49
37.1
CM2007-04
1.5
119.5
118.0
0.36
0.56
0.09
1.00
0.12
0.03
0.010
0.17
1.73
0.42
204.3
including
1.5
18.9
17.4
0.40
0.52
0.15
1.06
0.12
0.04
0.010
0.17
1.81
0.44
31.5
including
33.5
51.8
18.3
0.52
0.91
0.10
1.54
0.16
0.06
0.011
0.22
2.48
0.60
45.3
including
34.8
43.3
8.5
0.55
0.94
0.14
1.63
0.22
0.10
0.012
0.31
2.94
0.71
25.1
including
71.3
118.3
46.9
0.45
0.71
0.11
1.27
0.13
0.04
0.011
0.18
2.04
0.50
95.9
AND
151.2
242.6
91.4
0.21
0.21
0.02
0.44
0.12
0.02
0.012
0.17
1.15
0.28
105.1
CM2007-05
1.2
239.3
238.1
0.14
0.22
0.04
0.40
0.12
0.03
0.011
0.17
1.12
0.27
267.4
including
64.6
128.3
63.7
0.19
0.33
0.07
0.60
0.15
0.05
0.012
0.22
1.51
0.37
96.4
including
85.3
107.6
22.3
0.26
0.41
0.10
0.77
0.18
0.07
0.012
0.25
1.84
0.45
40.9
CM2007-06
0.0
128.0
128.0
0.15
0.18
0.06
0.40
0.19
0.07
0.014
0.27
1.52
0.37
194.1
including
8.8
119.5
110.6
0.16
0.20
0.07
0.43
0.20
0.08
0.015
0.29
1.64
0.40
180.9
CM2007-07
1.5
227.1
225.6
0.15
0.32
0.05
0.52
0.13
0.04
0.011
0.19
1.30
0.32
293.2
including
42.1
55.5
13.4
0.19
0.45
0.06
0.70
0.14
0.05
0.010
0.20
1.54
0.37
20.7
including
68.3
172.5
104.2
0.19
0.36
0.06
0.61
0.16
0.06
0.013
0.24
1.60
0.39
166.5
including
76.2
93.3
17.1
0.22
0.34
0.06
0.62
0.16
0.04
0.015
0.23
1.60
0.39
27.2
including
121.3
137.8
16.5
0.17
0.19
0.06
0.42
0.18
0.09
0.012
0.27
1.53
0.37
25.2
including
148.7
172.5
23.8
0.26
0.70
0.08
1.04
0.18
0.08
0.013
0.27
2.15
0.52
51.2
CM2007-08
0.0
209.7
209.7
0.20
0.26
0.07
0.52
0.14
0.04
0.013
0.21
1.38
0.34
290.4
including
18.3
143.9
125.6
0.27
0.38
0.10
0.75
0.16
0.05
0.013
0.23
1.72
0.42
216.6
including
52.1
75.6
23.5
0.21
0.32
0.13
0.66
0.19
0.07
0.013
0.27
1.79
0.43
41.9
including
81.5
100.6
19.1
0.30
0.48
0.10
0.88
0.21
0.06
0.018
0.30
2.13
0.52
40.5
including
123.1
142.7
19.5
0.54
0.78
0.07
1.39
0.14
0.04
0.013
0.20
2.23
0.54
43.6
CM2007-09
3.7
22.9
19.2
0.37
0.60
0.10
1.07
0.14
0.04
0.011
0.20
1.92
0.47
36.9
including
9.5
22.9
13.4
0.45
0.75
0.13
1.32
0.17
0.06
0.012
0.23
2.31
0.56
31.0
CM2007-10
3.4
255.7
252.4
0.14
0.18
0.02
0.34
0.14
0.02
0.013
0.20
1.16
0.28
293.8
including
9.5
44.8
35.4
0.39
0.58
0.06
1.04
0.15
0.05
0.012
0.22
1.94
0.47
68.6
including
92.4
108.2
15.9
0.35
0.48
0.07
0.91
0.24
0.08
0.016
0.33
2.29
0.56
36.4
Intercepts with grade thickness values over 25 gram-meter TotPtEq are presented above. Total Platinum Equivalent (TotPtEq g/t) and Total Nickel Equivalent calculations reflect total gross metal content using metals prices as follows (all USD): $6.00/lb nickel (Ni), $3.00/lb copper (Cu), $20.00/lb cobalt (Co), $1,000/oz platinum (Pt), $1,000/oz palladium (Pd) and $1,250/oz gold (Au). Values have not been adjusted to reflect metallurgical recoveries. Total metal equivalent values include both base and precious metals, where available. Results labelled ‘n/a’ were not assayed for that metal. Total platinum equivalent grade thickness was determined by multiplying the thickness (in meters) by the Total Platinum Equivalent grade (in grams/tonne) to provide gram-meter values (g-m) as shown. All holes were conducted by Group Ten’s QP and are not considered historic.
Chrome Mountain – Tarantula Target
In the eastern area of the Hybrid Zone, work in 2018 identified the Tarantula Target, where highly anomalous PGE mineralization occurs in the Ultramafic Series. Host rocks are pegmatoidal bronzitite; disseminated chromite, sulphide and magmatic breccia textures have been described over an approximate strike length of at least 500 meters.
Table 2 presents select rock sample results from reconnaissance prospecting and geological mapping programs at the Chrome Mountain and East Boulder target areas in 2018 which confirm the presence of significant platinum, palladium, nickel, copper and cobalt mineralization with grades up to 3.56 g/t Pd, 0.618% Ni, and 0.049% Co outside of the Dunite Ridge Target discussed above (see Table 2). High chromium levels were also noted with 14 samples returning grades of 10 to 26.8% Cr. In addition, test work indicates a consistent ratio of rhodium content relative to platinum values. Neither chromium nor rhodium values have been included in the calculation of metal equivalents in the tables above and below.
TABLE 2 – Highlight 2018 rock sample results from the Chrome Mountain Target Area
PRECIOUS METALS
BASE METALS
TOTAL METAL EQUIVALENTS
SAMPLE ID
LOCATION
Pt
Pd
Au
3E
Ni
Cu
Co
NiEq
TotPtEq
TotNiEq
(g/t)
(g/t)
(g/t)
(g/t)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(Pt g/t)
(Ni %)
337388
Dunite Ridge
8.72
7.25
0.03
16.00
0.106
0.020
0.016
0.17
16.70
4.06
1409950
Dunite Ridge
2.32
5.10
0.02
7.45
0.093
<0.005
0.012
0.13
8.00
1.94
337391
Dunite Ridge
0.38
1.23
0.05
1.67
0.112
0.058
0.026
0.23
2.62
0.64
337392
Dunite Ridge
0.41
1.00
0.08
1.49
0.157
0.056
0.019
0.25
2.53
0.61
3190364
Discovery
0.99
3.56
0.06
4.61
0.084
0.000
0.011
0.12
5.12
1.24
3190372
Discovery
1.53
2.34
0.01
3.88
0.088
0.000
0.018
0.15
4.49
1.09
3190368
Discovery
1.78
1.42
0.01
3.21
0.156
0.000
0.017
0.21
4.08
0.99
3190351
Discovery
0.87
2.15
0.06
3.09
0.139
0.019
0.019
0.21
3.97
0.97
3190375
Discovery
0.78
2.00
0.06
2.84
0.111
0.032
0.022
0.20
3.68
0.89
3190373
Discovery
0.47
1.17
0.04
1.68
0.104
0.000
0.020
0.17
2.39
0.58
3190362
Discovery
0.28
0.80
0.15
1.23
0.193
0.083
0.009
0.26
2.35
0.57
3190363
Discovery
0.21
0.79
0.05
1.04
0.182
0.085
0.020
0.29
2.25
0.55
3190461
Bald Hills
1.04
1.81
0.24
3.09
0.336
0.027
0.030
0.45
5.00
1.22
337378
Bald Hills
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.23
0.618
0.094
0.049
0.83
3.66
0.89
3190467
Bald Hills
0.97
1.47
0.10
2.53
0.170
0.000
0.021
0.24
3.54
0.86
3190464
Bald Hills
1.02
0.72
0.05
1.78
0.233
0.000
0.030
0.33
3.16
0.77
337381
Bald Hills
0.44
1.77
0.07
2.28
0.107
0.000
0.024
0.19
3.07
0.75
337380
Bald Hills
1.09
0.64
0.03
1.76
0.137
0.018
0.029
0.24
2.77
0.67
3190394
Bald Hills
1.28
0.40
0.03
1.71
0.086
0.063
0.024
0.20
2.53
0.61
3190390
Bald Hills
0.72
0.62
0.17
1.50
0.050
0.034
0.017
0.12
2.05
0.50
3190471
Tarantula
0.71
2.48
0.06
3.25
0.243
0.030
0.020
0.32
4.60
1.12
3190397
Tarantula
1.44
1.88
0.14
3.46
0.100
0.007
0.010
0.14
4.05
0.99
3190306
Tarantula
0.92
2.16
0.01
3.09
0.111
0.000
0.016
0.16
3.77
0.92
3190376
Tarantula
0.97
0.41
0.01
1.39
0.101
0.000
0.018
0.16
2.05
0.50
1409933
East Boulder
0.68
2.58
0.15
3.41
0.212
0.152
0.015
0.34
4.84
1.18
3190452
East Boulder
0.44
1.06
0.01
1.51
0.162
0.000
0.016
0.22
2.39
0.58
337365
Lindgren
0.00
0.10
0.04
0.14
0.315
0.976
0.030
0.90
3.87
0.94
337368
Lindgren
0.03
0.21
0.08
0.32
0.342
0.054
0.034
0.48
2.32
0.56
3190389
Hybrid Zone
1.73
0.42
0.01
2.16
0.081
0.036
0.019
0.16
2.83
0.69
Results over 2 g/t TotPtEq are presented above. Total Platinum Equivalent (TotPtEq g/t) and Total Nickel Equivalent were determined as per Table 1.
Figures 6 and 7 present cross sections representing the Company’s current understanding of the Hybrid Zone and surrounding stratigraphy. The Hybrid Zone is open in all directions, and is a priority target for follow-up in 2019.
