Morning Briefing: Gunnison Copper have First Production from Rio Tinto's Nuton
Good morning and welcome back to the Mining Stock Daily morning briefing. I’m your host, Trevor Hall
It's Thursday, December 4th.
Precious metals have spent the better part of this week in a consolidation range. Gold is currently holding on above $4,200 an ounce. Silver has pulled back to $57.66 an ounce. Copper is retreating a bit this morning after a nice move higher yesterday, as it continues its upward trend. There are concerns that the U.S. will announce levies on refined copper in the new year. A few producers in the space have trimmed production forecasts for 2026 as well. Goldman analysis of this space predicts demand for copper will fall about half a million tones short of supply this year, and there won’t be a copper shortage until 2029. In other news, Norway is rethinking deep sea mining after the governing party reached a deal with the opposition to ensure adoption of its latest budget. No deep sea licenses will be issued in Norway’s territorial waters until 2029.
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… Revival Gold.
Revival Gold is one of the largest pure gold mine developer operating in the United States. The Company is advancing the Mercur Gold Project in Utah and mine permitting preparations and ongoing exploration at the Beartrack-Arnett Gold Project located in Idaho. Revival Gold is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol “RVG” and trades on the OTCQX Market under the ticker symbol “RVLGF”. Learn more about the company at revival-gold.com
And here’s what you need to know this morning…..
Kingfisher Metals announced the signing of a three-year property option agreement to acquire the Forrest Kerr Project in the Golden Triangle. The 202 km2 Forrest Kerr Project is located ~1 km south of the 933 km2 HWY 37 Project and stretches south for ~40 km. Exploration on the project since 1988 includes over 36,000 m of diamond drilling in 167 holes, 16,311 soil samples, 1,781 rock samples and 259 stream sediment samples. The option agreement is with Aben Gold Corp and includes a series of cash payments totalling $1.2M and issuing $1.5M worth of common shares through those series of payments. Kingfisher will focus on permitting the project and taking a staged approach to exploration, evaluating and improving the target areas before initiating any drill campaigns. (TSXV:KFR) (FSE:970) (OTCQB:KGFMF) News Release
Freegold Ventures announced results from six additional drill holes at the Golden Summit project. Highlights included 1.05 g/t au over 120.7m and 1.78 g/t over 61 m, both at the Cleary Zone. Over at Dolphin, drilling returned 1.53 g/t Au over 191.3m. The results from the 2025 and first half of 2026 drilling programs will be used to update the mineral resource estimate (MRE) published in July 2025, which reported 17.2 million ounces at 1.24 g/t Au indicated and 11.9 million ounces at 1.04 g/t Au inferred. The updated MRE and subsequent drilling in 2026 will serve as the basis for the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), scheduled for completion in early 2027. (TSX: FVL) (OTCQX: FGOVF) News Release
McEwen Inc reported new drill results from its Froome Mine within the Fox Complex in Timmins, Ontario. Some of the deepest intersections to date confirm that gold mineralization remains open at depth, providing confidence that additional resources exist below the currently planned limit of the mine. Results reported today included 23.5 g/t Au over 3.7m. Gold mineralization was extended up to 50 meters West, potentially increasing the number of defined ounces per vertical meter, with 7.9 g/t Au over 6.4m and another 7.5 g/t over 4.4m. The company says the drill results today show potential to extend Froome’s mine life and improve economics with mill feed from multiple sources in the second half of 2026, including from the Stock Mine which is currently under development. (NYSE/TSX: MUX) News Release
Coppernico Metals has commenced a large-scale UAV magnetic survey and a ground gravity survey across multiple targets at its Sombrero copper-gold skarn-porphyry Project in Peru. The surveys are designed to refine geological interpretations beneath cover, support drill-target definition, and better define the footprint of the broader Sombrero mineralized system. The UAV magnetic survey plans to cover approximately 13,000 ha (130 square km), comprising nearly 760 line-km of new data. The program is planned to expand coverage northward and southward to include the Antapampa and Tipicancha target areas, which were not covered by previous magnetic surveys. (TSX: COPR, OTCQB: CPPMF) News Release
Gunnison Copper says Rio Tinto has successfully produced the first copper from the Johnson Camp mine in Arizona using its Nuton® Technology, marking a pivotal step forward in the development of this innovative copper processing technology. At Johnson Camp, Nuton aims to produce copper with the lowest carbon footprint in the U.S. Through the purchase of 134,000 Green-e Energy certified renewable energy certificates, Nuton ensures 100% of the site's electricity is matched by renewable sources. The copper produced is anticipated to have a mine-to-metal carbon footprint of 0.82-kilogram CO₂-e per kilogram copper, the lowest in the U.S. and substantially lower than the projected 2026 global average of 3.4 kilograms CO₂-e per kilogram among operating copper mines. Additionally, water intensity is anticipated to be 71 litres per kilogram copper, compared to the global average industry estimate of ~130 litres per kilogram of copper production. Rio Tinto CEO, Katie Jackson, is quoted in this morning’s news release saying “In an industry where projects typically take about 18 years to move from concept to production, Nuton has now proven its ability to do this in just 18 months.” (TSX: GCU) (OTCQB: GCUMF) News Release
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That’s it for today everyone. Have a great day. Stay safe.
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