Welcome to our roundup of some of our investment, exploration, and development stories on Theassay.com over the last few weeks. To keep up to date with all the latest headlines, subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Financing news
Bluestone Resources (TSXV:BSR) has extended the term of its US$30M loan with Zebra Holdings and Investments S.à.r.l, and Lorito Holdings S.à.r.l that was due to expire March 11, 2023.
The Loan will provide for the drawdown of funds by the company in tranches of not less than US$1M Proceeds will be primarily used for general corporate purposes and to advance the Cerro Blanco gold project through permit amendment approval.
“We are pleased to have the continued support from the Lundin Family as we advance the Cerro Blanco project. With less than US$10M drawn to date, the extension of the loan provides Bluestone with the necessary funds to work through the permitting amendment process which is expected to be completed this year,” President and CEO, Peter Hemstead, said.
Fellow Canadian outfit Tudor Gold (TSXV: TUD) has completed the sale of the Eskay North Property to Skeena Resources Limited total consideration of C$2,800,000.
“With the sale of Eskay North completed to Skeena, Tudor Gold remains committed to advancing and generating value from its Treaty Creek Project, which hosts the Goldstorm Deposit; one of the largest gold discoveries in the past 30 years,” president and CEO, Ken Konkin, said.
“Although the Eskay North Property has an interesting land position adjacent to Skeena’s Eskay Mine Project, the Company believes the sale of the property makes strategic sense. Tudor’s board of directors voted unanimously to complete this deal with Skeena Resources,” he added.
Development news
American West Metals (ASX: AW1) has unveiled plans to accelerate its drilling and exploration efforts at the Storm copper project on Somerset Island in Canada.
The 2023 programme will include drilling, geophysics, and studies for a potential direct shipping ore (DSO) mining operation.
American West Metals’ managing director, Dave O’Neill, said it came as a result of a successful drilling programme in 2022.
“The logistics are now underway for what will be a significantly expanded programme that will capitalize on American West Metals’ highly successful 2022 maiden drilling programme,” he said.
Century Lithium Corp (TSXV: LCE) has provided a progress update on its ongoing feasibility study being conducted on the company’s Clayton Valley Lithium Project near Silver Peak, Nevada, and on its operational lithium extraction facility in Amargosa Valley, Nevada.
Century continues to conduct testing at its pilot plant with the support of del Sol Refining, Inc. Since its start-up, the pilot plant has operated in 28 cycles of continuous 24/7 operation, with minimal down-time, and maintenance matters. The test work was conducted by the company using multiple configurations and equipment to best replicate the project flowsheet.
In the testing to date, nearly 10,000 samples of solutions, solids, and precipitates have been collected and analysed. Other data collection, including recording of flow rates and physical conditions at key sample points throughout the pilot plant, has been conducted, with particular attention to the DLE section of the pilot plant to develop the project’s mass-balance calculations, and to finalize the flowsheet for the feasibility study.
There was positive news for Nevada-focused explorer Lahontan Gold Corp (TSXV: LG ), which announced a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for its flagship Santa Fe Mine, a past-producing open pit, heap leach gold and silver mine located in Mineral County, Nevada.
The MRE for Santa Fe is based upon 1,275 drill holes totalling 125,435m, including 50 drill holes totalling 13,118m drilled by Lahontan since 2021.
Kimberly Ann, founder, CEO, and president of Lahontan Gold, said, “Lahontan is thrilled with the results of this MRE for the Santa Fe Mine, validating our business concept focusing on brownfield exploration and development opportunities. The MRE demonstrates the presence of a large, readily exploitable, oxide gold resource and importantly, higher-grade non-oxide gold resources.”
We also heard how Siren Gold (ASX: SNG) has increased its global resource estimate to 10.2Mt @3.0g/t Au for 994koz (100% basis) at a 1.5g/t Au cut-off in New Zealand.
The Alexander River Inferred MRE has increased to 1.07Mt @5.0g/t Au for 170koz at a 1.5g/t cut-off. The Alexander River Resource increased by 30% with grade increasing 22%, based on the inclusion of data from 31 trenches. Sams Creek MRE has increased to 9.1Mt @2.8g/t Au for 824koz at a 1.5g/t cut-off.
Sams Creek Resource now incorporates data from the Bobby Dazzler deposit of 16.7koz @2.6g/t Au. Significant exploration potential exists at both Sams Creek and Alexander River for further Resource increases, with deposits open along strike and at depth.
“Siren Gold has advanced a long way in the two years since the IPO. Today’s announcement of a high grade one Moz JORC Global Resource is another major leap forward for the company’s strategy of developing a significant regional gold mining operation at Reefton and Sams Creek in New Zealand,” said managing director, Brian Rodan.
Drilling results
Argentina Lithium & Energy (TSXV: LIT) has received positive lithium brine values at its Rincon West Project in Salta Province, Argentina, including a 153m interval ranging from 329mg/l to 393 mg/l lithium from the sixth diamond drill hole.
The seventh exploration hole is in final steps to completion, with two additional holes planned.
“The new drilling results extend the zone of concentrated lithium brines towards the west and southwest from earlier drill intersections,” VP of Exploration, Miles Rideout, said.
“The remarkable interval from the sixth hole, RW-DDH-006, is our best interval to date, and it is a step-out of 960m from the prior best intersection reported previously in the fourth hole. With RW-DDH-005, we drilled 1.7km southwest of the sixth hole, looking for the western limit of the brine zone,” he added.
Mako Gold (ASX: MKG) is pleased to advise that it has received positive results from phase 1 of the 25,000m auger drilling programme on the company’s 90% owned flagship Napié Project in Côte d’Ivoire.
Phase 1 has exceeded the company’s objective to demonstrate the multi-million-ounce gold potential of Napié by identifying several mineralized footprints equal to or several times larger than Tchaga or Gogbala along the extensive 30km shear and associated faults at Napié.
“We are delighted with the results of phase 1 of the auger programme which has delineated multiple multi-kilometre drill targets,” managing director, Peter Ledwidge, said.Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to subscribe to The Assay Weekly newsletter.