Chrome Mountain – Basal Zone Targets
The Company is also targeting potential bulk-tonnage sulphide mineralization in the Basal Series of the complex at Chrome Mountain where mineralization may be associated with interaction between the layered basal magmatic system and the basement country rocks. Interaction and assimilation of basement country rocks is an important component of the Platreef deposits in the Bushveld Complex, where the country rocks may be in place as the footwall or occur as large rafts within the layered magmatic stratigraphy. Kilometer-scale geophysical, geochemical and geological signatures present compelling bulk-tonnage targets in this type of setting for PGE-enriched Ni/Cu sulfides in the lower Stillwater Complex stratigraphy.
The potential for deposits of this type in the Chrome Mountain area has been confirmed by reconnaissance rock chip samples and geological mapping work by Group Ten in 2018, as well as in limited historic drilling, which targeted nickel and copper sulphides in the Basal and lowest Ultramafic Series. These drill holes were relatively shallow, and were only selectively assayed where base metal sulphide levels were high. A few of these high-sulphide intercepts were assayed for PGEs confirming that the nickel and copper sulphides in these areas are highly enriched in PGEs. Notably, this historic drill sampling did not assay areas enriched in chromite, which typically exhibit higher-grade PGE mineralization. Data from the 355 series drill holes by AMAX in the 1960s and 1970s, shown on cross sections in Figures 6 and 7, confirm the presence of net-textured to massive sulphide hosted mineralization proximal to the strongest electro-magnetic conductive signatures.
2018 rock sample results from the historic Lindgren Target in the basal series at Chrome Mountain are particularly compelling as they confirm the presence of significant PGE, Ni and Cu mineralization with results of 0.315% Ni, 0.976% Cu, and 0.030% Co (0.94% Ni Eq) in sample 337365 and 0.342% Ni, 0.054% Cu and 0.034% Co (0.56% Ni Eq) in sample 337368 (see Table 2). Basal zone sulphide targets will be a priority for follow-up work in 2019 at Chrome Mountain.
East Boulder Target Area
As shown in Figure 2, the East Boulder target area centers on a highly conductive geophysical anomaly with coincident highly elevated levels of PGE, Ni, Cu and Cr metals in soils (Figures 3 and 4) covering an area approximately 2.6 km x 1.9 km. The East Boulder target area has less outcrop exposure than the adjacent Chrome Mountain target area (Figure 5) and, as a result, remains much less explored despite historic placer mining in the area. Two drill holes from 2008 confirm the presence of Pt, Pd and Au mineralization adjacent to the EM conductive high anomaly but were not tested for base metals.
Work in 2018 included surface mapping and limited sampling with results up to 3.4 g/t 3E, 0.21% Ni, and 0.15% Cu (4.84 g/t TotPtEq) (see Table 2) providing support that similar mineralized stratigraphic horizons continue into the East Boulder target area.
Future work at the East Boulder target area will include detailed mapping and rock sampling to develop and refine drill targets in the area of the electro-magnetic conductors and coincident soil anomalies.
Amendment to the Catalyst Property Agreement
Group Ten announces that it has amended the terms of the agreement for the Catalyst Project within the Company’s Kluane PGE-Ni-Cu Project in Canada’s Yukon Territory, as announced on August 16, 2017. The amendment allows the Company to meet the $10,000 cash payment requirement by the issuance of 200,000 common shares, and is subject to regulatory approval.
Upcoming Events
Group Ten will be exhibiting in the Investor’s Exchange at booth #3018 at the PDAC convention in March in Toronto, among other upcoming shows. The Company looks forward to releasing further results from the adjacent target areas in the coming weeks.
About Stillwater West
The Stillwater West PGE-Ni-Cu project positions Group Ten as the second largest landholder in the Stillwater Complex, adjoining and adjacent to Sibanye-Stillwater’s world-leading Stillwater, East Boulder, and Blitz platinum group elements (PGE) mines in south central Montana, USA. With more than 41 million ounces of past production and current M&I resources, plus another 49 million ounces of Inferred resources1,2, the Stillwater Complex is recognized as one of the top regions in the world for PGE-Ni-Cu mineralization, alongside the Bushveld Complex and Great Dyke in southern Africa, which are similar layered intrusions. The J-M Reef, and other PGE-enriched sulphide horizons in the Stillwater Complex, share many similarities with the highly prolific Merensky and UG2 Reefs in the Bushveld Complex, while the lower part of the Stillwater Complex also shows the potential for much larger scale disseminated and high-sulphide PGE-nickel-copper type deposits, possibly similar to Platreef in the Bushveld Complex3. Group Ten’s Stillwater West property covers the lower part of the Stillwater Complex along with the Picket Pin PGE Reef-type deposit in the upper portion, and includes extensive historic data, including soil and rock geochemistry, geophysical surveys, geologic mapping, and historic drilling.
Note 1: Report on Montana Platinum Group Metal Mineral Assets of Sibanye-Stillwater, November 2017, Measured and Indicated Resources of 57.2 million tonnes grading 17.0 g/t Pt+Pd containing 31.3 million ounces and 92.5 million tonnes grading 16.6 g/t containing 49.4 million ounces. Grade thickness was determined by applying the reported minimum mining width of 2.0 meters to the M&I grade of 17 g/t Pt+Pd for an average grade thickness of approximately 34 gram-meter (g-m). Note 2: Public production records from Stillwater Mining Company from 1992 to present. Note 3: Magmatic Ore Deposits in Layered Intrusions—Descriptive Model for Reef-Type PGE and Contact-Type Cu-Ni-PGE Deposits, Michael Zientek, USGS Open-File Report 2012–1010.
About Group Ten Metals Inc.
Group Ten Metals Inc. is a TSX-V-listed Canadian mineral exploration company focused on the development of high-quality platinum, palladium, nickel, copper, cobalt and gold exploration assets in top North American mining jurisdictions. The Company’s core asset is the Stillwater West PGE-Ni-Cu project adjacent to Sibanye-Stillwater’s high-grade PGE mines in Montana, USA. Group Ten also holds the high-grade Black Lake-Drayton Gold project in the Rainy River district of northwest Ontario and the highly prospective Kluane PGE-Ni-Cu project on trend with Nickel Creek Platinum’s Wellgreen deposit in Canada‘s Yukon Territory.
About the Metallic Group of Companies
The Metallic Group is a collaboration of leading precious and base metals exploration companies, with a portfolio of large, brownfields assets in established mining districts adjacent to some of the industry’s highest-grade producers of platinum & palladium, silver and copper. Member companies include Group Ten Metals (PGE.V) in the Stillwater PGM-Ni-Cu district of Montana, Metallic Minerals (MMG.V) in the Yukon’s Keno Hill silver district, and Granite Creek Copper (GCX.V) in the Yukon’s Carmacks copper district. The founders and team members of the Metallic Group include highly successful explorationists formerly with some of the industry’s leading explorer/developers and major producers and are undertaking a systematic approach to exploration using new models and technologies to facilitate discoveries in these proven historic mining districts. The Metallic Group is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Canada and its member companies are listed on the Toronto Venture, US OTC, and Frankfurt stock exchanges.
2018 rock chip samples were analyzed by Bureau Veritas Mineral Laboratories in Vancouver, B.C. Samples were crushed and split, and a 250 g split pulverized with 85% passing 200 mesh. Gold, platinum, and palladium were analyzed by fire assay (FA350) with ICP finish. Selected major and trace elements were analyzed by peroxide fusion with ICP-EB finish to insure complete dissolution of resistate minerals. Following industry QA/QC standards, blanks, duplicate samples, and certified standards were also assayed.
2007 drilling was conducted by Group Ten’s QP while working for Beartooth Platinum. Pre-2001 drill results are considered historic and have not been independently verified by Group Ten. Mr. Mike Ostenson, P.Geo., is the qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101, and he has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.
Forward-Looking Statements
Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements”. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Group Ten believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Group Ten and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
In Energy & Gold’s latest conversation with 321gold founder Bob Moriarty we are treated to some glimpses into Bob’s newly published book on resource investing. Including Bob’s special technique for figuring out if a junior mining CEO is lying to him….
Goldfinger: I just read your latest book “Basic Investing in Resource Stocks: The Idiot’s Guide” and I found it to be extremely entertaining and chock full of valuable lessons for junior mining investors. Can you tell us about why you wrote this book and offer some clues as to what readers might learn?
Bob Moriarty: I’ve had several people literally bug me for years, asking me to write a book about the basics of junior resource investing. One of the interesting things about writing about a subject is that it forces you to think about your beliefs. Strange enough the book came out totally different from how I thought it would come out, and I think it’s better.
Goldfinger: The book is basically about the lessons you’ve learned through 50 years of investing, all the way from when you first came back from Vietnam and received some good advice from your broker to some of your most recent lessons including Novo Resources and Novagold. Can you give us a little taste of what’s in the book?
Bob Moriarty: Absolutely. The greatest bull market i’ve ever seen in a stock was in Novagold Resources, it went from US$.09 a share (C$.13 on the Canadian listing) in 2001 to more than US$20 a share (also more than C$20 per share on the Canadian listing) in 2007.
NG.TO (Monthly – 20 Year)
If you were a bull you had an extraordinary opportunity to buy it cheap and make a 200x gain on your investment. Whereas, if you were a bear you could have also made a lot of money because Novagold dropped from over $20 a share in 2007 to a mere $.46 per share in October 2008 when the Global Financial Crisis kicked the shit out of the junior mining sector.
What I realized from Novagold is that we focus on way too many things that are absolutely meaningless – this is how people lose money, they pay attention to theories that simply don’t make any sense. Novagold’s roller coaster ride can also teach us about cycles; if you get the cycles right you don’t need to worry about much else.
How well do you know Frank Giustra?
Goldfinger: I know about him a little bit as an investor but I don’t think i’ve ever met him in person.
Bob Moriarty: What was he doing between 1996 (after Bre-X) until 2001?
Goldfinger: I’m not sure exactly.
