Morning Briefing: North Star Reject Gold Fields Bid

Good morning and welcome back to the Mining Stock Daily morning briefing. I am Michael McCrae filling in for Trevor Hall. 

It's Monday, September 28th.

Gold is under pressure this morning, falling roughly three percent to around $4,149 an ounce. The story is rates. The ten-year Treasury yield is up five basis points to 5.21%, and that move is doing real damage to gold early this week. It's a reminder that even at these price levels, gold is not immune to a sharp move in the long end when yields break higher.

There is big M&A news this morning. Northern Star Resources has unanimously rejected an unsolicited takeover proposal from South Africa's Gold Fields worth approximately A$38.7 billion, or about $27 billion US. Northern Star's board called the offer highly opportunistic and said it materially undervalued the company's portfolio of long-life assets. A successful deal would have created the world's second-largest gold producer after Newmont. Northern Star shares surged more than nine percent at the open on the news before settling roughly six percent higher, which is the market's way of saying: come back with a better price.

On the critical minerals front, there is a structural workforce problem forming in North America that is worth understanding. The continent is building rare earth processing plants far faster than it is training engineers to run them. US universities award roughly 285 mining degrees per year at all levels, less than half the 600 a year the Department of Energy estimates the country needs. The timing tension is acute: MP Materials' Texas magnet campus and USA Rare Earth's South Carolina plant both commission in 2028, while a student who starts a US mining degree this fall graduates in 2030.

We will get to the news from the miners and explorers in a moment, but first a mention of today's sponsor:

Today's 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. 

Talisker Resources has made a new high-grade underground discovery at the 1105 Level of the Mustang Mine at its Bralorne Gold Project in British Columbia. Underground development has exposed a continuous 36-metre strike length of the M1 Vein averaging 27.88 grams per tonne gold across an average true width of 0.61 metres, and the mineralization sits entirely outside the current Mineral Resource boundary. Standout face sample results include 229 grams per tonne over 0.63 metres on Face 11 and 93.1 grams per tonne over 0.63 metres on Face 2. The discovery reinforces the exploration upside surrounding Talisker's existing underground infrastructure. Talisker Resources trades on the TSX as TSK and on the OTCQX as TSKFF.NEWS RELEASE

Thunder Gold has reported the sixth hole of its infill drill program at the Bench Target on the Tower Mountain Property near Thunder Bay, Ontario, with hole TM26-217 intersecting 232.5 metres averaging 0.450 grams per tonne gold from 360 metres depth. The program is designed to convert inferred resources to indicated ahead of a December resource update. Thunder Gold trades on the TSX Venture Exchange as TGOL and on the OTCQB as TGOLF.NEWS RELEASE

Austral Gold has reported first results from its brownfield exploration programme at the Los Nanos sector, located 2.5 kilometres from the Guanaco processing plant in Chile's Antofagasta Region. The standout intersection from 23 reverse circulation holes is RC-1186, which returned 95 metres at 1.10 grams per tonne gold equivalent, including 3 metres at 8.11 grams per tonne, while RC-1197 and RC-1196 returned 20 metres at 3.12 grams per tonne and 15 metres at 3.33 grams per tonne gold equivalent, respectively. Los Nanos hosts the highest-grade open pit resource within the Guanaco inventory but is not yet included in the current mine plan, and the results indicate that mineralization extends beyond the current block model geometry. A next phase of up to 8,000 metres of drilling is planned for Q4 2026. Austral Gold trades on the TSX Venture Exchange as AGLD and on the OTCQB as AGLDF. NEWS RELEASE

Rio2 has provided a Q3 operations update for its Fenix Gold Mine in Chile, disclosing that a super El Niño has generated a series of severe winter storms that disrupted mining activities during the quarter, with major weather events running from July 17 to 24 and August 10 to 22, followed by three additional significant single-day snowfall events. Throughout each disruption, operations were safely suspended and all personnel were successfully evacuated while the leach pad, process plant, and power generation facilities remained intact and operational at reduced capacity, preserving site integrity. The ramp-up of mining activities remains on track to achieve commercial production in Q4 2026, and site management has implemented recovery initiatives to address the production losses, although the company is withholding formal guidance for the balance of the year. Rio2 trades on the TSX as RIO and on the OTCQX as RIOFF.NEWS RELEASE

Perpetua Resources has provided a construction and exploration update for the Stibnite Gold Project in central Idaho. On the construction side, work is advancing on the Burntlog Route and worker housing, and development of transmission line infrastructure is progressing, while the dual autoclaves that are critical path components for the processing facility are being fabricated at a custom facility in Europe. On the exploration side, a multi-target drill program has surpassed the original 10,000-metre program mark and will continue into the fall season, with drilling active at the Clark Tunnel Fault Zone, Fiddle, Scout, and Hangar Flats targets. The Clark Tunnel Fault Zone was elevated to a priority target after initial drilling encountered significant near-surface gold grades. Perpetua Resources trades on both the Nasdaq and the TSX as PPTA.NEWS RELEASE

Montage Gold has achieved first gold pour at its Koné mine in Côte d'Ivoire, pouring approximately 1,140 ounces on budget and ahead of the company's initial schedule of the second quarter of 2027. The oxide circuit began receiving ore on September 8th and has processed more than 400,000 tonnes, with commercial production expected in Q4 2026. Montage Gold trades on the TSX as MAU and on the OTCQX as MAUTF. NEWS RELEASE

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