Posted by AGORACOM
at 10:01 AM on Tuesday, October 6th, 2020
DONALD TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER ON THE SUPPLY OF CRITICAL MINERALS Mr. Simon Moores, pictured above, has been covering critical elements for many years and has presented to the US Senate on Critical Metals Supply. There is no doubt that this group has played a major role in alerting the US government to supply issues. Read about the critical work of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence here.
Stocks to Watch: Lomiko Metals Inc. $LMR Manganese X $MN Critical Elements $CRE Excerpts from Executive Order: “the United States is 100 percent reliant on imports for graphite, which is used to make advanced batteries for cellphones, laptops, and hybrid and electric cars. China produces over 60 percent of the world’s graphite and almost all of the world’s production of high-purity graphite needed for rechargeable batteries.” (i) the United States develops secure critical minerals supply chains that do not depend on resources or processing from foreign adversaries; (ii) the United States establishes, expands, and strengthens commercially viable critical minerals mining and minerals processing capabilities; and (iii) the United States develops globally competitive, substantial, and resilient domestic commercial supply chain capabilities for critical minerals mining and processing. Link to Full Executive OrderCEO A. Paul Gill was recently interviewed by The TMX Group which owns the Toronto Stock Exchange. See below.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 9:09 AM on Tuesday, October 6th, 2020
Volatility in the gold market continues.
I’m not sure when it will end.
With the gold market moving mostly sideways, base metals have been on my mind as of late.
Copper, zinc and nickel are all seeing nice strength in their price.
Will it continue?
That’s a great question.
One of the biggest lessons I have learned over the last few years is that markets are complex and, therefore, impossible to predict with any consistency.
As such, I don’t let my view on the metal price dictate how I invest my money in the junior resource sector.
Remember, junior resource companies are speculations on management’s ability to pick the right projects, form action plans to add value and, of course, raise the money needed to execute on their action plan.
Without successful execution, it doesn’t matter how high the metal price goes, there is a high probability of losing money.
With that said, I do like to understand the metals markets as best I can and form a view of where the market is and where it is going.
Let’s take a closer look at the nickel market.
The Musk Effect
“In the short-term, the market is a voting machine and in the long-term, it’s a weighing machine.” ~ Rick Rule
Sentiment or narrative can be a major driver of a market in the short term, however, in the long term, the fundamentals of a company or a metals market need to be solid for gains to be sustained and perpetuated.
The cream always rises to the top.
In my view, the current nickel market is driven more by sentiment than its underlying fundamentals and, therefore, I’m skeptical of whether the nickel price can continue on its trajectory upwards.
Nickel’s bullish sentiment, I believe, has been derived from the comments made by Elon Musk, Billionaire Founder of Tesla, earlier this year.
Musk made a reference to nickel during one of Tesla’s post-earnings conference calls saying,
“Well, I’d just like to re-emphasize, any mining companies out there, please mine more nickel. Okay. Wherever you are in the world, please mine more nickel and don’t wait for nickel to go back to some long — some high point that you experienced some five years ago, whatever. Go for efficiency, obviously environmentally friendly nickel mining at high volume. Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time, if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way. So hopefully this message goes out to all mining companies. Please get nickel.”
In my view, these comments set off two narratives;
The first, and arguably the most potent, is Musk’s request for efficient and environmentally sensitive nickel mining.
The second is Musk’s general request for more nickel to be produced.
Environmentally Sensitive Nickel Mining
A big question for me is whether Musk really understands what he is asking for when he says,
“Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time, if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way.”
Efficient and environmentally sensitive mining, I find that very vague.
Does it mean he is making a distinction between nickel sulphide and laterite mining?
Or, does it mean, nickel mining operations that derive their power from renewable sources?
Or, is it nickel mining operations that are carbon neutral?
If this narrative is driving the market, more questions need to be asked.
Class #1 Nickel – Sulphide Versus Laterite
For those who don’t know, nickel sulphide mines produce nickel concentrates that are sold to smelters, which then convert the concentrate into the chemical nickel sulphate which is used by battery manufacturers.