Bob Moriarty: He was making movies. He started Lion’s Gate Films. When Bre-X hit he decided that was going to be it for the mining sector for a number of years and he went into the film business. Then he picked the bottom in 2001 when he decided it was time to get back into the mining sector and he began building Wheaton River Minerals which later became Goldcorp and Silver Wheaton. Giustra is one of the most successful resource investors in history and my point is that there is a time to be in resource stocks, and there is a time to be out of resource stocks.
If you look for the signs of a major top or a major bottom you can do very well, but basically ½ of the time you shouldn’t be invested at all. I sold my gold and silver in January 1980 and didn’t own an ounce of metal again until 1999 when I decided it was a tremendous opportunity to accumulate precious metals when nobody else cared, everyone else was buying stock in pets.com, Worldcom, and Cisco.
Goldfinger: The point you just made is that everything is cyclical, especially in the mining and junior resource sectors where economic cycles heavily influence the prevailing price trends. There are bear cycles where one should have minimal investment exposure to the resource sector, and there are bull cycles in which many resource shares will see 1000%+ increases almost regardless of the quality of their projects and/or management teams.
Bob Moriarty: Correct.
Goldfinger: Using the example of Novagold, when it reached $20 a share in 2007 it was at the point of maximum optimism that metals prices would remain high for a long time to come and there were no concerns about obtaining project financing. And then barely more than a year later that optimism gave way to extreme pessimism in the depths of the Global Financial Crisis. It’s just another wonderful example of fading greed and buying fear and how we can use the cyclical nature of the sector to our advantage instead of being a victim of it.
Bob Moriarty: During bull markets everything goes up and during bear markets everything goes down and there are times when you simply don’t want to be involved in the resource sector. If people waited until December of 2015 or January 2016 when everyone was extremely pessimistic there was a 400%+ rally across the junior mining sector within six months. You only need to catch moves like this a couple of times in your lifetime to create some real wealth.
Goldfinger: Ok now i’m going to ask you a couple of tough questions since we’re talking about how important cycles are in the resource sector. Are we in a bull market or a bear market right now in the precious metals and junior mining sectors?
Bob Moriarty: We’re in a bull market in both. But palladium is about to fall off a cliff and gold is getting close to being frothy with a DSI (Daily Sentiment Index) of 90.
Goldfinger: How do you know we’re in a bull market?
Bob Moriarty: If you measure all the sentiment indicators that hit absolute extremes in January 2016 we made a capitulation low then, and until they hit an absolute overbullish extreme in the other direction then we will be in a bull market. I see nothing out there to indicate that we’re anywhere near the end of the bullish cycle.
Goldfinger: Going back to Novagold is it possible for an investor to catch that entire move from $.09 to $20? At some point the gains become too great OR the corrections become steep and scary enough that even the most seasoned investor is going to get shaken out of their position along the way, right?
Bob Moriarty: You’ve got to sell some on the way up and you’d be a fool to not ring the register on some at 5x, 10x, 20x, etc. You’ve simply got to sell some or even all of your position, and nobody can catch the entire move. I show the example of Novo Resources (TSX-V:NVO) in my book and Novo offers 3 or 4 opportunities for bulls each year and 3 or 4 opportunities for bears.
The single biggest mistake that I have made over the years is not selling when I had the chance. If I would have clipped some shares off every time I had the chance to I would have made ten times more money over the long run. It’s way better to sell some at a profit rather than hanging onto a stock for several years hoping for it to turn around.
Goldfinger: I think that’s a lesson that a lot of people need to hear. Some of the most common things I see with investors in the resource sector is being afraid to sell some for fear of missing out on more upside, and holding onto big losing positions for years in hopes that there will eventually be a rebound. “Cheap” can always get cheaper especially when the sector is out of favor.
I want to ask you about one of my favorite quotes from the book, here it is:
“It’s been my experience that resource companies are often run by idiots pretending to be managers who live the good life while sucking the financial blood out of the veins of helpless investors. It’s a dangerous business, where failure is the norm. Share prices run up and down faster than a bride’s nightie. I’ve run into charlatans, con men and fools. I’ve visited hundreds of mining properties and i’ve been lied to on almost every trip.
I find that wonderful, being lied to maybe 75 percent of the time. I used to be in the computer business. There I got lied to 100 percent of the time. So the liars in mining are at best amateurs in comparison.” ~ Bob Moriarty
Is this true? Are 75% of the people in this sector liars? Is there a way we can improve the level of integrity in this sector or is this just how the world is?
Bob Moriarty: It’s the way of the world.
Goldfinger: So this is just how the world is and things are? People are going to lie so we should expect it?
Bob Moriarty: Yeah and it’s a good thing to know. When everyone was four or five years old your parents probably told you to like people, to be nice to people, and to trust people but as you grow older you really do realize that people are scumbags. I mean the shit that people pull on each other is just amazing sometimes. One of my favorite analogies is that if you really trust people you should go buy & sell things on Ebay and then come back to me. The scams that people come up with are really amazing. The older I get the more I realize how stupid people are and how corrupt people are. Now I want to be clear that this is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s simply the way of the world.
Goldfinger: One of my father’s favorite sayings towards the end of his life was “the more you see of people the more you will like animals” and I always thought this was too skeptical and dour but it seems that you tend to agree Bob.
Maybe we can look at the glass as half full for a moment. Aren’t there some good people in the world and some really honest good people in the mining sector?
Bob Moriarty: Yes, there are some wonderful people in the sector and there are some guys who tell the truth as a rule. However, one thing you’ve got to realize is that when a guy starts lying to you he may very well be lying about everything. I have had some investments over the year in which I knew the managers were lying about some things but I still loved the story so much that told myself “well, he can’t be lying about everything”, but sure enough, they were lying about everything.
Goldfinger: Wow. I think that’s a cold hard truth that some people need to hear. It might be better to approach investing with a skeptical eye rather than an optimistic one. I know there are some companies out there right now that you are quite skeptical of, are you willing to mention a couple?
Bob Moriarty: I’m hesitant to mention names but I will say this. If you catch a CEO or company executive lying about one thing you can safely presume that they are lying about everything. There is something called lying by omission, which is quite common. These people will simply ‘forget’ to mention important details that aren’t favorable to their company’s story.
Goldfinger: I think that’s a great point. There is sort of a gray area in which companies aren’t lying per se, but they are telling the story in the most favorable way possible and simply not including some key facts that might make investors a lot more reluctant to buy shares. We should probably assume that when the story is being told by a company CEO that they are delivering it in the most favorable light possible, and we should be looking to ask for the things that the company is NOT telling us.
An example of this lying by omission would be a situation in which a junior explorer has a 43-101 compliant resource of 1 million ounces of high grade gold, but the resource is near a residential area and there is no chance they will get permitted to build a mine. This is a simple and even somewhat ridiculous example but it helps to illustrate the point. The CEO of this company is likely to focus on their 1 million ounces of high grade gold and how valuable it must be, however, if you can’t get the gold out of the ground it’s not worth anything. There are lots of companies out there with projects that have significant permitting challenges in front of them and investors should also be considering the likelihood that a project will get permitted and actually generate revenue at some point down the road.
Bob Moriarty: In the example that you just mentioned the company is being deceptive by not being upfront about the permitting roadblocks. You can lie to people by not telling them all of the truth. When I talk to a company I ask them two questions to start off: “Tell me the 3 best things about your company” and “Tell me the 3 worst things about your company”.
Everyone has 3 good things to say about their company, that’s the easy part. It’s usually harder for them to answer the question about the 3 worst things. What I do then is I time them and the longer it takes for a CEO to answer the question about the 3 worst things about their company the more likely they are to be lying from my experience.
Goldfinger: That’s a clever technique Bob. I’m envisioning junior mining CEOs practicing answering the question about the worst things about their company as soon as they read this interview.
Turning to the current market environment we’ve seen a nice rally in precious metals (gold is up ~$60 and silver is up nearly $1) since the last time we spoke and you made a point of recommending investors own precious metals before the Federal Reserve embarks upon QE-infinity again. How would you characterize the current sentiment environment in the metals? Are we starting to get a bit frothy?
Bob Moriarty: I wouldn’t call it frothy, yet, but with the DSI for gold just reaching 90 and the DSI for palladium at 97 we’re starting to get close to being frothy. What you want to pay attention to are the “anti-gold” and “anti-mining shares” assets and I would call those the general stock market. I think when the broader stock market is strong it is generally a headwind for precious metals and mining stocks (not always, but generally speaking). However, when the broader stock market crashes I believe we’re really going to see a parabolic rally in precious metals and mining stocks.
I think we’re going to see a 1937 redux this year. The Dow peaked in September of 1929 and went on to crash in October, continuing lower until July of 1932 when it began to rally 150% until June of 1933. It went up again until 1937 and then proceeded to crash again as fears around a World War began to percolate. I see a major crash starting soon as a worldwide revolution begins to take shape globally. There is no cure for this, there is no fix for what’s beginning to take shape.
Goldfinger: Did you see the recent quote from Alan Greenspan on central banks and gold? Here’s the quote that caught my attention:
“If gold is a relic of history, why do Central Banks + the IMF still hold over $1 trillion of gold? If it’s meaningless, why is everybody still holding it?” ~ Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve Chairman
Bob Moriarty: Alan Greenspan actually understands gold better than any economist in the world.
Goldfinger: That quote made me think more deeply about why central banks do hold so much gold and why they have continued to accumulate gold. Simply put, these central bankers are making it up as they go along and gold gives them some semblance of stability and value to hang onto. Without gold in their vaults the only thing most countries have left to ensure the value of their currencies is military force, essentially guns. Gold is a store of value in a valueless world.
Nobody knows what the endgame is for central bank quantitative easing. So far it’s worked pretty well….
Bob Moriarty: No, it hasn’t! QE is putting a band-aid on top of a band-aid on top of a band-aid that’s covering up an infected wound. In 5,000 years of recorded financial history there has never been negative interest rates. The financial system died in 2008 and everything the central banks have done since then is pumping helium into a cadaver. You can blow it up but it’s still a cadaver.
Did you know that there are seven million people in the U.S. who are more than 90 days late on their car payments?
Goldfinger: I didn’t know that and that sounds like an enormous number.
