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American Creek Resources $AMK.ca Completes Spin-out of Shares of Stinger Resources Inc. $STNG.ca $TUD.ca $ESK.ca $SEA.ca $STNG.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 7:59 AM on Wednesday, February 17th, 2021
American Creek Provides Update on Its First Quarter Filings
  • Plan of arrangement with Stinger Resources Inc. is expected to occur at 12:01 a.m. on February 25, 2021
  • Stinger Assets include property interests, Tudor Gold Corp. shares, $2,500,000 cash, the right to contingent cash payments on exercise of certain outstanding warrants, and certain real property
  • Stinger will trade under “STNG” on TSXV
  • AMK retains 20% Carried Interest to Production at Treaty Creek

American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AMK) (the “Company” or “American Creek“) is pleased to announce that further to its press release dated December 5, 2020, the effective date for the spin-out of certain assets, including property interests, Tudor Gold Corp. shares, $2,500,000 cash, the right to contingent cash payments on exercise of certain outstanding warrants, and certain real property, to its shareholders by way of a plan of arrangement (the “Arrangement“) with Stinger Resources Inc. (“Stinger“) is expected to occur at 12:01 a.m. on February 25, 2021 (the “Effective Date“).

Pursuant to the arrangement, holders of common shares of American Creek as of the close of business on February 24, 2021 will receive one new common share of American Creek (each, an “American Creek Share“) and 0.11324 of a Stinger common share (each, a “Stinger Share“). The existing common shares of American Creek are expected to be delisted on the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV“) as of the close of business on February 24, 2021. American Creek Shares are expected to commence trading on the TSXV at the market opening on February 25, 2021. The CUSIP numbers for the new American Creek Shares and the Stinger Shares will be 025288309 and 860836105, respectively.

Olympia Trust Company (“Olympia Trust“) will forward replacement certificates to each American Creek shareholder that is entitled to receive certificates, representing their allotted number of new American Creek Shares and Stinger Shares in accordance with the Arrangement. Letters of transmittal have been mailed to registered holders of common shares of American Creek, which must be completed and returned to Olympia Trust together with the share certificates of American Creek at the address specified in the letter of transmittal, in order for American Creek shareholders to receive new American Creek Shares and Stinger Shares following the Effective Date. A copy of the letter of transmittal is also available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. For more information, see the Company’s management information circular dated October 29, 2020 filed under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Stinger has received conditional approval to list the Stinger Shares on the TSXV. Final listing approval will be subject to Stinger satisfying all of the listing conditions of the TSXV. Stinger will announce by way of a further press release the date on which trading of the Stinger Shares will commence, which is expected to be in the first week of March, 2021. The trading symbol for the Stinger Shares will be “STNG”. Further details regarding Stinger will be contained in Stinger’s TSX-V Form 2B Listing Application, which is expected to be made available under Stinger’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com on February 25, 2021.

Read More:https://agoracom.com/ir/AmericanCreek/forums/discussion/topics/755484-american-creek-resources-completes-spin-out-of-shares-of-stinger-resources-inc/messages/2303987#message

American Creek $AMK.ca: Updated Charts from Sector Expert John Newell $TUD.ca $ESK.ca $SEA.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:54 AM on Thursday, February 11th, 2021
American Creek Provides Update on Its First Quarter Filings

John Newell is a portfolio manager at Fieldhouse Capital Management and president and CEO of Golden Sky Minerals Corp.

  • He has 38 years of experience in the investment industry acting as an officer, director, portfolio manager and investment advisor with some of the largest investment firms in Canada including Scotia McLeod, CIBC Wood Gundy and Richardson Greenshields (RBC Capital Markets).
  • Newell is a specialist in precious metal equities and related commodities, and follows a disciplined proprietary approach incorporating equity research, analytical frameworks and risk controls to evaluate and select long and short stocks primarily from the Canadian small and mid-cap coverage.
  • Many large, midcap and junior precious metal companies use his technical charts. Newell is a registered portfolio manager in Canada (advising representative).
     
    Two days ago industry specialist John Newell put out charts showing AMK was undervalued by 74% You can view that email here

    He has updated the charts which are found below.
https://mcusercontent.com/af629dcbbf88a5932a7e484e3/images/ee4ecf87-17c6-4fc9-a659-b3a27f1a995f.jpg
https://mcusercontent.com/af629dcbbf88a5932a7e484e3/images/1a2937b3-0e79-4b1d-95a4-76464df2a512.jpg

American Creek: “AMK is Back to Being As Undervalued As When It Was Under 0.10” – John Newell $TUD.ca $SII.ca $GTT.ca $AFF.ca $SEA.ca $SA $PVG.ca $AOT.ca $ESK.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 2:14 PM on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021
  • John published a new chart showing the stock pricing for the Treaty companies compared to the value of Treaty Creek that each company owns.
  • In American Creek’s case it is trading at a 74% discount to its contractual value of “20% of Treaty Creek
John Newell is a portfolio manager at Fieldhouse Capital Management and president and CEO of Golden Sky Minerals Corp. He has 38 years of experience in the investment industry acting as an officer, director, portfolio manager and investment advisor with some of the largest investment firms in Canada including Scotia McLeod, CIBC Wood Gundy and Richardson Greenshields (RBC Capital Markets). Newell is a specialist in precious metal equities and related commodities, and follows a disciplined proprietary approach incorporating equity research, analytical frameworks and risk controls to evaluate and select long and short stocks primarily from the Canadian small and mid-cap coverage. Many large, midcap and junior precious metal companies use his technical charts. Newell is a registered portfolio manager in Canada (advising representative).
 
On Monday February 1st, 2021 John published a new chart showing the stock pricing for the Treaty companies compared to the value of Treaty Creek that each company owns.  In American Creek’s case it is trading at a 74% discount to its contractual value of “20% of Treaty Creek”. 
 
Below are Johns notes and charts:
Déjà vu all over again AMK owns a 20% carried interest in the Treaty Creek Gold Project located in BC’s Golden Triangle.  Tudor (TUD) owns 60%, Teuton (TUO) 20%, and American Creek (AMK) 20%. As Highlighted in the spread sheet below. AMK is trading at a 74% discount to Tudor (at $2.50 per share).  This represents the same deep undervaluation compared to Tudor as when AMK was trading under $0.10 per share. Recently completed 45,600 meter highly successful drill program to expand and extend gold mineralization at Treaty Creek.  The deposit remains open in all directions. Maiden resource is being calculated and will be announced soon. Tudor’s technical chart breaking the short-term downtrend line after last years big run. AMK has exchange, regulatory, and shareholder approval for their “Stinger” spin-out to add shareholder value, giving shareholders a cash rich past producer next to Ascot Resources. Strong insiders share ownership of AMK shares, aligning with shareholders
https://mcusercontent.com/af629dcbbf88a5932a7e484e3/images/529ef648-5836-4fbe-8cdb-d2e72399b37d.png

Read More: https://agoracom.com/ir/AmericanCreek/forums/discussion/topics/754588-american-creek-amk-is-back-to-being-as-undervalued-as-when-it-was-0-10-john-newell/messages/2301896#message

Industry Bulletin: Another #Commodity Supercycle Is Coming — This Time Driven By Renewable Energy and EVs SPONSOR: @Candente Copper $CDG.ca $FCX.ca $TECK.ca $FSUGY $PER.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:00 AM on Monday, February 1st, 2021
  • Candente owns Cañariaco Norte, a large, economic, copper ore body in Peru
  • 100% owned feasibility-stage porphyry copper deposit; a single, contiguous, open-pit mineable deposit of:
  • 7.5B pounds Measured and Indicated and can be mined for 22 years once in production.
  • Once in production Canariaco is in the lowest quartile of production costs for projects waiting to be developed.
  • Operating costs of US$0.988 per pound of copper
  • Capable of generating annual production of 262,000,000lbs of copper, 39,000 oz gold & 911,000 oz silver over initial mine life of 22 yrs(@ 95,000 tpd).

