Morning Briefing: Markets Rebound and Oil Falls on Speculation of US Withdrawal from Hormuz

Good morning and welcome back to the Mining Stock Daily morning briefing. This is Trevor Hall.

It's Tuesday, March 31 — the final trading day of the first quarter.

Markets are broadly higher to close out Q1. Gold is up this morning, trading at $4,611 an ounce. Silver is surging to $73.35. Copper is sitting around $5.43 a pound. Pre-market equities are in the green. The big catalyst is oil — Brent crude has pulled back to around $108 a barrel after topping $114 yesterday, as a significant shift in the Iran situation is giving markets room to breathe.

According to reports first published by the Wall Street Journal, President Trump has told aides he is willing to end the war with Iran without requiring the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The White House confirmed that restoring passage through the Strait is not among the core objectives Trump has set for ending the military operation, with the administration signaling it would pursue the issue diplomatically after a ceasefire. Secretary of State Marco Rubio added that the Strait will reopen one way or another — either through Iranian agreement or a coalition of allies. The news sent oil sharply lower and lifted equities, as markets priced in a reduced risk of prolonged conflict. That said, Trump's earlier threats to strike Iran's desalination infrastructure — which experts and Amnesty International have characterized as a potential war crime under international humanitarian law — remain on the table, and the broader situation is far from resolved.

This episode of Mining Stock Daily is brought to you by…Vizsla Silver.

Vizsla Silver is focused on becoming one of the world's largest single-asset silver producers through the exploration and development of the 100% owned Panuco-Copala silver-gold district in Sinaloa, Mexico. The company consolidated this historic district in 2019 and has now completed over 375,000 meters of drilling. The company has the world's largest, undeveloped high-grade silver resource. Learn more at vizslasilvercorp.com.

And here's what you need to know this morning…..

Two companies sharing the same management team have each adopted shareholder rights plans, effective March 30, 2026. Aldebaran Resources and Regulus Resources — both led by the same executive team and focused on copper-gold development in the Americas — have entered into rights plan agreements with Olympia Trust Company as rights agent. The plans are designed to ensure fair treatment of all shareholders in the event of a takeover bid, and specifically to guard against so-called creeping bids, where a party accumulates more than 20% of a company's shares through transactions that fall outside standard takeover bid rules. Both companies will seek shareholder ratification at their respective 2026 annual meetings, expected in Q2. Alongside the rights plan announcement, Regulus also provided an update on its AntaKori copper-gold project in Peru, noting that the combined Tantahuatay-AntaKori mineral resource estimate — currently showing 250 million indicated tonnes grading 0.48% copper and 0.29 g/t gold — is in final stages of completion (TSX-V: REG / TSX-V: ALDE). News Release News Release

Minera Alamos is strengthening its balance sheet with a significant new financing arrangement. The company has executed a term sheet for a US$75 million revolving credit facility with Scotiabank and National Bank of Canada, with both banks' credit committees having signed off on the deal. The facility carries an interest rate of Term SOFR plus a margin spread of 3.25% to 4.25% depending on the company's net debt-to-EBITDA ratio. Minera Alamos intends to use an initial drawdown to retire its existing gold prepayment facility with Auramet International — a US$25 million arrangement that required delivery of 7,830 gold ounces over 18 monthly installments through September 2027. Replacing that with a conventional revolving credit line frees up future gold production and gives the company significantly more financial flexibility as it continues to advance its Pan and Copperstone operations (TSX-V: MAI). News Release

Li-FT Power has commenced its 2026 Environmental Baseline Data Collection Program at the Yellowknife Lithium Project in the Northwest Territories, marking the next phase of environmental studies ahead of future permitting and Environmental Assessment. The program will expand the geographic scope of baseline work conducted to date, with a primary focus on the Big-Nite pegmatite cluster. The work is being managed by Det'on Cho Environmental, a company owned by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, reflecting the project's commitment to Indigenous employment and community partnership. The environmental baseline data will be critical in supporting the formal permitting pathway as the company advances toward a development decision (TSX-V: LIFT). News Release

Onyx Gold has drilled a new high-grade structure at the Argus Main zone of its Munro-Croesus Gold Project in the Timmins camp, with results including 4.9 grams per tonne gold over 15.0 metres within a broader interval of 1.3 g/t gold over 77.2 metres, and 2.9 g/t gold over 12.5 metres within 1.2 g/t gold over 99.5 metres. The discovery of a new high-grade structure within Argus Main adds another layer of complexity and scale to a system that is already delivering consistent wide intercepts across multiple zones. With the Argus zones now outlining roughly 900 metres of strike and over 400 metres of vertical continuity, the company has $27 million in the treasury to keep the drills turning. (TSX-V: ONYX). News Release

Awalé Resources is reporting deep drilling results from its BBM gold-copper discovery in Côte d'Ivoire, with assays returning 2.4 grams per tonne gold equivalent over 42 metres from 570 metres depth, including 4.2 g/t AuEq over 10 metres. The fact that high grades are holding at depth is a strong signal for underground mining potential, and it's one reason the market is paying close attention to this project ahead of the initial Mineral Resource Estimate targeted for Q2 2026 (TSX-V: ARIC). News Release

Blackrock Silver has released an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment for its Tonopah West silver-gold project in Nevada's Walker Lane, and the numbers are a significant step forward. The updated study is underpinned by a 90% increase in indicated mineral resources and a 10-year mine life, with average annual production of 7.1 million silver equivalent ounces at an AISC of US$17.44 per ounce. At a disciplined base case of US$2,700 per ounce gold and US$31 per ounce silver, the project generates an after-tax IRR of 28% and an after-tax NPV of US$437 million on initial capex of US$190 million. Scale those numbers to the one-year analyst consensus price forecast for gold and silver, and the economics jump to a 79% after-tax IRR and US$1.55 billion in after-tax NPV. (TSX-V: BRC). News Release

Seabridge Gold has released updated mineral resource estimates for its KSM Project in British Columbia, and the numbers are staggering. Applying current metal prices to the existing resource model now yields 95.5 million measured and indicated ounces of gold, 21 billion pounds of copper, and 459 million ounces of silver — reinforcing KSM's standing as one of the largest undeveloped gold-copper deposits on the planet. CEO Rudi Fronk noted the restatement reflects meaningful gains driven by higher metal price assumptions, and with gold at record levels that math only gets better. Securing a development partner remains the company's number one objective for 2026 (TSX: SA). News Release

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

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