Bob Moriarty: People make their car payments before they pay their rent. They need a car to get to work so for there to be millions of people more than 90 days late on their car payments it’s a sign that there is a large segment of the U.S. economy that are experiencing significant hardships.
Goldfinger: There was a tremendous push by the auto industry over the last several years to get everyone into a new vehicle. This included a big resurgence in subprime auto-lending and it looks like we’re starting to see some of the consequences of this massive effort to sell cars at almost any cost.
Bob Moriarty: Not making your car payment is sort of like smashing your tennis racket into the court in the middle of a tennis match. It’s shooting yourself in the foot and it’s something that someone would pretty much only do if they were SOL.
Goldfinger: Getting down to the nitty gritty of the junior mining sector we’ve seen some big moves in certain stocks recently. Great Bear Resources (TSX-V:GBR) for example has basically doubled in share price in the last six weeks, reaching a nearly C$200 million market cap at its high last week. GBR appears to have just the right story for the junior gold exploration sector right now i.e. high grade gold in a great location.
Bob Moriarty: I believe Great Bear should be even higher. GBR is in a prime location (Red Lake District of Ontario, Canada not far from Goldcorp’s famous Red Lake Mine) and they have had fabulous drill results The market is going to pay up big for GBR if they can keep up these results.
Take for example a stock like Aben (TSX-V:ABN) which delivered a fantastic drill hole to kick-off its summer program but couldn’t back it up with results after that. ABN went to nearly C$.50 and then back down to C$.10:
ABN.V (Daily – One Year)
You get punished if you don’t follow up with good results, and you get rewarded if you do. That’s a good environment for companies and investors in the sector, and it’s a fair environment.
Goldfinger: It’s a balanced market environment in which we’ve seen some big winners and some big losers all depending upon the quality of their news flow.
Tell me about Irving Resources (CSE:IRV), i’ve noticed that IRV shares have continued to make new highs. Has Irving begun drilling?
IRV.CA (Daily – One Year)
Bob Moriarty: They haven’t actually started to drill. The last word I got was that they will begin drilling after PDAC due to a visa issue with their Canadian drillers. It’s out of the control of the company. I’m hoping they will be drilling by the middle of March.
Goldfinger: So Irving is using a Canadian drill crew because they can’t get drillers in Japan?
Bob Moriarty: Japan has a major demographic issue with an aging population and very few young men. Japan is in the worst shape possible in terms of population trends. They’re going to have to make some major changes.
Goldfinger: You had also mentioned Miramont in our last conversation. Can you update readers on MONT?
Bob Moriarty: Miramont is a copper-gold-silver play in southern Peru. They have started drilling and they have sent some material to the lab with results expected some time in March. Quinton Hennigh is the chairman of Miramont and I think this could be a home run.
Goldfinger: I must say that MONT has a nice looking chart and if it can get above resistance near C$.46 I could see it rallying another 50%+.
MONT.CA (Daily – One Year)
Goldfinger: One more thing i’d like to mention about your book Bob – you have an excellent list of services and newsletter writers that you use to help you be a better investor, however, I noticed one in particular that you left out….. Bob Moriarty: (Laughs) Ah yes, yours!!
I’d like to thank Bob for an entertaining interview and I know I learned a few things in this conversation. I can’t recommend Bob’s new book more highly, the $12.99 price is like receiving the most valuable nuggets of wisdom from a lifetime of investing for the cost of one trading commission. Do yourself a favor and buy this book, then read it cover to cover in one sitting.
Disclaimer: The article is for informational purposes only and is neither a solicitation for the purchase of securities nor an offer of securities. Readers of the article are expressly cautioned to seek the advice of a registered investment advisor and other professional advisors, as applicable, regarding the appropriateness of investing in any securities or any investment strategies, including those discussed above. Some of the stocks mentioned are high-risk venture stocks and not suitable for most investors. Consult the companies’ SEDAR profile for important risk disclosures. EnergyandGold.com, EnergyandGold Publishing LTD, its writers and principals are not registered investment advisors and advice you to do your own due diligence with a licensed investment advisor prior to making any investment decisions. This article contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively “forward-looking statements”). Certain information contained herein constitutes “forward-looking information” under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “expects”, “believes”, “aims to”, “plans to” or “intends to” or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results “will” occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, standard transaction risks; impact of the transaction on the parties; and risks relating to financings; regulatory approvals; foreign country operations and volatile share prices. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. The views expressed in this publication and on the EnergyandGold website do not necessarily reflect the views of Energy and Gold Publishing LTD, publisher of EnergyandGold.com. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. Always thoroughly do your own due diligence and talk to a licensed investment adviser prior to making any investment decisions. Junior resource companies can easily lose 100% of their value so read company profiles on www.SEDAR.com for important risk disclosures. It’s your money and your responsibility.
VANCOUVER, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ – Pacton Gold Inc. (TSXV: PAC, OTC: PACXF) (the “Company” or “Pacton“) is pleased to announce it has been awarded Top 50 status by the TSX-Venture Exchange (the “TSX-V”). The award is part of the annual ranking of top-performing companies on the TSX during the prior year.
Pacton Gold Inc. (CNW Group/Pacton Gold Inc.)
Each year, the TSX Venture 50TM ranking showcases listed companies that have shown notable results in key measures of market performance. The companies included in the 2019 TSX Venture 50 were selected based on three equally weighted criteria: market capitalization growth, share price appreciation and trading volume.
Dale Ginn, Executive Chairman of Pacton, commented, “We are grateful to our shareholders and to the TSX Venture for the recognition as a Top 50 company. During the past year we have aggressively established ourselves in two of the most promising gold exploration districts in the world, namely Western Australiaand Red Lake, Ontario. This year’s focus will be on actively exploring our projects for high grade gold and we anticipate that Pacton Gold will continue to be one of the most active gold explorers on the Venture Exchange during 2019 and beyond.”
Pacton Gold is a Canadian exploration company with key strategic partners focused on the exploration and development of high grade conglomerate and orogenic gold properties located in the district-scale Pilbara gold rush in Western Australia and the Red Lake District, Ontario.
This news release may contain or refer to forward-looking information based on current expectations, including, but not limited to the Company achieving success in exploring its properties and the impact on the Company of these events, including the effect on its share price. Forward-looking information is subject to significant risks and uncertainties, as actual results may differ materially from forecasted results. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date hereof and we assume no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances. References to other issuers with nearby projects is for information purposes only and there are no assurances the Company will achieve similar results.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
OTTAWA, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Orezone Gold Corporation (ORE.V) (“Orezone” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an update on its development schedule and achievements at its 90%-owned Bomboré gold project (“Bomboré”) together with progress on its 2019 Sulphide Expansion Feasibility Study (“2019 FS”).
Project Development Update
The Company recently completed a detailed review of all project development and construction activities at Bomboré with the goal of optimizing the project development and expenditure schedules. Based on this review, the Company has prepared a new project development schedule that further minimizes project execution risks.
Specifically, the optimized development schedule provides a number of significant benefits including:
Additional flexibility in the implementation of the upfront Resettlement Action Plan (“RAP”) by extending the construction schedule to ensure the pace of home construction is readily achievable, thereby maximising local workforce training and hiring practices and maintaining the local community and government support.
Reduced operational risks and costs to the project’s main infrastructure:
Off-Channel Reservoir (“OCR”) construction to meet the project’s production water demands will now preferentially commence in the dry season.
Tailings Storage Facility (“TSF”) will consume less water for its dam embankment construction and will have a more simplified liner installation.
Improved capital deployment schedule for the project:
2019 burn rate significantly reduced with the Company fully-funded to January 2020.
The key aspect of the review that allowed for a later construction start was the decision to better coordinate the start of the OCR excavation before the onset of the rainy season. This OCR excavation will now commence in Q1-2020, concurrent with major plant earthworks and the TSF construction. Furthermore, with recent completion of the Front-End Engineering and Design (“FEED”) work, all major equipment lead delivery times have been fully identified and incorporated into the schedule as have major construction timeline requirements. The overall impact of this revised schedule is that commissioning and plant start up is now scheduled for Q2-2021.
As a result of this detailed review, the Company expects 2019 project expenditures to be significantly reduced from spending under the original project schedule. The Company is budgeted to spend US$25.2 million on project development for 2019 which will include costs for early stage construction works (e.g. main access roads and camp improvements), FEED completion, construction of Phase I RAP resettlement villages and associated infrastructure, and advancement of permitting efforts for the sulphide expansion and P17S satellite deposit. The Company anticipates a further spend of US$5.0 million for corporate G&A, the 2019 FS report, and project financing efforts.
With a 2018 year-end cash balance of over US$31 million, the Company is fully funded for this upcoming year which the Company will utilize to secure the remaining financing required to construct Bomboré.
RAP Construction Update
RAP construction is progressing with beaconing of houses on the main resettlement sites completed and brick fabrication by local construction contractors well-advanced in preparation for house construction as ongoing foundations are completed. The required Phase I RAP is scheduled for completion by November 2019 which will allow one additional crop harvest by local communities before relocation commences which has been very well-received by local community members.
The Company plans to provide ongoing details and photographs of RAP construction activities on its website throughout 2019.
Sulphide Expansion Feasibility Study Update
The independent 2019 FS is being completed by a team of highly qualified engineering and environmental firms: Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd. (study lead), AMC Mining Consultants (Canada) Ltd., Knight Piésold and Co., Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (“RPA”), Base Metallurgical Laboratories Ltd., and Antea Group. RPA is updating the 2017 Mineral Resource Estimate to incorporate the previously excluded “Restricted Zones” and to expand the resource estimate at the high-grade P17S sulphide target for the additional drilling completed during the 2016 to 2018 period.
The 2019 FS will incorporate the combined oxide and sulphide circuits, and will be based on an expanded plant throughput of 5.2 million tonnes per annum (“Mtpa”) as opposed to the 4.5Mtpa used in the 2018 feasibility study. The sulphide plant will be constructed in Year 2 of oxide operations and sulphide feed will commence in Year 3 at a planned rate of 1.2Mtpa.