  • The transition to an electrified clean energy economy is going to result in a monumental draw on metals and minerals from the earth’s crust
  • The new energy transition hardware requires earthly resources — metals and minerals — which are suddenly escalating in price

Prices of copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum and rare earth elements are all inflating as electric vehicles and the wider electrification trend starts pulling on constrained resources. Photo by Getty Images/Bloomberg/Reuters

Like many in the energy business, I marvel at how fast the cost of producing renewable power, LED light bulbs and lithium-ion batteries has fallen over the past decade. Depending on what’s being measured, some costs are down by more than 90 per cent.

Should we assume these downward-trending cost curves are sustainable? And will this type of cost reduction be applicable to other emerging clean energy devices?

Based on advances in technology and more efficient manufacturing processes, the short answer is a qualified yes. Yet, we shouldn’t be blinded by the glow of the new economy — things like data science, process engineering, robotics and advanced materials — which, to date, have been the principal drivers for achieving these cost reductions.

Much of the new energy transition hardware requires earthly resources — metals and minerals — which are suddenly escalating in price

From the shadows, we are now seeing that the old economy isn’t so old after all. Much of the new energy transition hardware requires earthly resources — metals and minerals — which are suddenly escalating in price.

Prices of copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum and rare earth elements are all inflating as electric vehicles and the wider electrification trend starts pulling on constrained resources. For example, nickel prices just closed shy of a five-year high, copper is up 30 per cent from pre-COVID levels, and cobalt has jumped 25 per cent in value in 2021 alone.

I should note that the solar industry’s achievements are often quoted as a template to how fast clean energy costs can come down. But let’s be careful. Made from silicon, the most plentiful element in the earth’s crust (think sand), solar panels don’t have a resource constraint problem. Many of the vital metals and minerals needed to electrify transport and other industrial segments of our economy don’t enjoy t

There are now dozens of electric vehicle manufacturers at various stages of development around the world. Tesla Inc. is the leader, of course. Volkswagen AG is going all-in, and General Motors Co. is expected to accelerate from a trot to a gallop by mid-decade. Upstart companies are collectively raising billions of dollars to roll out new models. Expectations for EV sales are at high voltage, and now those expectations are zapping the resource sector. No wonder some investment analysts speak about a forthcoming “commodity supercycle.”

Consider the scale of what’s happening.

Tesla sold just shy of 500,000 vehicles last year. It’s an impressive number, but — in a world of a billion-plus cars — it’s still de minimis. At Tesla’s current rate of sales, it would take over 2,000 years to replace the world’s fleet of combustion-engine vehicles. We have barely dented the market for EVs.

The assumption that costs for new energy technologies will fall smoothly and forever needs a serious rethink

Now let’s look at what it takes to power one of them. A typical 75-kilowatt-hour electric car battery is 5,000 times the capacity of the one in your mobile phone. And that’s for a medium-sized sedan such as Tesla’s Model 3, not the super-sized pickup truck or SUV that most people are aspiring to develop.

From a money lens, the demand for natural resources is getting to be much more than a dent. Mining.com’s EV Metal Index for  November 2020 show that sales of lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel just for making EV batteries have risen rapidly to US$325 million per month. A mere four years ago, that number was a tenth of that. And we are going to sell how many EVs by 2030?

The point is, we don’t need a spreadsheet to realize that the transition to an electrified clean energy economy is going to result in a monumental draw on metals and minerals from the earth’s crust. And it’s going to cost a lot more money. In the past few months, rising commodity prices are a wake-up call to that reality. In the old economy, an inflection of demand that pulls on constrained resources leads to price spikes.

At a minimum, the assumption that costs for new energy technologies will fall smoothly and forever needs a serious rethink, especially for metal-intense segments of the business. At worst, commodity price inflation that passes through to end customers will restrain adoption of new-age products.

Sure, the challenges can be overcome. When commodity prices rise, more resource projects are permitted, financed and built, often in unsavory places.

We’ve seen it before. The world grew its oil production from nothing to an unfathomable 100 million barrels a day. But it took 150 years and hundreds of trillions of dollars. Along the way, there were plenty of commodity supercycles, not to mention geopolitical issues, which is a whole other supercharged issue when it comes to rare and geographically concentrated minerals.

And the challenges can be overcome by technology, too. For example, a new generation of solid-state batteries will ease the pressure on some metals, though the timeline for those is a decade out.

The resource world doesn’t move nearly as fast as technology, which is why commodity value is now chasing technology value. And the larger lesson is that the new economy can’t go anywhere without the old.

SOURCE: https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/another-commodity-supercycle-is-coming-this-time-driven-by-renewable-energy-and-evs

American Creek Resources $AMK.ca: New Treaty Creek Report $TUD.ca $SII.ca $GTT.ca $AFF.ca $SEA.ca $SA $PVG.ca $AOT.ca $ESK.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:04 AM on Thursday, January 14th, 2021
American Creek Provides Update on Its First Quarter Filings

Treaty Creek resource could represent one of the largest gold deposit discoveries found in North America in the past 10 years!”

“If Tudor Gold lives up to the high expectations of market participants and has a powerful gold resource of 15-30 million ounces of gold on Treaty Creek, we believe that an unprecedented takeover battle for one of the most attractive gold projects in Canada will ensue”

These statements are taken from JS Research’s latest report (found below) on Treaty Creek and our JV partner Tudor Gold.  The report highlights this year’s 45,600m program at Treaty Creek as we look forward to the initial resource calculation on the property. 

The Treaty Creek Project is a Joint Venture with Tudor Gold owning 3/5th and acting as operator. American Creek and Teuton Resources each have a 1/5th interest in the project creating a 3:1 ownership relationship between Tudor Gold and American Creek. American Creek and Teuton are both fully carried until such time as a Production Notice is issued, at which time they are required to contribute their respective 20% share of development costs. Until such time, Tudor is required to fund all exploration and development costs while both American Creek and Teuton have “free rides”.
 
American Creek has not independently confirmed the technical information in the JS Research report. 

