Morning Briefing: Equinox Gold Q1 Numbers Miss on Multiple Fronts
Good morning and welcome back to the Mining Stock Daily morning briefing. I’m Trevor Hall.
It's Thursday, May 8th.
Gold opened higher in Asian market hours Wednesday night but was pushed down throughout the day yesterday, closing at $3,391/oz, a loss of .9%. Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve warned of economic uncertainty yesterday as they kept interest rates where they were. There is also some speculation surround US trade discussion with both the UK and China. It appears US and Chinese officials are set to meet in Switzerland, so could be expected that gold traders are encouraged to take some profits at these elevated levels. Silver lost about 60 cents yesterday and continues to trade in a range between $32-$34. It closed yesterday at $32.79/oz. And copper appears to be putting in a lower high as it lost 2 and a half percent yesterday, closing at $4.65/lb.
We’ll get to the news from the miners and explorers here in a moment, but first a quick word about today’s sponsor.
This episode of Mining Stock Daily is brought to you by…Calibre Mining.
Calibre is a Canadian-listed, Americas focused, growing mid-tier gold producer with a strong pipeline of development and exploration opportunities across Newfoundland & Labrador in Canada, Nevada and Washington in the USA, and in Nicaragua. The company recently announced a deal to merge with Equinox Gold. The transaction will create an Americas-focused diversified gold producer with a portfolio of operating mines in five countries anchored by two high-quality, long-life, low-cost Canadian gold mines, Greenstone and Valentine. You can learn more at https://www.calibremining.com/
And here’s what you need to know this morning…..
Integra Resources says they have initiated a gold resource growth-focused drill program at the company’s Florida Canyon Mine in Nevada. The 2025 drill program will consist of ~10,000 meters of reverse circulation drilling focused on near-mine targets identified at Florida Canyon, designed to support oxide mineral reserve and resource growth and mine life extension. The company sees opportunities exploring the near-surface potential from historic dump material, exploring the saddle and ridge area located between active and historic pits, and targeting lateral extensions of existing pits. The 2025 drill program at Florida Canyon is expected to support a mineral resource and reserve update and a revised life-of-mine plan in early 2026. (TSXV: ITR) (NYSE American: ITRG) News Release
Blackrock Silver reported new drill results from the M&I conversion program on the Tonopah West Project in Nevada. The Company is currently in the process of completing its in-fill drilling program at Tonopah West which commenced in mid-July 2024 and consists of 62 drillholes within the shallow southern portion of the Bermuda-Merten vein group resource area with a goal to convert up to 1.0-million tonnes of material from inferred mineral resources to measured and indicated mineral resources. Today’s results included hole 138 which hit multiple zone of silver and gold mineralization over a 12m stretch starting at 230m downhole. Results here were 4.2m of 700 g/t AgEq and 5.18m of 556 g/t AgEq. 10 holes remain pending for assays results. The M&I Conversion Area represents the initial years of production based on the mine plan laid out in the Company's Preliminary Economic Assessment on Tonopah West. (TSXV: BRC) (OTCQX: BKRRF) News Release
Western Exploration published its preliminary economic assessment for its flagship Doby George resource at the Aura gold project in Nevada. Using a $2,150/oz gold price, the project has an NPV of $70.7M and an IRR of 25.4%. The model shows average annual operating cash flow of over $112M and a less than 18-month payback period at a $3,000/oz gold price. Dobby shows an estimated pre-production capex of $115M excluding upfront working capital of $12.4M which is credited back to the operation on year five. It currently has a mineral resource estimate of less than a half million ounces in both indicated and inferred. (TSXV: WEX) (OTCQX: WEXPF) News Release
Equinox Gold reported their Q1 financial and operating results this morning. The company delivered the highest first-quarter production in the company’s history, producing more than 145,000 ounces of gold with production expected to increase each quarter through the year. Costs came in much higher than expected, however, with the all-in being reported at over $2,000 per ounce, which the company attributes to increased unit costs in Brazil being offset partially by a weaker Brazilian Réal. They originally guided for an ASIC of just over $1,500 per ounce, which did not include any production from Los Filos or Castle Mountain. The company also drew down $45M from its revolving debt facility in April. In all, Q1 an adjusted net loss of $36.6M or .08 per share. (TSX: EQX) (NYSE American: EQX) News Release
Meridian has appointed Ausenco to undertake the Definitive Feasibility Study for the Cabaçal Au-Cu project in Brazil. The company also completed Meridian’s PEA and PFS. It is expected that the core elements of the PFS will be further developed to the DFS level with minimal change. An updated resource and mine plan will be produced using drill results obtained after the PFS database was cut off. (TSX:MNO)(OTCQX:MRRDF) News Release
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That’s it for today everyone. Have a great day. Stay safe.
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