Recently completed metallurgical testwork has confirmed the ore grind and gold recoveries from work undertaken in earlier studies. Work indices and abrasion indices have also been confirmed for the various sulphide materials.
The current work for the 2019 FS includes detailed mine scheduling, water balance and waste rock storage designs, and an update of the environmental and permitting studies to provide essential data for the Environmental Social Impact Assessment (“ESIA”) update necessary to permit the expanded mine plan.
Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – February 21, 2019) – Great Bear Resources (TSXV: GBR) (the “Company” or “Great Bear”), today reported drill results from the Dixie Hinge Zone (“DHZ”) at its 100% owned Dixie Project in the Red Lake District of Ontario.
Great Bear has discovered one of the widest near-surface occurrences of veining and alteration hosting high-grade gold reported on the project to date, and has also successfully extended the Hinge Zone at depth. Highlights of current results include:
Drill hole DHZ-023 intersected a 42-metre-wide (138 feet – approximate true width) zone of increased hyrdrothermal alteration, sulphide mineralization and multiple quartz veins hosting significant gold mineralization from 121 to 158 metres vertical depth, approximately 50 metres to the west of previously reported Hinge Zone drill holes.
Gold-bearing vein intercepts from DHZ-023 include 3.40 metres of 31.60 g/t gold, which includes 1.75 metres of 61.05 g/t gold, and 2.80 metres of 9.91 g/t gold, which includes 1.50 metres of 17.88 g/t gold. A summary of drill results is provided in Table 1.
Hole DHZ-017 was drilled as a significant 50 metres down-plunge step-out from the deepest previous Hinge Zone drilling. It intersected 1.50 metres of 28.01 g/t gold including 0.50 metres of 80.44 g/t gold. This hole extends the down-plunge depth of the Hinge Zone to 281 metres.
All (100%) of the 38 drill holes completed by Great Bear along 330 metres of strike length of the Hinge Zone that has been drilled to date have intersected gold mineralization. 22 of 38 drill holes (58%) have intersected intervals containing greater than 10 g/t gold.
Chris Taylor, President and CEO of Great Bear said, “We continue to be surprised by the strength and scale of the gold system at Dixie. Our latest drilling shows the Hinge Zone vein and alteration system swells to 138 feet (42 metres) in approximate true width, includes individual veins over 45 feet (14 metres) in width, and contains multiple gold-bearing veins in 4 of the latest 8 drill holes. We will continue to drill to extend the strike length, depth, and number of gold zones at the Dixie Hinge through 2019 and 2020. In addition, a second drill rig is now operational and will test a number of new targets across the property that the Company feels have strong potential to host new gold discoveries.”
Table 1: Most recent results from Hinge Zone drilling. Multiple gold veins were intercepted in 4 of 8 drill holes.
Hole
From
To
Width*
Gold
Gold
Vein
Vertical Depth
(m)
(m)
(m)
(m)
(g/t)
DHZ-015
237.3
238.5
1.20
9.23
202
including
237.9
238.5
0.60
15.57
202
DHZ-016
207.9
210.5
2.60
1.57
192
including
207.9
208.9
1.00
2.39
193
and including
207.9
208.4
0.50
3.47
193
DHZ-017
45.35
50.7
5.35
4.82
Vein 1
42
and including
48.65
50.7
2.05
9.15
45
and including
49.4
50.25
0.85
20.69
45
and
102.7
103.4
0.70
2.48
Vein 2
96
and
235.75
237.25
1.50
28.01
Vein 3
222
including
236.25
236.75
0.50
80.44
222
DHZ-018
196.2
197.7
1.50
7.61
167
including
196.2
197.2
1.00
11.18
167
DHZ-020
182.75
190.2
7.45
4.21
Vein 1
152
including
182.75
183.25
0.50
18.62
152
and including
189.55
190.2
0.65
21.27
157
and
200.85
201.85
1.00
13.37
Vein 2
166
and
244.5
245.35
0.85
10.18
Vein 3
202
DHZ-021
52.6
53.1
0.50
3.01
Vein 1
38
and
90.0
92.45
2.45
4.80
Vein 2
67
including
91.4
92.45
1.05
11.08
68
and including
91.4
91.9
0.50
21.53
68
DHZ-022
54.0
54.9
0.90
3.21
44
DHZ-023
57.4
58.0
0.60
3.95
Vein 1
49
and
142.85
145.85
3.00
1.92
Vein 2
121
including
142.85
143.4
0.55
5.78
122
and
171.5
174.3
2.80
9.91
Vein 3
145
including
171.5
173.0
1.50
17.88
146
including
171.5
172.0
0.50
51.60
146
and
185.1
188.5
3.40
31.60
Vein 4
157
including
185.1
186.85
1.75
61.05
158
including
185.7
186.85
1.15
86.02
157
including
185.7
186.35
0.65
128.14
158
* width is determined to be 90-95% of true width based on intersection points of the drill hole intercept with the geological model and oriented drill core data.
An additional drill hole, DHZ-019 was drilled off plunge of the primary mineralization to test for additional parallel zones and intersected a massive basalt unit with anomalous gold values of up to 0.28 g/t gold.
The new discovery of the thickened near surface vein zone demonstrates the“South Limb” and Hinge Zones form one continuous vein set. The Hinge Zone name will be retained going forward. Apparently continuous, gold-bearing quartz veins swell and narrow, as well as merge and divide along the 330 metres strike length of the Hinge Zone vein system drilled to date. An updated cross section of the Hinge and Dixie Limb Zone is provided in Figure 1. An updated long section through the Hinge Zone is provided in Figure 2. An image of core boxes from the vein zone is shown in Figure 3.
Cannot view this image? Visit: https://media.zenfs.com/en-us/newsfile_64/ace5d20022e307755df750dbc2d313f5
Great Bear is currently undertaking a fully-funded 30,000 metre, approximately 150 drill hole program that is expected to continue through 2019 and 2020. A second drill rig was added to the project in early February 2019 to accelerate this work and is now drilling additional gold targets.
Options Grant
The Company also reports it has granted an aggregate of 500,000 stock options to employees, directors, consultants and advisors of the Company, exercisable at $3.72 per share for a period of five years. The options are subject to a four month hold period.
Figure 2: Long section through the DHZ as drilled to-date showing currently reported drill results. New results highlighted in yellow.
Cannot view this image? Visit: https://media.zenfs.com/en-us/newsfile_64/93908c5c180f3d2bfc628c73783cf429
The Dixie property is located approximately 15 minutes’ drive along Highway 105 from downtown Red Lake, Ontario. The Red Lake mining district has produced over 30,000,000 ounces of gold and is one of the premier mining districts in Canada, benefitting from major active mining operations including the Red Lake Gold Mine of Goldcorp Inc., plus modern infrastructure and a skilled workforce. The Dixie property covers a drill and geophysically defined 10-kilometre gold mineralized structure similar to that hosting other producing gold mines in the district. In addition, Great Bear is also earning a 100% royalty-free interest in its West Madsen properties which total 3,860 hectares and are contiguous with Pure Gold Mining Inc.’s Madsen property. All of Great Bear’s Red Lake projects are accessible year-round through existing roads.
Drill core is logged and sampled in a secure core storage facility located in Red Lake Ontario. Core samples from the program are cut in half, using a diamond cutting saw, and are sent to SGS Canada Inc. in Red Lake, Ontario, and Activation Laboratories in Ancaster Ontario, both of which are accredited mineral analysis laboratories, for analysis. All samples are analyzed for gold using standard Fire Assay-AA techniques. Samples returning over 3.0 g/t gold are analyzed utilizing standard Fire Assay-Gravimetric methods. Selected samples with visible gold are also analyzed with a standard 1kg metallic screen fire assay. Certified gold reference standards, blanks and field duplicates are routinely inserted into the sample stream, as part of Great Bear’s quality control/quality assurance program (QAQC). No QAQC issues were noted with the results reported herein.
Mr. R. Bob Singh, P.Geo, Director and VP Exploration, and Ms. Andrea Diakow P.Geo, Exploration Manager for Great Bear are the Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the accuracy of technical information contained in this news release.
For further information please contact Mr. Chris Taylor, P.Geo, President and CEO at 604-646-8354, or Mr. Knox Henderson, Investor Relations, at 604-551-2360.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This new release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – February 21, 2019) – EMX Royalty Corporation (TSXV: EMX) (NYSE American: EMX)(the “Company” or “EMX”) is pleased to announce it has acquired ownership of 1,995,672 common shares (representing 2.63% of the outstanding shares) and warrants to purchase an additional 1,995,672 common shares of Boreal Metals Corp. (“Boreal“; TSX-V: BMX). The acquisition was made pursuant to a private placement of units, each unit consisting of one common share and one warrant to purchase a further common share, at a price of $0.095 per unit (for a total investment of $189,589 by EMX), which closed today.
Immediately prior to the acquisition, EMX had ownership of 5,530,063 common shares (representing 9.4% of Boreal’s outstanding common shares). Immediately following the acquisition, EMX had ownership of 7,525,735 common shares (representing 9.9% of Boreal’s outstanding common shares) and warrants to purchase an additional 1,995,672 common shares. If the warrants were exercised, EMX would have ownership of 9,521,407 common shares (representing 12.20% of Boreal’s outstanding common shares).
The shares and warrants were acquired for investment purposes under the prospectus exemption set out in section 2.3 [Accredited investor] of National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions of the Canadian Securities Administrators. Presently, EMX does not have any intention of acquiring any further securities of Boreal but may acquire ownership of or control over further securities in the future depending upon market circumstances.
EMX has filed an Early Warning Report with the British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario Securities Commissions in respect of the acquisition. Copies of the Report may be obtained from SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or without charge from EMX’s Corporate Secretary, Lori Pavle (604-688-6390).
About EMX. EMX leverages asset ownership and exploration insight into partnerships that advance our mineral properties, with EMX receiving pre-production payments and retaining royalty interests. EMX complements its royalty generation initiatives with royalty acquisitions and strategic investments.
The recent advancements of the Company’s asset portfolio underscore EMX’s focus on steadily increasing global revenue streams from strategic investments, royalties, and other payments. The Company’s goal is to substantially grow our cash flowing royalty portfolio while providing multiple opportunities for exploration and production success.