READ MORE: https://agoracom.com/ir/AmericanCreek/forums/discussion/topics/753006-american-creek-resources-new-treaty-creek-report/messages/2297840#message

VIDEO – American Creek $AMK.ca Investor Eric #Sprott Says “It certainly looks like they have 20 million ounces and they could easily get to 30 or 40 or 50 million ounces (of gold)” $TUD.ca $SII.ca $GTT.ca $AFF.ca $SEA.ca $SA $PVG.ca $AOT.ca $ESK.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 8:27 PM on Sunday, January 10th, 2021
American Creek Provides Update on Its First Quarter Filings

There is a lot we could say about American Creek Resources (AMK:TSXV) Treaty Creek Project but you might accuse of us of making it up, so we’ll let the words of 4 much smarter and wealthier people do all the talking:

Eric Sprott, Billionaire Investor and 2X Investor In American Creek Resources

“It certainly looks like they have 20 million ounces and they could easily get to 30 or 40 or 50 million ounces (of gold)” – July 24, 2020

Darren Blaney, President & CEO American Creek Resources

“Clearly, we have a massive, world-class gold system that still shows no signs of weakening to the northeast nor at depth.”

Walter Storm, CEO Tudor Gold (JV Partner) And Financier Of Osisko Gold Reaching $4.5 Billion Market Cap

“These results have proven that we have an excellent understanding of the structure, geology and mineralogy of this massive gold system.”

Ken Konkin , Tudor Gold Exploration Manager (Credited With Discovering Brucejack Mine Just South Of Treaty Creek) 

“Given the success of the two deep drill holes GS19-47 and GS19-48, the Goldstorm System shows no signs of weakening to the northeast and several more drill holes will be needed to find the length and depth of this huge gold system.

With a maiden resource estimate now expected over the next few months and the last set of drill results now announced, including 3.286 gpt AuEq over 82.5 Meters, Within 531.0 Meters of 0.999 gpt AuEq investors should grab their favourite beverage and watch this interview with American Creek Resources.

American Creek’s JV Partner Tudor Gold Intersects 3.286 gpt AuEq over 82.5 Meters Within 531.0 Meters of 0.999 gpt AuEq at Treaty Creek $TUD.ca $SII.ca $GTT.ca $AFF.ca $SEA.ca $SA $PVG.ca $AOT.ca $ESK.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:23 AM on Thursday, January 7th, 2021
American Creek Provides Update on Its First Quarter Filings
  • Best near-surface intercept was from the 300 Horizon in GS-20-91 on Section 112+50 NE that averaged 0.856 gpt AuEq over 1033.5 meters containing an enriched portion of 532.5 meters (60.0-592.5 m) that averaged 1.112 gpt AuEq.
  • GS-20-92 also had a remarkable 82.5 meter intercept (213.0-295.5 m) of 3.286 gpt AuEq within the 300 Horizon, which is the highest grade gold composite interval drilled to date on the project. This lies within a longer intercept of 531.0 meters (90.0-621.0 m) averaging 0.999 gpt AuEq.

Cardston, Alberta–(Newsfile Corp. – January 7, 2021) – American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AMK) (“the Corporation”) is very pleased to present results for the last set of 2020 diamond drill holes for the Goldstorm Zone at their JV flagship property, Treaty Creek. The project is located within the heart of the Golden Triangle of Northwestern British Columbia which is on-trend from Seabridge’s KSM Project located five kilometers southwest of the Goldstorm Zone. Results from sampling of 9,621.7 meters of HQ and NQ2 core, from 11 diamond drill holes, have recently been received from MSA Labs. American Creek’s JV partner, Tudor Gold has completed 50 diamond drill holes at the Goldstorm System (GS) and three diamond drill holes at the Perfect Storm Zone (PSZ), for respective totals of approximately 44,000 meters (GS) and 1,600 meters (PSZ) during the 2020 exploration season. It was necessary to abandon two of the final drill holes as ground conditions prevented the safe completion of GS-20-99 and GS-20-101 late in the season, however, significant gold and silver mineralization was encountered in GS-20-99 (0.647 gpt AuEq over 109.5 meters) and this hole ended in strong stockwork within the DS5 System. Unfortunately drill hole GS-20-101 was abandoned before intersecting the area of the intended target and this hole will be re-drilled in 2021. From the remaining 51 drill holes, all but one were successful in intersecting the intended targets.

Tudor Gold’s Vice President of Project Development, Ken Konkin, P.Geo., stated: “We are very pleased with the results obtained from our 2020 exploration program and we anticipate the completion of an initial resource estimate over the next few months. We are also determined to continue the exploration efforts in 2021 to better define and potentially expand the Goldstorm and Perfect Storm Systems. It was not possible to attempt drilling at some of our high priority exploration targets due to the rapid accumulation of snow in late November and December that caused avalanche hazards, therefore, these sites remain as excellent drill targets. We have since received our explosives permit and have purchased an explosives magazine so our avalanche teams can now safely remove snow build-up for the up-coming exploration season. Our goal is to again have a late spring start-up so that we can effectively prepare the slopes to allow drilling in the northeast area of the Goldstorm System that was not completed in 2020. The Au-Ag-Cu mineralization remains open to the northeast and to the southeast, with the possible exception of section 114+00 NE, where the easternmost drill hole (GS-20-102) may have defined the southeast limit in that area.”

Goldstorm Highlights include:

  • Eleven diamond drill holes in this news release totaling 9,621.7 meters; the favorable composite results are listed in Table 1 below.
  • Best near-surface intercept was from the 300 Horizon in GS-20-91 on Section 112+50 NE that averaged 0.856 gpt AuEq over 1033.5 meters (60.0-1093.5 m) containing an enriched portion of 532.5 meters (60.0-592.5 m) that averaged 1.112 gpt AuEq.
  • GS-20-92 also had a remarkable 82.5 meter intercept (213.0-295.5 m) of 3.286 gpt AuEq within the 300 Horizon, which is the highest grade gold composite interval drilled to date on the project. This lies within a longer intercept of 531.0 meters (90.0-621.0 m) averaging 0.999 gpt AuEq.
  • An aggressive 150 meter step-out drill hole (GS-20-99) extended the DS-5 Zone further to southeast on section 115+50 NE. The intercept averaged 0.647 gpt AuEq over 109.5 meters (855.5-965.0 m). The hole was lost at 965.0 meters in strong stockwork and DS5-type mineralization. The system remains open to the northeast and southeast along Section 115+50 NE.

Read More: https://agoracom.com/ir/AmericanCreek/forums/discussion/topics/752523-american-creek-s-jv-partner-tudor-gold-intersects-3-286-gpt-aueq-over-82-5-meters-within-531-0-meters-of-0-999-gpt-aueq-at-treaty-creek/messages/2296444#message

AGORACOM Small Cap 60: Candente Copper $DNT.ca Has A Goldman Sachs Ranking And One Of The World’s Largest Iron Ore Producers Behind It $CN.ca $FCX.ca $TECK.ca $FSUGY $PER.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 3:32 PM on Friday, December 18th, 2020
http://blog.agoracom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/candente-copper-for-blog1.jpg

Candente Copper (DNT:TSX) is currently focused on its 100% owned Cañariaco project, which includes the feasibility stage Cañariaco Norte deposit, a large, economic, copper deposit in Peru waiting to be mined. 

Highlights are as follows. 

