Welcome to a selection of mining investment, exploration, and development news from the last week on Theassay.com. To keep up to date with all the latest headlines, subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Financing
To start things off, Capitan Mining Inc. (TSXV: CAPT) has confirmed it plans to increase the size of its previously announced non-brokered private placement from C$3M to C$3.2M.
The company intends to use the net proceeds from the private placement to advance drilling and work programmes at the Cruz de Plata silver and gold project in addition to funding working capital and general corporate expenses.
Westhaven Gold Corp. (TSXV: WHN) successfully completed a previously announced royalty sales and private placement.
In mid-September 2022, the company entered into a financing arrangement with Franco-Nevada Corporation (TSX: FNV), the leading gold-focused royalty and streaming company.
“The proceeds from this transaction will allow Westhaven to accomplish a substantial amount of drilling and exploration work across our Spences Bridge Gold Belt properties,” president and CEO, Gareth Thomas, said.
Westhaven has completed the grant and sale of a 2% net smelter return royalty (NSR) to Franco-Nevada for US$6M. The NSR applies to all of Westhaven’s claims across the Spences Bridge Gold Belt in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Westhaven has an option to buy-down 0.5% of the NSR for US$3M for a period of five years from the closing of the transaction.
Exploration and development
In exploration and development news, First Mining Gold Corp. (TSX: FF) filed on SEDAR a Technical Report prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects on the Duparquet Gold Project in Quebec, Canada.
The Duparquet Gold Project is a multi-million-ounce advanced exploration and mining development asset located in the Abitibi region of the province of Quebec, approximately 50km north of the city of Rouyn-Noranda.
Galileo Mining Ltd (ASX: GAL) has intersected disseminated nickel sulphide mineralization up to 51m thick in four RC drill holes completed 400m north of the Callisto palladium-platinum-gold-rhodium-nickel-copper discovery within the company’s 100% owned Norseman project in Western Australia.
Portable XRF analyses has confirmed the presence of nickel sulphide with laboratory assays required to determine whether palladium/platinum and other metals are present.
Hole NRC346 contains the most abundant disseminated sulphide in a shallow zone starting at just 82m below surface.
Samples from this new zone have been submitted to the laboratory with first assays expected in approximately five weeks.
Drilling results
In drilling news, Kairos Minerals’ (ASX: KAI) first hole intercepted pegmatite at its Lucky Sump Prospect in Western Australia’s Pilbara Region.
The company’s drilling has been designed to test new areas of the resource where the Kairos technical team have targeted extensions of the resource outside of the current model. From this perspective, the initial drilling has been “extremely successful”.
Drilling to date has tested positions along much of the 3,000m strike length of the main trend mineralization. The deposit has not been drilled effectively in the past and this new core is providing valuable data that will not only be used to update the new resource estimate but will be used for metallurgical testwork as part of the pre-feasibility work.
The positive news continued for Nova Minerals (ASX: NVA) as the company drilled further “exceptional”, broad high-grade gold intersections continue at RPM North and mineralization remains open at the company’s flagship Estelle Gold Trend, located in the prolific Tintina Gold Belt in Alaska.
“I am pleased to report shallower high‐ grade broad mineralization from our drilling at RPM. This programme is part of a targeted programme designed to allow for further increases to potential Measured and Indicated Resources in the next MRE on the high-grade RPM deposit,” CEO, Christopher Gerteisen, said.
“As we continue with our aggressive 2022 diamond drilling programme, we are excited with the drilling completed to date and how it is all coming together. We are also particularly excited with the geological crew potentially unlocking new RPM and Korbel style targets along the Estelle Gold Trend corridor.”
IPO news
American West Metals Ltd (ASX: AW1) has received strong interest from North American investors and the company’s ordinary shares have commenced trading on the OTCQB Venture Market (OTCQB) in the United States. The trading symbol of the company on OTCQB is AWMLF.
“With significant mining projects located in the United States and Canada, we are very pleased to enhance our visibility and accessibility to North American individual and institutional investors through the OTCQB quotation,” said Dave O’Neill, the company’s managing director.
Production updates
To round things up, Mongolian specialist Steppe Gold Ltd (TSX: STGO) reported improved operations for the third quarter.
Gold production in the period under review was approximately 13,300oz, up 28% from the second quarter where the company produced 10,400oz. The company has continued with its regular pour schedule, twice per month. Ongoing deliveries to Mongolbank attract a 5% premium to the LME Spot price.
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