-30-
For further information contact:
David M. Cole
President and Chief Executive Officer
Phone: (303) 979-6666
Email: Dave@EMXroyalty.com
Scott Close
Director of Investor Relations
Phone: (303) 973-8585
Email:SClose@EMXroyalty.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain “forward looking statements” that reflect the Company’s current expectations and projections about its future results. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding perceived merit of properties, exploration results and budgets, mineral reserves and resource estimates, work programs, capital expenditures, timelines, strategic plans, market prices for precious and base metal, or other statements that are not statements of fact. When used in this news release, words such as “estimate,” “intend,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “will”, “believe”, “potential” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which, by their very nature, are not guarantees of the Company’s future operational or financial performance, and are subject to risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company’s actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and factors may include, but are not limited to: unavailability of financing, failure to identify commercially viable mineral reserves, fluctuations in the market valuation for commodities, difficulties in obtaining required approvals for the development of a mineral project, increased regulatory compliance costs, expectations of project funding by joint venture partners and other factors.
Toronto, Ontario–(Newsfile Corp. – February 21, 2019) – Maritime Resources Corp. (TSXV: MAE) (“Maritime” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide shareholders with an update on its recent exploration and development activities along with planned work for 2019.
Maritime’s Hammerdown gold project and Whisker Valley gold exploration project are both located near the Baie Verte Mining District and Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Company has recently undergone a number of corporate changes and is in the process of relocating to Toronto as Maritime advances the high-grade Hammerdown gold project towards a production decision. The Hammerdown deposit is characterized by a number of near-vertical, narrow mesothermal quartz veins containing gold in pyrite. The closest geological analogy to Hammerdown is Dalradian Gold’s Curraghinalt advanced stage gold deposit in Northern Ireland.
The Hammerdown Mine was last operated by Richmont Mines between 2000-2004 producing 143,000 ounces of gold at an average mine grade of 15.7 gpt gold through a combination of narrow vein open pit and underground mining. About 270,000 tonnes of ore mined from Hammerdown was processed at the Nugget Pond mill with recoveries over 97% in a conventional carbon-in-pulp (CIP) gold circuit.
Current activities
Maritime has completed four drill holes on its Whisker Valley target, located 10 km north of the Hammerdown project and is currently awaiting final assay results. The objective of the program was to test for continuity of the gold vein system identified through detailed channel samples in a series of about 80 surface trenches. The initial stage of the program consisted of approximately 650 metres of drilling.
A metallurgical sample of mineralized vein material from the Hammerdown deposit has been delivered to a mineral processing lab in Walton, Kentucky. This lab is owned and operated by Steinert, an industry leader in ore sorting technology. Steinert has been contracted to complete a test program on the Hammerdown material to determine the amenability of Hammerdown mineralization to ore sorting technology and to process this sample through a standard XRF sorting plant. This technology has been successfully applied to similar gold projects where denser sulphide particles containing the gold can be separated from barren host rock. Reducing the waste component of material is advantageous for improving the efficiencies of highway transport and milling processes.
Maritime recently contracted an independent consultant to complete a technical review of the Nugget Pond process plant gold circuit which is currently idle. The purpose of the review is to determine the likely cost of returning the plant to operating condition. Early indications are that the gold circuit is in excellent shape with ample space available to install a separate grinding circuit that would completely decouple the gold plant from the base metals circuit that is currently in use by Rambler Metals.
Planned activities for 2019
2019 is a critical year for the Company as all efforts will be made to advance the Hammerdown gold project towards a production decision. Maritime has three primary milestones for the year;
Project Engineering
Maritime plans to investigate the potential for a lower capital, higher margin and higher return project design at Hammerdown that will include a greater emphasis on selective open pit mining followed by underground mining. The Company completed a PFS-level study in 2017 that considered only underground mining. Maritime will be completing technical evaluation on this blended concept during the first half of 2019. We anticipate that the capital costs for such a project could be kept to a minimum and that the starter pit approach would allow for quicker access to the near vertical, high grade veins. The key to success for this approach is developing a detailed mine production schedule and completing further investigations and trade off analyses for milling at Nugget Pond or a stand-alone process plant at Hammerdown.
Exploration
Throughout 2019 exploration spending on Maritime’s projects will primarily focus on areas within the Hammerdown and Rumbullion deposits that can add value to an engineered mine plan. Maritime will target high margin resources with an infill drilling program designed to convert Inferred resources into the higher confidence measured and indicated classes that can be used later in a feasibility study. The Company will also focus exploration efforts on “near-deposit” targets such as the Hammerdown Offset and the Rumbullion East vein systems to grow the existing resource base.
The main Hammerdown deposit is cut off by a major fault and geological interpretations currently favour that part of the deposit has been offset at depth. An exploration model is being developed to test for the extension of this deposit. The Rumbullion vein system extends for 800 metres to the northeast of the current deposit area and represents a further opportunity to add new, shallow resources into the Hammerdown resource base. Recent optioning of the adjacent Inomin Resources property has added further potential extension to the Rumbullion trend.
Outside of the main Hammerdown/Rumbullion deposit areas Maritime will continue with its exploration work at the new Whisker Valley project. Whisker Valley is characterized by a series of 3 sulphide bearing quartz veins containing high grade gold (Gary, Ben and Jackson) that have been trenched and sampled over a 200 metre strike length. (See press release dated January 22nd, 2018.) The similarities to Hammerdown are very evident, even at this early stage of exploration. Whisker Valley is located approximately 10 km north of Hammerdown. A 2018 geophysical survey extended the possible strike extent to 500 metres. (See press release dated Sept 26, 2018.)
Environment and Permitting
Maritime will continue to progress its environmental baseline studies and accelerate its engagement with the local community and regulatory agencies to support the planned feasibility study and project permitting. The final footprint of the proposed mine will be determined through the various engineering studies and will endeavor to minimize all environmental impact using industry best practices.
About Maritime Resources Corp.:
Maritime Resources holds a 100% interest in the Green Bay Property, including the former Hammerdown gold mine, located near the Baie Verte Mining District and Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Green Bay Property hosts a resource estimates on two deposits, the Hammerdown and the Orion deposits. Hammerdown contains measured and indicated resources of 925,670 tonnes grading 10.6 gpt for 315,535 ounces of gold and inferred resources of 1,557,000 tonnes grading 7.53 gpt for 377,000 ounces of gold. The Orion deposit contains measured and indicated resources of 1,096,500 tonnes grading 4.47 gpt for 157,600 ounces of gold and inferred resources of 1,288,000 tonnes grading 5.44 gpt for 225,300 ounces.
CIM definition standards were followed for the resource estimate. The resource models used Ordinary Krig grade estimation within a three-dimensional block model with mineralized zones defined by wireframed solids. A cut-off grade of 3.0 gpt gold over 1.2 meters was used for reporting resources with capping of gold grades at 125 gpt at Hammerdown and 50 gpt at Orion. A specific gravity of 2.84 was applied.
For additional information relating to the Hammerdown gold project, refer to the NI 43-101 technical report entitled “Pre-Feasibility Study Technical Report, Green Bay Property” with an effective date of March 2, 2017, which is available on the Company’s profile at www.sedar.com.
Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral resource estimates do not account for mineability, selectivity, mining loss and dilution. These mineral resource estimates include inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is also no certainty that these inferred mineral resources will be converted to the measured and indicated categories through further drilling, or into mineral reserves, once economic considerations are applied.
Qualified Persons
Exploration activities are administered on site by the Company’s Project Manager, NL Properties, Larry Pilgrim, P.Geo. In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, B. H. Kahlert, P.Eng. Vice President Exploration, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting its exploration activities on its exploration projects.
On Behalf of the Board MARITIME RESOURCES CORP.
Toronto Office
1900-110 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M5C 1T4
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Statements in this press release, other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company’s future plans and objectives or expected results, may include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in resource exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements
Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements:
Certain information included in this press release, including information relating to future financial or operating performance and other statements that express the expectations of management or estimates of future performance constitute “forward-looking statements”. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding copper, gold and silver forecasts, the financial strength of the Company, estimates regarding timing of future development and production and statements concerning possible expansion opportunities for the Company. Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief are based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. Such assumptions include, without limitation, the price of and anticipated costs of recovery of, copper concentrate, gold and silver, the presence of and continuity of such minerals at modeled grades and values, the capacities of various machinery and equipment, the availability of personnel, machinery and equipment at estimated prices, mineral recovery rates, and others. However, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to, interpretation and implications of drilling and geophysical results; uncertainty as to whether mineral resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves once economic considerations are applied, uncertainty as to whether inferred mineral resources will be converted to the measured and indicated categories through further drilling, or into mineral reserves, once economic considerations are applied, estimates regarding timing of future capital expenditures and costs towards profitable commercial operations. Other factors that could cause actual results, developments or events to differ materially from those anticipated include, among others, increases/decreases in production; volatility in metals prices and demand; currency fluctuations; cash operating margins; cash operating cost per pound sold; costs per ton of ore; variances in ore grade or recovery rates from those assumed in mining plans; reserves and/or resources; the ability to successfully integrate acquired assets; operational risks inherent in mining or development activities and legislative factors relating to prices, taxes, royalties, land use, title and permits, importing and exporting of minerals and environmental protection. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements and the forward- looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as at the date hereof and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any such forward-looking statements or any forward-looking statements contained in any other documents whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable security law.
Gregory Beischer the President, Director, and CEO of Millrock Resources (TSX: MRO | OTC: MLRKF) along with Chris Van Treeck Senior Project Geologist sits down with Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probableto discuss a unique value proposition for current and prospective shareholders on the latest developments on MRO’s West Pogo – Goodpaster Project. Today’s interview will be very comprehensive, as Senior Project Geologist Chris Van Treeck provides a thorough analysis of Nothern Star Resources Pogo Mine in relation to Millrock Resources adjacent 100% owned (7) claim blocks in the West Pogo – Goodpaster, in what may very likely be a watershed moment for Millrock Resources.