  • 100% owned feasibility-stage porphyry copper deposit; a single, contiguous, open-pit mineable deposit of:
    • 7.5B pounds Measured and Indicated and can be mined for 22 years once in production.
    • Once in production Canariaco is in the lowest quartile of production costs for projects waiting to be developed.
    • Operating costs of US$0.988 per pound of copper
    • Capable of generating annual production of 262,000,000lbs of copper, 39,000 oz gold & 911,000 oz silver over initial mine life of 22 yrs(@ 95,000 tpd).

Hub On AGORACOM / Corporate Profile 

American Creek’s $AMK.ca JV Partner Tudor Gold Intersects 1.215 gpt AuEq over 354.0 Meters Within 1225.5 Meters of 0.702 gpt AuEq (Hole GS-20-94) $TUD.ca $SII.ca $GTT.ca $AFF.ca $SEA.ca $SA $PVG.ca $AOT.ca $ESK.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:31 AM on Wednesday, December 16th, 2020
American Creek Provides Update on Its First Quarter Filings
  • 1.078 gpt AuEq over 345.0 Meters Within 921.0 Meters of 0.821 gpt AuEq (Hole GS-20-83) at the Goldstorm Zone, Treaty Creek, Located in B.C.’s Golden Triangle

Cardston, Alberta–(Newsfile Corp. – December 16, 2020) – American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AMK) (“the Corporation”) is pleased to present results for the fifth set of diamond drill holes for the Goldstorm Zone at their flagship property, Treaty Creek. The project is located in the heart of the Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia and is on-trend from Seabridge’s KSM Project located five kilometers southwest of the Goldstorm Zone. Results from 12 diamond drill holes have recently been received from MSA Labs with final results from another 11 diamond drill holes pending. All drill holes have successfully intersected the Goldstorm System, expanding and defining the mineralization along the northeast and southeast axes, as well as to depth. The Goldstorm System 300 Horizon has now been traced for 1100 meters along the northeast axis and, as well, the CS-600 and DS-5 zones have been expanded to the northeast and to depth. All 39 drill holes completed at Goldstorm during the 2020 program have encountered significant precious metal mineralization. The 2020 Treaty Creek Diamond Drill Program was completed last week, and field personnel have winterized the camp. The track-components of two track-mounted diamond drills remain on site ready for start-up of the 2021 exploration season.

Tudor Gold’s Vice President of Project Development, Ken Konkin, P.Geo., states: “We are very pleased with the results obtained from all 39 drill holes completed this year to-date and we anticipate the release of the final 11 holes of the year within a few weeks. This brings the total to 50 drill holes that were completed this year at the Goldstorm Zone. These latest holes continued to expand the limits of the mineralized targets along the northeastern and the southeastern axes, and to depth. For a fifth consecutive press release, we have surpassed our best result from last years’ drill hole program (0.697 AuEq over 1081.5 meters in hole GS-19-47) with drill holes GS-20-83 and GS-20-94 as described in the headline. The final 11 drill holes represent over 9600 meters of drilling and we expect that MSA Labs will complete the analysis of these final samples as soon as possible.”

Treaty Creek Highlights include:

  • Twelve drill holes presented in this press release total 11,551.1 meters.
  • The best results were from GS-20-94, a near-surface 354.0 meter intercept (36.0-390 m) averaging 1.215 gpt AuEq and GS-20-82 with a 351m intercept (113.0-464.0 m) averaging 1.051 gpt AuEq. Both holes are located on Section 111+00 NE.
  • Equally impressive was drill hole GS-20-83 that also had a near-surface intercept over a similar 345.0 meters (73.5-418.5 m) that averaged 1.078 gpt AuEq on Section 112+50 NE.
  • More Core Drilling did an excellent job completing 50 HQ/NQ2 diamond drill holes totaling 43,972 meters at Goldstorm and 1,636 meters at the Perfect Storm Target with three drill holes.

The following three tables below provide the complete list of composited drill hole results as well as the drill hole data including hole location, elevation, depth, dip and azimuth.

Table l: Results Goldstorm Zone Press Release December 15th 2020

SectionHoleZoneFromToInterval (m)AuAgCuAuEQ
114+00 NEGS-20-80300H + CS600222.501349.001126.500.3691.666530.486
  including 300H398.00695.50297.500.4881.981350.531
  and including CS600831.501028.00196.500.5723.2527031.011
115+50 NEGS-20-81300H + CS600 + DS5558.401389.50831.100.4221.569400.580
  including 300H + CS600558.40957.50399.100.5291.9617120.807
  with 300H558.40636.5078.101.0471.521391.086
  and with CS600704.00957.50253.500.4812.3724940.879
111+00 NEGS-20-82300H + CS600113.001041.50928.500.6292.465190.736
  including 300H113.00464.00351.000.9693.562631.051
  with 300H224.00422.00198.001.2835.294081.407
112+50 NEGS-20-83300H + CS600 + DS573.50994.50921.000.6763.976550.821
  including 300H73.50418.50345.001.0083.481911.078
  and including CS600566.45727.50161.050.4263.9028630.898
  and including DS5813.00994.50181.500.9197.331901.035
112+50 NEGS-20-85300H66.50692.00625.500.7483.802750.834
  CS600752.00989.00237.000.2412.2317340.524
  DS51118.001278.50160.500.5112.111280.555
114+00 NEGS-20-86300H118.50577.50459.000.7123.432630.792
  CS600730.50942.00211.500.4692.4921720.821
  DS51014.001425.00411.000.5952.851450.650
  including1192.501395.00202.500.8893.391300.949
111+00 NEGS-20-89*300H87.00125.0038.001.14212.85911.309
111+00 NEGS-20-90300H + CS60063.00847.50784.500.6462.894650.750
  including 300H72.00405.00333.000.9153.601770.984
  and including CS600643.50768.00124.500.6354.6016320.932
110+00 NEGS-20-93*300H20.50237.50217.000.5353.401520.599
  incl.20.50131.00110.500.8505.492060.946
111+00 NEGS-20-94300H36.001261.501225.500.6462.501780.702
  including36.00390.00354.001.1234.142871.215
  or including36.00820.50784.500.8563.452390.933
108+00 NEGS-20-96300H6.00109.50103.500.8042.271290.850
  CS600279.00385.50106.500.2283.7712350.457
110+00 NEGS-20-97300H18.40584.00565.600.6091.951070.648
  incl.18.40381.50363.100.6932.351410.742

*lost drill hole in mineralization

  • All assay values are uncut, and intervals reflect drilled intercept lengths.
  • HQ and NQ2 diameter core samples were sawn in half and typically sampled at standard 1.5m intervals.
  • The following metal prices were used to calculate the Au Eq metal content: Gold $1322/oz, Ag: $15.91/oz, Cu: $2.86/lb. Calculations used the formula Au Eq g/t = (Au g/t) + (Ag g/t x 0.012) + (Cu% x 1.4835). All metals are reported in USD and calculations do not consider metal recoveries. True widths have not been determined as the mineralized body remains open in all directions. Further drilling is required to determine the mineralized body orientation and true widths.

