Morning Briefing: Metals See Further Decline on Concerns of a Prolonged Straight Closure

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

It's Wednesday, May 27.

Gold is down 1.5% to $4,434 an ounce on the front-month contract. Silver is outperforming that to the downside, off 3.3% to $74.04 per ounce. Copper is pulling back 0.8% to $6.34 a pound.

The move in precious metals this morning looks like a classic macro repricing — not on good news, but on concern that bad news is going to last longer than the market had hoped. Piper Sandler said yesterday they believe the Strait of Hormuz will remain largely closed for months yet. On the energy side, the Department of Energy reported 9.1 million barrels of oil were drawn from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve last week, pushing the total down to the lowest level since July 2024. And in a notable development, a shipment of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is now heading to the Philippines — the first delivery of U.S. emergency reserve oil to Asia since 2022. The SPR is being deployed globally to try to offset the Hormuz supply disruption, which tells you everything you need to know about how serious the supply picture is right now.

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…Equinox Gold

Equinox Gold is a Canadian multi-mine gold producer with operations across the Americas, including Greenstone in Ontario and Valentine in Newfoundland. The company produced nearly 198,000 ounces in Q1 2026, paid its inaugural dividend in March, and recently announced a combination with Orla Mining that would create a new senior gold producer— a deal expected to close in Q3 2026. Learn more at equinoxgold.com.

Here’s what you need to know today.

Trident Resources has reported additional high-grade results from its 2026 winter drill program at the Contact Lake Gold Project in northern Saskatchewan, with hole CL26042 returning 17.88 grams per tonne gold over 11.25 metres from just 86 metres depth, including 42.53 grams per tonne gold over 4.50 metres. The eight-hole program was drilled from the ice at Contact Lake to test the BK3 Zone, an area several hundred metres northeast of historic mine workings that has been delivering high-grade hits with impressive continuity. Earlier this spring, Trident reported what was then its strongest result to date at Contact Lake — 15.11 grams per tonne gold over 51.83 metres from the same BK3 Zone (TSX-V: ROCK, OTC: TRDTF). News Release

Galleon Gold has reported a major down-dip extension of Zone #9 at the West Cache Gold Project in Timmins, Ontario, with drilling returning 16.07 grams per tonne gold over 9.25 metres. The result extends Zone #9 mineralization at depth beyond the planned bulk sample stope areas and represents a significant step-up in grade from the initial batch of Zone #9 results released on May 21. Galleon is running an 18,000-metre 2026 program at West Cache, which is an advanced-stage gold project in the Western Porcupine Gold Camp along the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone — approximately 13 kilometres west of Timmins on Highway 101. The company's bulk sample program at Zone #9 is also advancing (TSX-V: GGO, OTCQX: GGOXF). News Release

Abitibi Metals has reported new Phase 4 drill results from the B26 Polymetallic Deposit in Quebec, with a hole intersecting 4.04% copper equivalent — comprising 3.63% copper and 0.37 grams per tonne gold — over 14 metres, within a broader interval of 1.48% copper equivalent, or 1.33% copper and 0.13 grams per tonne gold, over 46.7 metres. The B26 deposit is a high-grade volcanogenic massive sulphide system that Abitibi has been drilling aggressively, and Phase 4 represents its largest program to date at up to 40,000 metres. The company is fully funded through 2027 (CSE: AMQ, OTC: AMQFF). News Release

Meridian Mining has submitted the Installation Licence application for the Cabaçal gold-copper-silver project in Mato Grosso, Brazil to the state environmental secretariat — a significant permitting milestone for the project. On the study side, the Definitive Feasibility Study is now approaching 50% completion and remains on schedule for delivery in Q4 2026, with data generation completed and handed off to Ausenco for engineering. Meridian has also started purchasing long-lead mill equipment, with the SAG mill specification finalized and pricing secured, and electrical transformers ordered from a Brazilian supplier. Initial civil works are targeted for the 2026 dry season, with a construction start planned for H1 2027 pending installation licence approval (TSX: MNO, OTCQX: MRRDF). News Release

Elemental Royalty has executed an Exploration and Option agreement with Robinson Holdings USA, a subsidiary of KGHM Polska Miedź — one of the world's largest copper and silver producers — covering four porphyry copper projects in Mineral and Nye Counties, Nevada: Royston, Big E, Tango, and Whiskey. Under the terms, KGHM's subsidiary can earn 100% in each project over a six-year period by spending up to US$5 million per project in exploration. Elemental receives execution payments totalling US$315,000, option payments of up to US$600,000 per project, and retains a 2% Net Smelter Return royalty on any project in which KGHM elects to earn in, plus milestone payments upon resource declaration, PEA completion, and feasibility study. The four projects were generated by Elemental's Bronco Creek Exploration subsidiary as part of its ongoing Nevada porphyry copper generative program (TSX/NASDAQ: ELE). News Release

Great Pacific Gold has provided an update on field exploration work in the EK Target Area at the Wild Dog Project on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. While two diamond drill rigs continue expanding resources in the main epithermal zone, and a separate construction crew builds pads ahead of future drilling, today's release focuses on geological mapping advances at the Elamaraka and Kargalio targets. At Elamaraka, mapping has identified multiple subparallel quartz-sulphide vein systems developed within a broader structurally controlled hydrothermal corridor extending well beyond the historically mapped vein, with surface bench sampling returning 2.21 grams per tonne gold, 10.2 grams per tonne silver, and 0.05% copper across a 6-metre exposed sulphide-bearing quartz vein. At Kargalio, mapping has defined a steeply dipping, approximately 16-metre-wide fault-shear corridor hosting quartz-pyrite vein material and strong silica-sericite alteration, coincident with a vertically extensive 780-metre-long MobileMT resistivity anomaly interpreted as a large structurally controlled zone of silicification and quartz vein development. Both targets are consistent with the broader Wild Dog epithermal system and are being advanced toward drill-ready status (TSX-V: GPAC, OTCQX: GPGCF). News Release

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

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