Source: Maurice Jackson for Streetwise Reports (2/20/19)
Gregory Beischer, the president, director and CEO of Millrock Resources, and Chris Van Treeck, the company’s senior geologist, speak to Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable about their varied projects, and discuss what their next-door neighbor’s drilling in Alaska is finding.
Maurice Jackson: Joining us for a conversation today is Gregory Beischer, the president, director and CEO of Millrock Resources Inc. (MRO:TSX.V; MLRKF:OTCQX), along with Chris Van Treeck, senior project geologist.
Glad to have you both on the program to discuss an important announcement that may be quite significance for Millrock Resources. But before we begin, Mr. Beischer, for first time listeners, who is Millrock Resources? Gregory B: Millrock is a project generator company. Alaska is home base for a lot of us and so we explore there and we also explore in Sonora state in northwestern Mexico, as well as the state of New Mexico and the southwest U.S. At Millrock we come up with early-stage exploration projects and then we make agreements with other exploration and mining companies to share the risk that’s involved in early-stage drilling. And the whole objective is to keep a systematically exploring continuous early exploring company that over time will make big discoveries that drives up Millrock’s share price without continuously diluting shareholders as with most exploration companies. Maurice Jackson: Mr. Beischer, beginning in Mexico, please introduce us to the Millrock project portfolio. Gregory B: In Sonora state, which is the northwestern part of Mexico (click here to view), Millrock holds advanced exploration projects, primarily focusing on Orogenic gold deposits, of which Sonora hosts some great examples, such as the Herradura multimillion ounce, probably around 9 million ounces, one of which is Newmont’s leading mine. We are in the right part of the world to be looking for these large gold deposits. Additionally, we target copper there, in particular porphyry coppers like the world-class Cananea-La Caridad belt, just south of the Arizona porphyry belt, probably a southern extension of the same cluster of the porphyry deposit. So, we like these types of deposits that can be exceptionally large and great metal producers.
We also explore in the state of New Mexico (click here to view), which is opened up as a much more open jurisdiction to mining. We acquired several years ago a uranium deposit in that state; we’ve sat on it to for these years without doing much work, biding our time until the uranium price improved. It turns out this year the uranium deposit also has a lot of vanadium in it, and potentially both metals could be mined together. We’re starting to get calls as people learned that we own this project. So, I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to make an agreement on it sometime soon. We also have a gold project in New Mexico and are lining up partners as we speak. But home base is Alaska, where we’ve got quite a number of gold and copper projects that have active exploration ongoing right now. Maurice Jackson: And, gentlemen, let’s stay in Alaska, shall we? And, in particular, I want to focus on seven claim blocks owned by Millrock Resources, which may be direct beneficiaries regarding the press release issued on Feb. 12 by neighboring Northern Star Resources where it just released some exceptional exploration results on its Pogo gold mine. Chris, you are the senior project geologists on the Pogo West. Please take us to the Pogo gold mine and show us where it is in relation to Millrock resources, Pogo West. Chris Van T: We are going to be in interior Alaska right next to the Pogo mine. Literally right next to the Pogo mine as photos from our property, you can see the mill, right here and this is for the last drilling campaign by the junior company that had it prior to Millrock. So we are right across the river from Pogo proper. Current exploration on the mine property is getting closer and closer to the Pogo mine, which was very recently purchased from Northern Star at a fair price, but it ended up equaling about $69 an ounce that they had to find already.
But it’s been a great asset for Sumitomo and now Northern Star, 12 years of production, nearly 4 million ounces produced and easily another 4 million ounces that they have in their reserve and resource prior to the update that they said they’d be releasing later this year based on their new drilling and the latest press release. So things are really ramping up there. And it’s been a great asset for those two companies. And Northern Star felt very highly of it and some of their promotional material they placed it as the third highest grade mines in North America. And they felt it was the eighth largest gold mine in the United States, based on its production and contained ounces.
Millrock’s Pogo West is located in Tintina Gold Belt in Alaska, which has some of the more prolific deposits in Alaska right now. The Pogo mine has about 8 million ounces contained gold. The Mother’s Fort Knox is up at 13 million ounces and, of course, the gargantuan Donlin Creek at 45 million ounces, as well as some smaller deposits that are still being explored heavily in the Yukon that I’m sure you’re aware of there, Coffee and White Gold and Brewery Creek. Maurice Jackson: Chris, can you provide us with some additional context on the geology at the West Pogo Goodpaster region? Chris Van T: Geologically, the Goodpaster district, which contains Pogo, is a nice chunk of the crust that’s broken up by a number of very large faults that are all related to the Tintina gold belt faults. And so, the Denali fault would be down here, that’s the southern boundary of the Tintina gold belt and the Tintina fault is up here. And so, it’s in an area of metamorphic rocks that has some very nice granitic intrusions in them, which would be the source of the fluids for the Pogo mine, as well as the other deposits in the district there. Maurice Jackson: Chris, what can you share with us about the existing infrastructure? Chris Van T: It’s fantastic access and infrastructure with the Pogo mine road running through the claim block. We have the permit to travel on that road. The nice claim block, which size is 7,500 hectors and, as I mentioned, it’s adjacent to the Pogo mine. Taking a look at what the Pogo mine looks like in a geologic model, specifically in a schematic cross section. The Pogo mine itself is exploiting and beneficiating low angle quartz veins, as well as high angle veins. So, the theory is that the fluids from the plutons travel up those steep faults and enter into the shallow dipping faults. And that’s where they have the gold veins in both the steep faults in the shallow faults.
And there are quartz veins with a small amount of sulfide minerals, arsenopyrite and as well as some bismuth minerals. And so, arsenic and bismuth along with gold are the fantastic pathfinder elements that we have at the surface. Those allow us to look at the soil samples and the rock samples at the surface and try to zone in on where the mineralization would be at depth. The surface features would be these high angle steep faults intercepting the soil profile.
These are the projections of the Pogo veins from the subsurface brought up and displayed on the surface. Northern Star Resources are mining these areas: South Pogo, Liese, North Zone and East Theits. There are large faults that break up the rocks and move them around.
Looking at this cross section towards the northeast are some high angle steep veins and they’re interpreted mineralized halo. Both these and the shallow dipping faults contain veins that are being mined right now at the Pogo mine. And an important thing to point out on are the steep faults tend to move the northwest side of the fault up relative to the southeast side, which would then bring this mineralization in the low angle faults closer to the surface, and that’s been repeated throughout the district and has a real boon to the Millrock properties.
Here’s a picture from the mine and we’re looking down the trace of the mine. The latest exploration on Pogo is across the river and right adjacent to our claim block.
In 2017, they made a fantastic discovery of another vein of minable width. And on the other side of the river. The Goodpaster vein had very nice thicknesses and it dips in the same direction of previous veins. Northern Star Resources made this discovery based on reinterpretation of its subsurface imaging that uses a resistivity method called CSAMT, (Controlled Source Audio Magnetotellurics), the image conductive properties of the rocks. The company decided that the break rate here and the conductive properties of the rocks represented the base of a vein and the drilling in 2017 revealed this low angle vein that the 2007 drilling didn’t reach because they didn’t have this reinterpreted imaging.
The vein that they intercepted, a low angle vein Quartz gold Arsenopyrite, and it had a very nice minable width of 5.3 meters at 60 grams. So, this is very similar, nearly identical to what was being mined already in the Liese veins South Pogo, east steeps north zone on the eastern side of the river. Now on the western side of the river, they have nearly identical mineralization with the exact same orientation. So they’re very excited that the vein system that they’ve been mining for 12 years exists on the west side of the river.
The Fun Zone is this area in here on their plan map, so this would be looking down over the mine. The river is a visible in the satellite imagery from a northeast view, as we look this cross section. Once again, these high angel steep faults bring the northwest western side up. Maurice Jackson: Chris, if I may interrupt you with the shift in the fault zones, how does it benefit Millrock? Chris Van T: It brings the mineralization closer to surface. This area here is a big part of their latest press release; Northern Star Resources is calling it the Central Lode System and it feels that it’s a significant extension of both the Liese zone and Fun zone vein sets within the same overall large, mildly dipping faults that contain these veins. And so, this same process that’s bringing things up all throughout the district is that work on the western side of the river adjacent to the Millrock claims.
These red lines represent those steep folks that make and bring the northwestern side up relative to the southeastern side. And this red line represents that Goodpaster Structural Zone. The Goodpaster Prospect that has been explored aggressively by Pogo in the last two years is in between two other of these large steeply dipping faults. And so, it’s a fairly contiguous block and it’s about the same distance between the Goodpaster Structural Zone and the South Pogo Zone. And so, this matches very well geologically with what we would expect to see on these high angle faults. Northern Star Resources claim boundary and the latest exploration road is very close to our claim boundaries within 420 meters of our claim boundary now. Not only at an exploration road but also some of its large drill pads and it is drilling in the area. Maurice Jackson: Does Northern Star Resources have any drilling planned this year near Millrock’s claim blocks? Chris Van T: Northern Star Resources are exploring very close. It has got some drill holes planned for this year in the summertime within 90 meters of the claims boundary right here in the north. And so, Pogo is knocking at the door of the Millrock claims of their exploration. Their Central Lode and that’s what was in the press release (click here) that came out Feb. 12. And so, this area right in here is where they have released their new spectacular results and subsequent definition of resource coming this August from the press release. From a real estate standpoint, Millrock is very well placed within what’s going on with the Pogo mine exploration. And we feel that the rest of our geologic knowledge in the area as well as the information purchase from other parties leads me to believe that those veins extend onto the middle rock properties. Maurice Jackson: Northern Star Resources had an active drill program near the Millrock claim blocks last year. Do we know any of the results? And also, do we know what their aspirations are in the area for 2019? Chris Van T: Here are some photos in September of their exploration in that area. Very large drill pads, large rigs drilling, multiple drill holes. Northern Star Resources 2019 planned holes which are to start in February so they could well be underway as we speak. They are drilling off what appears to be a substantial resource of those low angle veins. Once again, just to remind you of 5.3 meters at 60 grams per tonne drilled and released in this area here. No other drill results or any of this drilling has been made public as of yet, but they are getting closer and closer to our claim boundary in this trajectory right here.