Table ll: Drill Data for Holes in Press Release December 15th, 2020


Table II and Table III

To view an enhanced version of Table II and Table III, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/682/70402_5f70404f040adb98_002full.jpg

Attached are Sections 108+00 NE, 110+00 NE, 111+00 NE, 112+50 NE, 114+00 NE and 115+50 NE showing holes traces with histogram plots for gold and copper results and a Plan Map showing the drill hole and section locations.

Walter Storm, President and CEO, stated: “We are very pleased to announce the safe successful completion of our 2020 diamond drill hole program. We completed over four times the amount of drilling from the previous year’s program, greatly advancing Tudor’s flagship Treaty Creek Property. We completed almost 44,000 meters of drilling at the Goldstorm System and over 1,600 meters of drilling at the Perfect Storm target. Once we receive the final results from the last eleven drill holes, we will then pass the data to our resource engineers and geoscientists for an initial resource estimate. Continued drilling is required for 2021 to locate the limits or edges of the mineralized system. Due to the size and robust nature of the mineralization, the Goldstorm System remains open on all fronts and to depth. We are proud of what we have achieved in these last two years of exploration and in-particular, the great effort to withstand the harsh winter elements during November and December at Treaty Creek to bring the 2020 drill campaign to a safe close. Our commitment is to continue to advance the project as quickly as possible. We have left the track-drill carriage components for two track-mounted drill rigs on-site so our team can get an early start to the 2021 drill season. We look forward to receiving the final results of the eleven drill holes from MSA Labs within a couple of weeks to complete the 2020 exploration season on schedule.”

Tudor Gold Corp and our associated service companies have taken extreme measures to maintain the highest professional standards while working within COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

Darren Blaney, CEO of American Creek, commented: “We are extremely impressed with the drill program our JV partner Tudor Gold has completed this year and with the significant potential deposit that it has revealed. The Goldstorm zone already appears to be world-scale in size and yet is still open from the northeast to the southeast and remarkably, also at depth. The Magnetotelluric survey done in 2016, which shows potential continuation of gold mineralization well beyond the extent of this year’s drilling of Goldstorm, has proven to be very accurate. That same survey data also shows tremendous potential at the Perfect Storm zone which, due to permitting restraints, was only able to have the outer halo drill tested this year, and yet the drilling still encountered gold mineralization.

“Recognition must be given to both Tudor Gold and More Core for initiating the drill program in early May and carrying through to December. This is no small feat in the Golden Triangle region. While bad weather and Covid-19 limited many projects within the area this season, Tudor and More Core delivered an incredible 45 km of drilling with every hole encountering significant gold mineralization.

“We look forward to the remaining holes, the metallurgical work, and ultimately the maiden resource calculation of the Goldstorm on Treaty Creek sometime in the new year.”

QA/QC

Drill core samples were prepared at MSA Labs’ Preparation Laboratory in Terrace, BC and assayed at MSA Labs’ Geochemical Laboratory in Langley, BC. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the submission of blanks, certified standards and duplicate samples inserted at regular intervals into the sample stream by Tudor Gold personnel. MSA Laboratories quality system complies with the requirements for the Company. International Standards ISO 17025 and ISO 9001. MSA Labs is independent of the company.

Qualified Person

The Qualified Person for Tudor’s news release for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 is Tudor’s Vice President of Project Development, Ken Konkin, P.Geo. He has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for their disclosure contained in their news release.

The Qualified Person for this news release is James A. McCrea, P. Geo., for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101. While American Creek has not independently confirmed Tudor’s information, Mr. McCrea has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this news release.

Treaty Creek JV Partnership

The Treaty Creek Project is a Joint Venture with Tudor Gold owning 3/5th and acting as operator. American Creek and Teuton Resources each have a 1/5th interest in the project creating a 3:1 ownership relationship between Tudor Gold and American Creek. American Creek and Teuton are both fully carried until such time as a Production Notice is issued, at which time they are required to contribute their respective 20% share of development costs. Until such time, Tudor is required to fund all exploration and development costs while both American Creek and Teuton have “free rides”.

Treaty Creek Background

The Treaty Creek Project lies in the same hydrothermal system as Pretium’s Brucejack mine and Seabridge’s KSM deposits however, with far better logistics.

For a better understanding of the mineralized zones at the Goldstorm, please view this video (which shows the original 20,000m planned drill program opposed to the 40,000m+ drill program that has taken place).



Sulphurets Hydrothermal System

To view an enhanced version of this map, please visit:
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About American Creek

American Creek is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company with a strong portfolio of gold and silver properties in British Columbia.

Three of those properties are located in the prolific “Golden Triangle”; the Treaty Creek JV with Tudor Gold/Walter Storm, the D-1 McBride, and the 100% owned past producing Dunwell Mine.

The Corporation also holds the Gold Hill, Austruck-Bonanza, Ample Goldmax, Silver Side, and Glitter King properties located in other prospective areas of the province.

See additional images of drill locations in this press release at www.americancreek.com.

For further information please contact Kelvin Burton at: Phone: 403 752-4040 or Email: [email protected]. Information relating to the Corporation is available on its website at www.americancreek.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the Corporation’s management discussion and analysis filed with applicable Canadian securities regulators, which can be found under the Corporation’s profile on www.sedar.com. The Corporation does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.



Goldstorm Zone Plan View

To view an enhanced version of this map, please visit:
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Section 108+00 NE

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https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/682/70402_5f70404f040adb98_005full.jpg



Section 110+00 NE

To view an enhanced version of this map, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/682/70402_5f70404f040adb98_006full.jpg



Section 111+00 NE

To view an enhanced version of this map, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/682/70402_5f70404f040adb98_007full.jpg



Section 112+50 NE

To view an enhanced version of this map, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/682/70402_5f70404f040adb98_008full.jpg



Section 114+00 NE

To view an enhanced version of this map, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/682/70402_5f70404f040adb98_009full.jpg



Section 115+50 NE

To view an enhanced version of this map, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/682/70402_5f70404f040adb98_010full.jpg

Copper, The Most Critical Metal SPONSOR: Candente Copper $DNT.ca $CN.ca $FCX.ca $TECK.ca $FSUGY $PER.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 10:20 AM on Tuesday, December 8th, 2020
http://blog.agoracom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/candente-copper-for-blog1.jpg

SPONSOR: Candente Copper owns 100% of the Canariaco copper project, which includes the Feasibility stage Canariaco Norte deposit. Canariaco is included in Goldman Sachs 84 Top Copper Projects Worldwide and Fortesque is a 19% owner of Candente.

Copper ore from La Viñita, Valle del Elqui, Chile. (Image by S. Rae, Wikimedia Commons)

  • Over 200 copper mines are expected to run out of ore before 2035, with not enough new mines in the pipeline to take their place.

In 2018, before the trade war between the US and China put the boots on copper demand, and covid-19 mine closures/ abandoned expansion plans crimped supply, we made a bold prediction: that copper supply is NOT going to be able to keep up with demand in the long-term.  Even with expansions at existing mines and the ramp-up of the relatively few new copper mines like Cobre Panama, Radomiro Tomic and Toquepalain, it will not be enough to meet the onslaught of demand that is coming from China as it continues to modernize and urbanize, and electric vehicles, which use three times as much copper as regular ones. In 2016 Chinese automakers sold 28 million cars. If China follows through on its promise to go 100% electric, that would mean 2,380,000,000 kilograms of copper. At the current production rate of 20 million tonnes a year, that’s 119 years worth of copper! Just to produce enough copper for electric cars in China.

