Morning Briefing: News Updates from FPX Nickel, Arizona Sonoran and Rio2
Welcome to Mining Stock Daily. I’m Trevor Hall. And I’m Paul Harris.
Today is Wednesday, September 7th
On Monday night gold shot up $17 per ounce from Friday's close, as the Mining Stock Journal said that data from India shows the country continues to import kilo and dore bars aggressively. Of course, as soon as Asia closed for the evening, the gold price was hammered lower in the phony paper markets of London and then NY. From Monday evening's open, gold ran from $1720 to $1737 before getting taken down to $1711, where it settled. Silver followed a slightly different price path, rising steadily from Monday evening from $18 per ounce to as high as $18.45, before succumbing to the paper selling on the Comex and falling back below $18 to settle at $17.86. The Mining Stock Journal said it looks like silver rose in correlation with stock futures and then was sold hard in correlation with the selloff in the stock market.
The mining stocks opened Tuesday on the positive side before selling off in correlation with the metals and the stock market. The GDX fell 1.47% and the Amex Gold Bugs Index was down just over 1%. The Mining Stock Journal said that, if India continues buying gold - and likely silver - hand over fist, eventually that demand for deliverable physical metal will force the paper market operators to let the prices of gold and silver breathe at least for a while.
We will get to the news from the miners and explorers in a moment, but first a word about today’s sponsor.
This episode of Mining Stock Daily is brought to you by…Western Copper and Gold.
Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com.
And here’s what you need to know this morning…
FPX Nickel announced the results of an internal engineering scoping study evaluating the production of nickel sulphate for the electric vehicle battery supply chain from the high-grade awaruite nickel concentrate to be produced by its Baptiste Nickel Project in British Columbia. The Study highlights FPX's potential to develop the world's largest integrated nickel sulphate production facility, linking the Company directly into the EV battery supply chain via the production of low-cost, low-carbon nickel sulphate over Baptiste's projected 35-year mine life. It said development of an integrated nickel operation at Baptiste to produce 43,500tpy of nickel in nickel sulphate in the form of either crystals or solution. At this scale, Baptiste would exceed the scale of the world's current largest nickel sulphate producers. The study outlines a conventional hydrometallurgical flowsheet for production of high-purity nickel sulphate directly from Baptiste's high grade awaruite nickel concentrate without intermediate smelting or pressure oxidation. Anticipated capital costs are expected to be competitive with large-scale refinery operation recently developed by Terrafame in Finland. The proposed design would also yield 650tpy of cobalt. FPX Nickel trades on the TSXV under FPX and on the OTCQB under FPOCF. News release
Arizona Sonoran Copper Company released assays from nine drill holes from the 14-hole expanded exploration program at Parks/Salyer near its Cactus Mine Project in Arizona. Drilling extended mineralization east by up to 300m onto the Bronco Creek land. Highlights included 162m grading 1.1% copper and 0.012% molybdenum in hole 84. Assays are pending on 4 holes and the Company is also extending its current ionic leach sampling survey northeast of P/S, as well as eastward onto the BCE land. A third drill rig will begin drilling metallurgical holes later this month, and a Parks/Salyer resource is due in the December quarter. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company trades on the TSX under ASCU and on the OTCQX under ASCUF. News release
Rio2 provided an update on the Fenix gold project in respect to the Atacama Regional Evaluation Commission’s decision not to approve the Environmental Impact Assessment. On review of the Environmental Qualification Resolution or RCA, Rio2 has identified numerous discrepancies with factual and procedural matters in the RCA, which it believes provides grounds for a strong case for the decision to be reviewed in a non-judicial administrative appeal before a Committee of Ministries. After a thorough review of the RCA, in collaboration with the Company’s external legal counsel and environmental consultants, Rio2 maintains its conviction that during the environmental assessment process of the Fenix Gold Project’s EIA, the Company provided all the information requested by the different agencies and addressed, with the highest technical standards, the observations raised during the process. Based on the findings of the RCA review, Rio2’s local subsidiary Fenix Gold Limitada decided to exercise its right to file an administrative appeal before the Ministries Committee and filed the appeal on August 31, 2022. Rio2 is of the view that the rejection of the Project is not consistent with the environmental assessment process that took place over the past two years, and, therefore, the Company believes there are strong legal and technical grounds for seeking the review of the RCA before the Ministries Committee, which has the faculties to reverse the decision made at the regional level. The estimated timing for the administrative appeal process is approximately one year. Rio2 does trade on the TSXV with RIO and on the OTCQX with RIOFF. News Release
Solaris Resources reported assay results from a series of holes aimed at growing the Northeast Extension of the Indicative Starter Pit at its Warintza Project in Ecuador. Highlights included 124m grading 0.82% copper equivalent in hole 66 within a broader interval of 622m of 0.42% copper equivalent starting from surface. Solaris Resources trades on the TSX under SLS and on the OTCQB under SLSSF. News release
Sabina Gold & Silver made a formal construction decision to build the Goose mine at its Back River project in Nunavut, Canada. All pre-development activities are completed and the company is ready for full construction to commence in 2023. Sabina arranged over ~C$800 million of project financing package earlier this year. Of the C$610 million CAPEX, about C$218 million is for direct equipment and materials purchases. Sabina has procured about 75% of these with an average overall inflationary escalation of 14% since March of 2021, with a 20% escalation on the purchases made in 2022. Sabina also submitted a proposal for the Back River Alternate Energy Center which could allow it to install up to 13 wind turbines, a solar panel array and a battery storage system which would significantly reduce the Projects greenhouse gas emissions, reduce traffic on the Winter Ice Road, and reduce the number of ships required. Sabina Gold & Silver trades on the TSX under SBB and on the OTCQX under SGSVF. News releasae
Calibre Mining reported additional high-grade drill results from its Panteon North zone within the Limon Mine Complex in Nicaragua, where it has an 85,000m resource expansion and discovery drilling program underway. High-grade mineralization now extends across a strike length of nearly 400m with consistent, plus 15g/t drill intercepts over broad, minable widths. A recent VTEM survey identified two, parallel 5km potential mineralized corridors. With a strong correlation to the high/low resistivity contact demonstrated in the recent drilling and historical mining zones Calibre has four rigs testing along strike and down plunge expansion potential. Highlights from Panteon North included 3.8m grading 52.59g/t Au in Hole 662. Calibre Mining trades on the TSX under CXB and on the OTCQX under CXBMF. News release
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