This is a photo from our claims looking back to the mine and here is that Goodpaster Structural Zone that they’ve named it. And so right now they’ve defined their new Central Lodes would be filling this area basically from their road here to this structural zone where they’ve defined basically a new extension of the mine right up to this fault and they’re getting ready to go and move some headings into there and continue to explore that from underground. So they’re moving mine infrastructure from the Liese zone, right up to this Structural zone. And as I mentioned, the Goodpaster Prospect is just the other side of that and is actually had the veins that are being explored for in the area brought closer to the surface because of the faults and how they always bring the northwestern side up, very close to our claim boundary.
Let’s take a look at a magnetic survey image that the state survey ran in 2000. Here are the Pogo veins brought to surface. Note these veins occur outside of this purple magnetic high, within a magnetic low relative to the rest of the area. There are more of these on the other side of this large high angle fault throughout the Millrock claim boundary as well as here in the Goodpaster Prospect.
This is the area they’re drilling and right now, predominantly in this magnetic low that’s very similar to what they have on the north side of their mine. They’ve got a diorite within the mine that’s magnetic and there’s one on the Millrock claims that’s magnetic as well with the same magnetic lows surrounding it. So, from a geologic standpoint, these are nearly identical features. The fact that they’re drilling and this one here as well as this mag lode to the north, lead me to believe that the geologic model at the mine is readily applicable on the other side of that high angle, steep fault called the Goodpaster Structural Zone. So I feel that the Millrock claims are very highly prospective for the extension of the vein. Placing our soil and rock samples on top of the magnetics, they illustrate how in those areas of magnetics, we have great gold samples and they are oriented more or less in a northeast, southwest fashion, which is the same as what’s going on over here on the mine property.
They have a northeast southwest orientation to their gold and soil sample. We have the same orientation on our property. These are most likely caused by unmapped equally dipping fault such as this one here, which helps those fluids from the magmatic intrusion at depth, get them to the surface into the soil profile. Arsenic has a coincident anomaly and so does bismuth. And so our pathfinder elements that match the Pogo mineralization of gold in our arsenopyrite with bismuth minerals are all present on the Millrock properties. Maurice Jackson: Let’s add some geometry to the discussion. Chris Van T: This here is the location of that Goodpaster vein, the 5.3 meters at 60 grams. Northern Star Resources has stated the vein was oriented with a strike of 240 degrees and the dip of 35 to the northwest. Plotting that strike line is would be where the vein would be the same elevation all the way across. It brings us very close to past drilling in our area. Past drilling was situated in that area of fantastic gold, soil, and rock anomalies that are all showing the interaction of those steep faults that carried the fluids with the soil. The vein intercepted within these drill holes have been narrow quartz arsenopyrite veins. And the assays returned good arsenic bismuth silver. They have the same style of alteration of Pogo there. And the angles intercept in there would indicate that these veins are steeply dipping.
So, exactly along the model lines of the steeply dipping faults springing the fluids up towards the surface. All of those faults have been intercepted in these drill holes. The difference between here and what’s going on at Pogo is that these drill holes did not get deep enough to intersect those shallowly dipping veins such as the hole reflecting 5.3 meters at 60 grams. That’s due to the higher elevation where are these drill holes where collared as well as the dip along the vein. The deepest hole over here at the very end of the hole, only got down to 350 meters above sea level. The vein was intercepted at 230 meters above sea level. So when all things being consistent, this hole ended 120 meters vertically above where we would expect to see the flat and veins.
To bring this back into the Pogo model, the exact same thing happened on the Pogo property in 2007. Norther Star Resources drilled and intercepted steeply dipping veins that contain gold, arsenopyrite and bismuth; they did not reach the flat line veins. The hole did not go deep enough. The same thing went on the west Pogo claims.
The drilling so far at West Pogo has just gotten into the top of these steeply dipping veins. I believe that the shallow dipping veins are there at depth, that the soil and rock anomalies at the surface coupled with the drilling show that we haven’t reached the depth of those flat veins to date and that a few holes of deeper drilling could readily intersect these veins at the depth and an extension of the mine mineralization on the Millrock Claims. Maurice Jackson: What initiatives will Millrock take to de-risk the West Pogo property? Chris Van T: That would be to do that imaging along these black lines here in order to do the same style imaging, the CSAMT or Resistivity imaging over this mag low that also has the good gold and rock samples on top of it. That would be one way to de-risk it. In order to know the depth you need to drill to in order to find the extension of this mineralization that’s on the Pogo claims.
Millrock believes that the West Pogo property has not been explored properly to depth. It’s got the exact same magnetic signature as the mine proper. The surface geochemistry and the drill hole geochemistry have all the attributes to indicate that mine style mineralization is located on the property. Northern Star Resources is currently exploring, right against our claim boundary and we’ve got established access with the mine road running right through the property. And so very positive factors for the West Pogo property. Maurice Jackson: Gregory, this may be premature, but should we continue to have favorable outcomes such as this press release? How does this impact Millrock’s strategy? Gregory B: Well, I think one of the more remarkable things about the statements from Northern Star is the exceptional grade of the drilling intersections that they’ve discovered at this Central Lode’s area. And we’re pretty sure they’re finding similar things at their new Goodpaster discovery, which is very close to Millrock’s West Pogo project. If an ore body of that grade does trend right onto Millrock’s claims, I think it’s going to make a tremendous difference in the price of Millrock stock. We’re trading today around 10 cents Canadian. And I think, just fortuitously, if that deposit comes onto our claims, it’s going to make a big difference for our company and for our shareholders.
We have stuck rigorously to our business model over the 12 years we’ve be in the operation. We’ve always got a partner on a project before it got to the drilling stage. Right now, we’re faced with the possibility that our neighbor, Northern Star at Pogo, has discovered an ore body that comes right on to our claims. And so, we might take a different view at this point since we presently have not made an agreement on the claims and we own it 100%. So, it’s possible that we would actually pursue this claim ourselves, but it’s not determined yet. And in fact, right now our best strategy is to wait and see what Northern Star has discovered. Eventually they’ll tell us more about their Goodpaster discovery.
What they announced on Feb. 12 was really interesting. I think they’re going to make a fortune from their purchase of the Pogo mine. They’re great miners and great explorers clearly. And they’ve had some great success of finding the new Central Lode’s area, but we know there’s more, further to the northwest and there’s likely to be gold on our claims too. So our strategy for now is to stand pat and a wait for more information, which is not our usual way of doing things. Usually we’re charging ahead full steam, but we’re at now we’re going to bide our time and watch, wait and see what happens. Maurice Jackson: Germane to this discussion, how do the prices of gold, silver, copper and uranium fit into this narrative? Gregory B: Well, certainly Millrock has exposure to all of these metals. I know that the price of gold seems to have a large effect on availability of capital for junior explorers. When the price of gold is strong, there’s lots of capital available. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for copper, it often seems to have a lot to do with the price of gold. Millrock has seen good increase in the gold price lately. Everything I’m reading says that gold’s going to march up even higher and silver we’ll go with it. I hope they’re all right about that. And that will soon have a really favorable market in the coming years for those metals. Longer term, I’m a huge believer in copper. I just know it’s going to be a metal in huge demand and we’re happy to be looking for copper now too, for the future. And a uranium, well, it’s a beaten a down cycle a long time, but I’ve sure seen some active of bull markets in that metal over the years. And if there’s another one coming, Millrock and its shareholders are really going to benefit by virtue of the uranium deposit we own in New Mexico. Maurice Jackson: Switching gears, Gregory, what do you see as the biggest challenge for Millrock resources and how do you mitigate that situation? Gregory B: Our biggest challenge is a financing. We’re in a short cash position. How do we mitigate that? Well, the best way we can do it is to get more funding partners on our projects. And so we’re on a real push to get that done right now. We’ve got deals that look like they’re imminent in Sonora and Alaska. So that’s the best way. Ultimately we may have to raise funds through an equity financing again soon. So those are Millrock’s challenges right now, but I think there’s good solutions for them. Millrock presently has a pretty low share account all of which was in quite solid hands. There’s 67 million shares outstanding at present. Maurice Jackson: Finally, what did I forget to ask? Gregory B: Well, I don’t know if it’s something you forgot to ask, Maurice, but maybe something I forgot to mention. Millrock had acquired several great properties in British Columbia some years ago, and last year we rolled them all into a new company called Sojourn Exploration and found a great management team for that company. It has its own projects and so Millrock’s is a big shareholder of Sojourn Exploration. Those shares are worth the money right now, which helps Millrock shareholders, and we own royalties on three of those projects. So, we’ve reviewed internally what’s Sojourn all those projects recently and that it’s just a great portfolio and I know that team is going to have great success attracting other companies to fund drilling on them and make discoveries. So, this could be a real winner for Millrock and its shareholders. Maurice Jackson: Mr. Beischer, for someone listening that wants to get more information on Millrock Resources, please share the contact details. Gregory B:millrockresources.com and Melanee Henderson at 604-638-3164, in charge of investor relations, will be glad to talk to you or put the shareholders in direct touch with me. Maurice Jackson: And as a reminder, Millrock Resources trades on the TSX.V, symbol MRO. Now, in the OTCQX, symbol, MLRKF. Millrock Resources is a sponsor of Proven and Probable and we are proud shareholders of Millrock Resources for the virtues conveyed in today’s message. And last but not least, please visit our website, provenandprobable.com, where we deliver mining insights and bullion sales. You may reach us at contact@provenandprobable.com.
Gregory Beischer and Chris Van Treeck of Millrock Resources, thank you for joining us today on Proven and Probable. Maurice Jackson is the founder of Proven and Probable, a site that aims to enrich its subscribers through education in precious metals and junior mining companies that will enrich the world. Disclosure:
1) Gregory Beischer: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Millrock Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: Millrock Resources.
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Proven Probable
Gregory Beischer, the president, director and CEO of Millrock Resources, and Chris Van Treeck, the company’s senior geologist, speak to Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable about their varied projects, and discuss what their next-door neighbor’s drilling in Alaska is finding.