Do we expect 100% EV penetration? No. But the shift to electrification of our transportation system is real, it’s not going to go away or stop. Because it’s as real as the shift from wood to coal to fossil fuels and now to lithium. That means massive new copper supplies are needed just for Chinese EVs, whatever the EV penetration eventually turns out to be. And remember there’s the rest of the world to supply for EVs, charging infrastructure, and all of copper’s other uses.

Bottom line? We gotta find more copper. 

‘Future-facing metals’ 

That sentiment is clearly shared by some of the world’s largest copper companies, who are doing everything they can to expand existing mines and acquire prospective new deposits, as they seek to replace their rapidly depleting copper reserves and resources. 

In 2017 the Chilean government approved a $2.5 billion expansion of BHP’s Spence copper mine – the diversified miner’s second largest copper mine behind Escondida, the biggest copper operation in the world. 

That followed closely behind BHP’s 2016 decision to raise its annual exploration budget by 29%, allocating nearly all of its $900 million budget to finding new copper and oil deposits – two commodities the world’s largest miner thinks it needs to bolster future growth. Potential acquisition targets include copper deposits in Peru, the US, Canada and South Australia. 

In February of this year, chief executive Mike Henry said the company needs more “future-facing metals” such as copper. Last year, BHP became the top shareholder in SolGold, an Australian miner developing the Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador. 

Last week, BHP announced it is ramping up work on the Spence mine expansion, to reach its production objective in the first half of 2021 (the project has been delayed due to covid-19 restrictions). 

It’s interesting to note that BHP is planning to “go green” at Spence, with a focus on running the operation entirely on renewable energy by 2022. The Melbourne, Australia-based company also aims to stop drawing water from aquifers in Chile by 2030 – a reference to the problems mining companies are facing getting enough water in the bone-dry Atacama desert of northern Chile, the base of operations for several major copper and lithium mines. 

The $2.5 billion expansion contemplates a concentrator plant to increase production, and extend the life of the deposit by about 20 years. The new mine will also feature an $800 million desalination plant located in the port city of Mejillones, about 60 km north of Antofagasta, that treats and pumps seawater at 1,000 liters per second. 

BHP isn’t the only large mining firm taking a serious look at copper. Barrick Gold is interested in diversifying into the red metal from the yellow. CEO Mark Bristow sees Indonesia’s Grasberg, the second-largest copper mine in the world, as a potential buy-out target for Barrick. The company already owns the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea, which borders Indonesia to the east, with China’s Zijin Mining. In May, Bristow told the Financial Times he was keen to expand in Asia, despite a recent dispute with the government of PNG over a renewal of Porgera’s license, which led Barrick and Zijin to shut the mine.

Meanwhile the CEO of Anglo American, another major diversified miner, indicated that South Africa would be a good jurisdiction to explore for base metals. “We will explore base metals across South Africa… We are already in Zambia and other places, we want to do more in South Africa so we are looking for adjustments in legislation there,” Mark Cutifani said during the 2020 Joburg Mining Indaba conference.

Copper, nickel, lead and zinc are among the base metals Anglo American is focusing its global discovery strategy in greenfield and brownfield projects.  

Running out of ore 

Why are major mining companies so intent on securing new supplies of copper? Quite simply, they’re running out of ore. 

As we have reported, without new capital investments, Commodities Research Unit (CRU) predicts global copper mined production will drop from the current 20 million tonnes to below 12Mt by 2034, leading to a supply shortfall of more than 15Mt. Over 200 copper mines are expected to run out of ore before 2035, with not enough new mines in the pipeline to take their place.

Some of the largest copper mines are seeing their reserves dwindle; they are having to dramatically slow production due to major capital-intensive projects to move operations from open pit to underground. 

Grasberg in Indonesia, the world’s second-largest copper mine, is emblematic of the problems copper miners are facing. The mine began as a large open pit but after decades of extracting the easy-to-reach ore is gone and future production is expected to come from a deep cave deposit known as the Deep Mill Level Zone. Copper concentrate exports have plunged dramatically as operations shift from open pit to underground.

Major South American copper miners have also been forced to cut production. State-owned Codelco has said it will scale back an ambitious $40-billion plan to upgrade its mines over the next decade, after reporting a drop in earnings, a prolonged strike at its Chuquicamata mine, and lower metals prices. The world’s largest copper company also said it will reduce spending through 2028 by 20%, or $8 billion. 

Chuquicamata is expected to see a 40% fall in production by 2021. A $5 billion expansion, moving from open pit to underground, will take five years to reach full output of 300,000 tonnes per annum – this is not new production. 

Shipments from BHP’s Escondida mine took a hit in 2019 due to operations moving from open pit to underground. The largest copper mine on the planet is expected to take until 2022 to re-gain full production, again not new production. 

These cuts are significant to the global copper market because Chile is the world’s biggest copper-producing nation — supplying 30% of the world’s red metal. Adding insult to injury, for producers, copper grades have declined about 25% in Chile over the last decade, bringing less ore to market. 

Country-wide protests over transit prices and perceived inequality have disrupted mining supply chains. The social unrest, along with a newly invigorated resource nationalism, has spooked would-be foreign investors in a country that only a few years ago was touted as an economic tiger. 

Chile also has problems with water. The country’s underground reservoirs need to be recharged by rainfall and snowmelt from the Andes, but a study found more water was leaving the salars (salt flats) than returning, prompting water restrictions affecting both lithium and copper mines in the extremely arid Salar de Atacama, in northern Chile. In 2019 Chile’s water authority said it would double the number of areas off-limits to mining, from 30 to at least 70. 

Escondida will stop drawing fresh water from the salt flat. Instead, the huge mine will bring desalinated water from the coast, where in 2018 BHP spent $3.4 billion on a desalination plant. Two pipelines transport water a steep 3,200m above sea level. 

Antofagasta’s Zaldivar mine is nearing its mine life at 2029, and may be forced to close earlier if its water permits to draw water from the salar are not renewed. 

A 2019 report by Moody’s Investors Service said that some of the worst droughts in half a century have led to tougher environmental regulations that are hiking miners’ costs and risks. Among the countries with mines exposed to decreasing water availability are Peru, Chile, Australia, South Africa and Mongolia. 

On top of all this, there is the ongoing threat of strikes at South American copper mines which every year strip out some percentage of output. In a recent article, Bloomberg reports how a confluence of factors, including copper prices at a seven-year high, productivity gains (Chile is producing at similar levels to last year with fewer workers) and weak local currencies, are swelling industry margins, emboldening unions to down tools and ask for more pay/ benefits. Look for labor disruptions next year, when 31 contracts are due to expire in Chile, including at BHP’s Escondida, hit by a 44-day strike in 2017. 

What about new copper mines? Surely mineral exploration companies are identifying new ore bodies, cueing up the next generation of copper producers? 

