Morning Briefing: Awalé Hits High-Grade Below BBM Resource

Good morning and welcome back to the Mining Stock Daily morning briefing. I am Trevor Hall.

It's Monday, July 20.

The story driving conversation in the gold space right now isn't the gold price — it's the gap between what gold is doing and what gold stocks are doing. Gold is holding above $4,000 an ounce, a level that would have seemed extraordinary not long ago. But mining equities are not keeping pace. The GDX and senior producers have been grinding lower even as the underlying metal holds firm. The macro backdrop is as constructive as it's been in years, and the gap between gold's price and miner valuations either closes upward — as it has in past cycles — or it's telling us something about the underlying profitability picture that the spot price is glossing over.

And here's a story that marks the end of an era in Canadian mining. The Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories — Canada's first diamond mine, which opened in 1998 and helped spark the country's diamond boom — is shutting down. Operator Arctic Canadian Diamond Company filed for insolvency protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in May, and a Supreme Court of British Columbia ruling has now placed the company in receivership. Ottawa had tried to keep it alive with a C$115 million emergency loan through its Large Enterprise Tariff Loan facility as recently as last December, but it wasn't enough. The Canadian diamond story, which began with such promise nearly three decades ago, appears to be ending.

We'll get to the news from the miners and explorers in just a moment, but first a word about today's sponsor.

This episode of Mining Stock Daily is brought to you by…Integra Resources.

Integra is a growing precious metals producer in the Great Basin of the Western United States. Integra is focused on demonstrating profitability and operational excellence at its principal operating asset, the Florida Canyon Mine, located in Nevada. In addition, Integra is committed to advancing its flagship development-stage heap leach projects: the past producing DeLamar Project located in southwestern Idaho, and the Nevada North Project located in western Nevada. Learn more about the business and their high industry standards over at integraresources.com

Here's what you need to know today.

Awalé Resources has punched through the bottom of the BBM zone and hit the highest gold grade ever drilled at the deposit. The first two holes of a twelve-hole deeper drilling program came back with 7 metres at 7.21 grams per tonne gold equivalent from 385 metres down — including 1 metre at 43.68 g/t AuEq, the new grade record at BBM — and 46 metres at 2.35 g/t AuEq from 364 metres. Ten more holes from this program are at the lab, and Awalé has seven rigs turning across the Odienné Project in Côte d'Ivoire — with a separate update on the Charger deposit and 100%-owned exploration ground, including first drilling at Seydou and follow-up at the Fremen discovery, expected shortly (TSXV: ARIC, OTCQX: AWLRF). News Release

Barksdale Resources has released assays from 10 additional step-out holes at the Sunnyside copper porphyry system in Arizona, with the standout intercept from SUN26-013R returning 0.3% copper over 77.7 metres, including 1.93% copper over 7.6 metres — confirming that high-grade zones persist as the program fans out from the initial discovery area. The newly released results indicate that copper grades decrease to the east, transitioning into a zone of lower copper and higher zinc grades, which may suggest movement away from the high-grade copper-mineralized shell.Barksdale is less than 1,500 feet from completing the 25,000 feet of drilling required to increase its Sunnyside ownership from 51% to 67.5%, and is planning a 15,420-metre diamond drill program for fall 2026 into spring 2027 to chase the high-grade core at depth (TSXV: BRO, OTCQB: BRKCF). News Release

GreenLight Metals has reached a permitting milestone at its Bend Copper-Gold Project in Taylor County, Wisconsin — the Bend project has been posted to the U.S. Federal Permitting Dashboard as a FAST-41 Transparency Project by the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, making it the first project in Wisconsin to appear on the Dashboard. Bend is a VMS copper-gold deposit in the Penokean Volcanic Belt; copper is on the 2025 U.S. Critical Minerals list, and GreenLight also holds a Barrick earn-in joint venture on its Kalium Canyon gold project in Nevada's Walker Lane (TSXV: GRL, OTCQB: GRLMF). News Release

And Seabridge Gold has arranged a US$100 million credit facility — an unsecured, short-term loan from a strategic investor — to fund the heavy summer work season at its 100%-owned KSM Project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle. The facility carries a 7% interest rate compounded monthly, is drawable in minimum tranches of US$10 million, and matures December 31, 2026, with repayment in cash or, at Seabridge's option and subject to TSX approval, in common shares. CEO Rudi Fronk says the 2026 KSM program includes road construction to access future infrastructure areas and collection of geotechnical, metallurgical, and environmental data required for feasibility-level design and engineering. No amounts are currently drawn (TSX: SEA, NYSE: SA). News Release

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That's it for today everyone. Have a great day. Stay safe.