Morning Briefing: Precious Metal Volatility Continues; More M&A in Mining
Good morning and welcome back to the Mining Stock Daily morning briefing. This is Trevor Hall.
It’s Monday, February 2nd.
Despite the tremendous runup on precious metals recently, we were reminded late last week and overnight last night that investing in this niche market may not be for the faint of heart. After Friday’s 11% drawdown in the gold price, the metal traded further below that even as America slept, kissing its 50 day moving average below the $4,500 market, and bouncing higher to which gold is now in the green by almost a percentage point just below $4,800. This has been approximately a $1,200 swing from Thursday’s high to last night’s lows. Silver is seeing similar action, but showcased its volatility main event on Friday. It is now up over three and a half percent to $81.24/oz. Silver’s drop Friday wasn’t just about Kevin Warsh’s Fed Chair nomination — that headline simply sparked the selloff in an already crowded, overbought trade, as a stronger dollar and rising yields pressured non-yielding metals. Analysts say the real damage came from profit-taking, margin hikes, and forced liquidations in heavily leveraged futures positions, which cascaded into a technical flush that amplified the move well beyond the fundamental news.
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…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
And here’s what you need to know this morning…..
Eldorado Gold and Foran Mining are combining forces. Eldorado will acquire Foran at a price of .1128 common shares of Eldorado and .01 cash for each share of Foran. That represents an 8% premiums to the 20-day volume-weighted average trading price of the Foran Common Shares. Upon completion of the Transaction, existing Eldorado and Foran shareholders will own approximately 76% and 24% of the combined company, respectively. The deal positions the new company with a leading growth profile, underpinned by two fully financed development projects – Skouries and McIlvenna Bay advancing toward commercial production in mid‑2026. Expected to produce approximately 900k gold equivalent ounces in 2027 which would generate approximately $2.1 billion of EBITDA and $1.5 billion in free cash flow in the same year. (TSX:ELD) (NYSE:EGO) (TSX:FOM, OTCQX: FMCXF) News Release
Equinox Gold has made a new discovery at its Valentine Gold Mine in Newfoundland and Labrador. Drilling has confirmed the new Minotaur Zone, located 8 km northwest of the mill. The discovery was made with drill assay results of 2.68 g/t Au over 32m, 5.74 g/t over 8m, and 1.78 g/t over 39m. Initial drilling in 2025 defined mineralization over a 700-metre strike length and remaining open in all directions, with step-outs suggesting the potential for the mineralized system to extend over approximately 2 km. While Minotaur exploration is still at an early stage, the presence of surface grab samples with visible gold grading as high at 650 g/t gold and multiple high-grade drill intercepts over meaningful widths underscores the broader, district-scale potential of the property. Over at the Frank Zone, drilling outside of the current resources returned 22.10 g/t Au over 6.3m and 3.12 g/t Au over 63.9m. (TSX: EQX, NYSE American: EQX) News Release
Capitan Silver reported new assay results from last year’s reverse circulation drill program at its Cruz de Plata silver-gold Project in the state of Durango in Mexico. Highlights include 1,130 g/t AgEq over 1.5m within a broader zone of 240.5 g/t AgEq over 25.9m, and 692.4 g/t AgEq over 1.5 within a broader interval of 18.3m of 122.3 g/t. Final assays are pending for 33 drill holes. The company has previously announced a larger, multi-rig program this year for 60,000m of drilling. The first of three core rigs has been mobilized and is expected to join the existing RC rig on site within the next week. (TSXV: CAPT) News Release
Gold Hart Copper showed positive results from a recent geochemical survey at the Nessa gold silver copper complex just west of Kinross' La Coipa Gold Mine. After reviewing historic information from several high priority areas each containing high grade samples and clusters of old mining pits the Gold Hart geology team developed a program aimed at comprehending the known geochemical footprint of these workings, mapping pit geology, ground truthing their locations, and verifying the grades reported in historical samples. Satellite imagery analysis also identified additional undocumented historic mining pits across the property. The company also provided an update on the drill hole into the Tolita system. The team geologists have observed core intervals containing several veins with pyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite, and covellite. Such observations continue to support further deepening of the hole, according to the company. (TSXV: HART) News Release
Bunker Hill Mining provided a corporate update this morning and highlights that the Bunker Hill Mine restart is on track for the first half of this year. Construction of the Process Plant is now 88% complete, with the Main Ball Mill turning, flotation motors being bump-tested, and the Process Plant formally in the commissioning phase. The previously delayed Tailings Filter Plant is progressing and is now close to 60% complete. The Tailings Filter Plant building is close to being structurally complete, with the last two weeks focused on installing the Filter Press with onsite Metso supervision. (TSX-V:BNKR |OTCQB:BHLL) News Release
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That’s it for today everyone. Have a great day. Stay safe.
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