Well, they are trying. Problem is, they are having to go further afield and dig deeper to find copper at the grades needed to economically produce copper products for end-users. This usually means riskier jurisdictions that are often ruled by shaky governments with an itchy trigger finger on the resource nationalism button. Combine that with production problems and you have the makings of a supply shortage.

In fact, new supply is concentrated in just five mines – Chile’s Escondida, Spence and Quebrada Blanca, Cobre Panama and the Kamoa-Kakula project in the DRC. And while these mines are expected to account for 80% of base-case output increases until 2022-23, their profitability depends on the copper price staying above $5,000 a tonne, according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The current copper pipeline is the lowest it’s been in a century, and not improving. In 2018 Colin Hamilton, the director of commodities research at BMO Capital Markets, said that after the delivery of first copper from Cobre Panama (285-310,000t per year), BMO doesn’t see the next batch of +200,000-tonnes projects until 2022-23 — “when the likes of Kamoa (501,000t per year), Oyu Tolgoi Phase 2, and QB2 (316,000t per year) are likely to offer meaningful supply growth.” 

Electrification 2.0

Copper’s widespread use in construction wiring & piping, and electrical transmission lines, make it a key metal for civil infrastructure renewal. 

The continued move towards electric vehicles is a huge copper driver. In EVs, copper is a major component used in the electric motor, batteries, inverters, wiring and in charging stations. An average electric vehicle contains about 4X as much copper as regular vehicles. Electrification includes not only cars, but trucks, trains, delivery vans, construction equipment and two-wheeled vehicles like e-bikes and scooters. 

The latest use for copper is in renewable energy, particularly in photovoltaic cells used for solar power, and wind turbines. The base metal is also a key component of the global 5G buildout. Even though 5G is wireless, its deployment involves a lot more fiber and copper cable to connect equipment.

The big question is, will there be enough copper for future electrification needs, globally? And remember, in addition to electrification, copper will still be required for all the standard uses, including copper wiring used in construction and telecommunications, copper piping, and copper needed for the core components of airplanes, trains, cars, trucks and boats. 

The short answer is no, not without a massive acceleration of copper production worldwide. 

A recent research report from Jefferies Research LLC concluded: “The copper market is heading into a multiyear period of deficits and high demand from deployment of renewable energy and electric vehicles. Secular demand driver in copper is electric passenger vehicles as the average EV is about four times as copper intensive as the average ICE automobile. Renewable power systems are at least five times more copper intensive than conventional power.” 

President-elect Joe Biden plans a major shift away from fossil fuels to wind and solar power, and from gas/ diesel vehicles to EVs. In what would be a significant scale-up of President Obama’s 2009 plan to electrify the US transportation system, a kind of “electrification 2.0”, Biden aims to spend up to $1.7 trillion over 10 years on boosting renewable power and speeding introduction of electric vehicles. 

Dubbed “Clean Energy Revolution”, the plan calls for installation of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2030, and would provide $400 billion for R&D in clean technology.

One of the largest manufacturers of public charging stations, ChargePoint, is targeting a 50-fold increase in its global network of loading spots by the mid-2020s. The group in which German companies BMW, Daimler and Siemens hold stakes, aims to operate 2.5 million charging points by 2025, from 53,000 in 2018. A Level 2 charging station requires 7 kg of copper, a direct current fast charger (DCFC) or Level 3 station uses 25 kg. 

BloombergNEF forecasts by 2040 there will be a need for 12 million charging points, each requiring about 10 kg of copper. The number of EV charging stations recently passed the one million mark.   

Biden has also promised a $1.3 trillion infrastructure improvement plan, including: a $50 billion investment in repairs to roads and bridges; $10 billion for transit construction in poor areas of the country; a doubling of BUILD and INFRA grants, and more funding for the US Army Corps of Engineers.

The plan includes investments in high-speed rail, public transit, bicycling, school construction, expansion of rural broadband, and replacement of pipes and other water infrastructure — all of which will require millions more tonnes of copper, along with other infrastructure metals such as nickel, zinc and aluminum. 

Is this going to happen for the US? Well if it is, it isn’t going to come cheap, as existing metal sources run dry. Across the Atlantic, the UK government has set a target of replacing all of its 31.5 million cars with electrics by 2050. A team of scientists led by the Natural History Museum’s head of earth sciences, Professor Richard Herrington, took the government to task and calculated how much raw materials that number of EVs would require.  

The researchers found that to build 31.5 million EVs would take a jaw-dropping 207,900 tonnes of cobalt, 264,600 tonnes of lithium carbonate, at least 7,200 tonnes of neodymium and dysprosium, and 2,362,500 tonnes of copper — about 10% of global production. Just mining the amount of raw materials required to replace 2 billion cars globally would require four times the United Kingdom’s total annual electrical output. 

Prof. Herrington told AutoExpress that, while there is urgency in cutting carbon dioxide emissions, “society needs to understand that there is a raw material cost of going green”. 

US and UK copper needs, of course, have to be put in context with global demand for the essential base metal.Total copper mine production worldwide from 2006 to 2019 (in 1,000 metric tons)

According to BloombergNEF, there are currently about 7 million electric vehicles in the world today. By 2040, they estimate around 30% of the world’s passenger cars will be electric. To me that’s a conservative and reasonable number. It means 500 million EVs will be on the road in 20 years, out of a total vehicle fleet of 1.6 billion. If each EV contains 85 kg of copper, that is 42,500,000,000 kg, or 42,500,000 tonnes of copper, roughly twice the current volume of copper produced by all of the world’s copper mines. 

Just so we’re clear — in 20 years, BloombergNEF says copper miners need to double the amount of global copper production (20Mt), just to meet the demand for a 30% penetration rate of electric vehicles. That means an extra million tonnes a year, over and above what we mine now, every year for the next 20 years!  The world’s copper miners need to discover the equivalent of two Kamoas, at 500,000t, each and every year, while keeping current production at 20Mt. 

Remember we still need to cover all the copper demanded by electrical, construction, power generation, charging stations, renewable energy, 5G, high-speed rail, etc., plus infrastructure maintenance/ buildout of new infrastructure. 

That might be another 5-7Mt. So not only is there a 20Mt increase in copper usage required for a 30% EV penetration, but another (we estimate) 5-7Mt increase to meet demand for all of copper’s other applications. To keep up, the industry will need to find an additional two to three Kamoas a year, each producing 500,000t, for the next 20 years! Remember – Over 200 copper mines are expected to run out of ore before 2035, with not enough new mines in the pipeline to take their place. It’s going to be hard enough to keep up the current 20mt per year let alone add so much more production. 

Where is this new, and replacement, supply going to come from? When copper becomes so rare it hits $10,000 a tonne, what’s going to happen to 30% EV penetration? High-speed rail? 5G? We suggest that without new copper deposits, these well-intentioned plans are in jeopardy. 

Did we mention China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), consisting of a vast network of railways, pipelines, highways and ports that would extend west through the mountainous former Soviet republics and south to Pakistan, India and southeast Asia? 

Research by the International Copper Association found BRI is likely to increase demand for copper in over 60 Eurasian countries to 6.5 million tonnes by 2027, a 22% increase from 2017 levels.

Another report by Roskill forecasts total copper consumption will exceed 43 million tonnes by 2035, driven by population and GDP growth, urbanization and electricity demand. Remember total world mine production in 2019 was only 20Mt. In many countries it takes 20 years to go from discovery through permitting to mining. 

Copper goes critical 

But there’s a weird thing happening. The message of a looming copper shortage that could bring the global electrification shift to a screeching halt, and/or make copper so dear that only the rich can afford to buy finished products made from it, like EVs, isn’t getting through to the mining audience, because copper is not considered a critical mineral. 

That term is reserved for minerals like lithium, cobalt, graphite, rare earths etc., which despite their presumed rarity, are actually fairly common. What makes them critical, is the fact that North America (and Europe) have virtually no domestic supply; without mines and a pipeline of deposits under development, and the smelters and know-how to process them, we are hopelessly reliant on foreign countries. Our supply chains are vulnerable and can be exploited at will by the countries that dominate production, through policies like domestic ore beneficiation, export restrictions, tariffs and quotas. 

For years North America didn’t bother to explore for these minerals and build mines. Globalization brought with it the mentality that all countries are free traders, and friends. Dirty mining and processing? NIMBY. Let China do it, let the DRC do it, let whoever do it. This has to change, if the US and Canada are to regain control of their critical minerals stockpiles. 

For example, according to the US Geological Survey, of the 7 million tonnes of cobalt reserves available globally, nearly half — 3.6Mt — are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC is the world’s leading cobalt supplier by far, in 2019 producing 100,000 tonnes of the EV battery ingredient. China locked up supply from the DRC with infrastructure for off-take, brings it home and refines it to sell to the world. But there is a lot of cobalt found elsewhere. Australia has 310,000 JORC-compliant tons of cobalt but only mined 5,100t last year. Canada has a reserve of 300,000t but only produced 3,000t. Of the 55,000 tonnes of cobalt reserves identified in the US, only 0.01% was mined in 2019, or 550t. 

North America is well endowed with huge, quality rare earth deposits, enough to supply us with decades and decades of production. Examples include Commerce Resources’ (TSXV:CCE) Ashram rare earths deposit in Quebec, and Ucore Rare Metals’ (TSXV:UCU) Bokan Mountain REE project in Alaska. Graphite One (TSX.V:GPH) has an excellent graphite project in Alaska. 

What we lack is processing and larger-scale manufacturing, ie. nearly all of the world’s mined rare earth oxides are processed in China; only very recently has REE processing started happening outside that country: 

  • Mountain Pass in California expects to start processing REEs by the end of 2020.
  • Lynas signed a joint venture agreement with Blue Line Corp. to build a rare earths processing plant in Texas.
  • Saskatchewan is setting up a processing facility.

(Europe is also starting to get smart and deal with its lack of critical minerals mined and processed on the continent. The EU recently launched the European Raw Materials Alliance, a partnership of over 300 companies, business associations and governments, that will focus on breaking Europe’s dependence on imports from China and other resource-rich countries. Analysts estimate the group of 29 nations will need about 60 times more lithium and 15 times more cobalt for EV batteries and energy storage by 2050.)

Graphite is another mineral that is mined and processed under a near monopoly by China but exists in large quantities elsewhere. According to the USGS, China in 2019 produced nearly three-quarters of the world’s graphite — 700,000 tonnes of the 1.1Mt total. The country indeed has a large proportion of global graphite reserves, 73Mt out of 300Mt. But China doesn’t host the majority of the world’s graphite. In fact Turkey has more, 90Mt, yet last year only mined 2,000t. 25 million tonnes are held by Mozambique but the African country only produced 100,000t. Brazil has nearly as much graphite as China, 72Mt, but in 2019, produced just 96,000 tonnes, about 13% of China’s mine production. Other countries with significant graphite reserves, are India (8Mt), Madagascar (1.6Mt), Mexico (3.Mt), Tanzania (18Mt) and Vietnam (7.6Mt). 

Certainly the above-mentioned metals, and the rest of the 23 mineral commodities identifed by the US Department of the Interior, are critical, in that they are all important to the country’s economic and military security. You cannot, for example, make a lithium-ion battery without lithium, graphite and cobalt. But most of these metals are labeled critical because so much quantity comes from China, Russia or the DRC. Too much supply is coming from one country and China is where most of the refining is done. When we start mining and processing here in the West, or work with our mining country allies, some degree of ‘criticality’ will be removed. Why can’t we start mining all these minerals here? We have these materials in North America, South America, Australia and to a lesser extent, Europe. The next step is unfettered access and the creation of strong supply chains to get these metals from mine to market. 

Copper, however, is different. Arguably, the red metal is the most critical of all critical metals, because of its necessity in electrification, and the fact that there is an actual shortage of copper coming. 

There is no shift from fossil fuels to green energy without the red metal, which has no substitutes for its uses in EVs (electric motors and wiring, batteries, inverters, charging stations) wind and solar energy, and 5G.  

Even with a 30% penetration of EVs, a relatively conservative estimate, we need to find another 20 million tonnes per year over 20 years. 

On Tuesday, Nov. 24 copper prices hit a fresh 2020 pinnacle of $3.52 per pound on the Comex in New York. The red metal’s best performance in seven years was on the strength of Chinese manufacturing and construction expanding at its fastest in a decade. The country’s manufacturing PMI for November, seen as a leading indicator of copper usage, rose to 52.1 while the Caixin manufacturing PMI, which includes both large and small firms, jumped to a 10-year high of 54.9. The construction index leapt from 59.8 in October to 60.5.

Iron ore has also been on a tear of late. The steelmaking ingredient hit $132.13 a tonne last Tuesday, a six-year high. 

The numbers are so good, some market observers are pulling up charts from the “mining supercycle”. Reuters quotes Goldman Sachs predicting a return to the “structural bull market” of the 2000s, when most mined commodity prices got a lift due to demand (especially in China and India) outstripping available supplies. In a report the investment bank states: 

“Covid is already ushering in a new era of policies aimed at social need instead of financial stability [which] will likely create cyclically stronger, more commodity-intensive economic growth, that should create the elusive cyclical upswing in demand.”

Metal traders say copper is looking like it did at the start of the ’03 supercycle start, having surged this year on a wave of bullish factors including a weakened dollar, optimism over covid vaccines, a move toward low-carbon power sources, and virus-related supply disruptions in the key copper-producing countries of Chile, Peru and Mexico. Prices are up more than 70% from a mid-March low, and Morgan Stanley predicts a substantial increase next year, to an average $7,716 a ton ($3.85/lb) in the fourth quarter. 

However unlike the previous supercycle, which depended on China, Goldman says the next structural bull market will be driven by spending on green energy, for which copper is a key ingredient: 

“Spending on green infrastructure could be as significant as the BRIC (Brazil-Russia-India-China) investment boom of that decade while the redistributive push in developed markets “is likely to lead to a large boost to consumer spending, comparable to the lending-fuelled consumption increase in the 2000s”.

The path of least resistance to the price of copper is, imo, higher.

SOURCE: https://www.mining.com/web/copper-the-most-critical-metal/