In the case of nickel laterite mines, the ore is mined and then processed through a high pressure acid leach (HPAL) circuit, which is then further processed to produce nickel sulphate.
To add, the HPAL process is more complex, requiring more steps to get to the end product and, generally speaking, has a higher carbon foot print due to emissions from the process.
It, therefore, could be the distinction that Musk is trying to make with his comments.
It’s hard to tell.
Renewable Energy Source
No matter how you slice it, most of the energy generated worldwide is still derived from fossil fuels.
Therefore, even if the mining operation is fully electrical, to be deemed environmentally sensitive, you must determine how the electricity was produced.
Was it via nuclear power or renewables?
In fact, you really have to go a step further and realize that the dams for the hydro power, the construction and materials used in nuclear power plants, the solar panels and the wind turbines were all made with metals and/or concrete, which were mined and by equipment that was most likely fueled by fossil fuels.
My point?
Stating a nickel mine has to produce its nickel in an environmentally sensitive way needs to be further defined before it’s a realistic narrative driving the nickel market.
With this said, at the moment, I’m only aware of one junior nickel company that can actually say that it has the potential to be carbon neutral.
That company is FPX Nickel Corp. (FPX:TSXV).
This isn’t meant to be an advertisement for FPX, but the reality is, it’s the only junior nickel company that I can see could even come close to fitting Musk’s criteria.
Remember from my update on FPX earlier this year, I mentioned that UBC and Trent University were collaborating on a research program which is investigating carbon capture and storage at mining sites.
FPX’s Decar Nickel District is at the centre of this research as the study looks to maximize the reaction between carbon dioxide and magnesium silicate mine tailings.
The Decar mine waste is high in Brucite, which makes it a prime candidate for carbon sequestration.
It’s, therefore, possible that a future mine at Decar could be carbon neutral.
Class #1 Nickel
On to the 2nd narrative – Class #1 nickel supply.
I’m bullish on nickel; my bullishness is supported by the overall fundamentals of the market and the potential for the increase in Class #1 nickel demand.
For those who don’t know, 2/3s of nickel demand is from stainless steel.
Therefore, undoubtedly, if you’re bullish on nickel, you’re bullish on stainless steel.
While stainless steel represents the backbone of the nickel market, however, it’s battery demand that holds the potential to really disrupt the nickel market in the future.
Currently, battery manufacturers make up less than 5% of the global 2 Mt nickel market.
Roughly half of the 2Mt market is derived from Class #1 nickel and this is where it gets really interesting.
In 2018, Glencore commissioned CRU to model the metal requirements of a 30% adoption rate of EVs in the global vehicle market.
The results revealed the following:
As you can see, a 30% adoption rate would result in roughly 1.1 Mt of Class #1 nickel demand.
This is interesting because, as I mentioned, the current Class #1 nickel demand worldwide is roughly 1 Mt.
Given the long duration and expense of exploration and development, which is at least 10 years from discovery to construction, it begs the question, where will the nickel come from?
This is a great question and really speaks to the amount of disruption that could occur.
The next most obvious question, therefore, is what are the odds of the EV adoption rate hitting 30% within the next 10 years?
For me, it will be determined by the following points:
In the short term, what is the affect of a 2nd wave of Covid-19 in the last QTR of 2020?
There are a lot of unanswered questions regarding the last quarter of the year, especially when it comes to a 2nd wave of Covid-19. Further lockdowns would be devastating to the economy.
What is the health of the global economy?
High unemployment and a stagnant economy could stall adoption of EVs for as long as the recession or depression lasts.
Will governments around the world give further incentives to purchase EVs?
Especially in the case of poor global economics, I believe governments will have to continue, if not increase, subsidies for EV adoption. For example, we have seen in China, when the subsidy is removed, people stop buying them.
EV infrastructure spending
Large scale EV adoption will require more EV infrastructure to be built, at home, at work and in the public realm – malls, restaurants, highways, etc.
If left to the free market, I would say we are still a ways away from adopting EVs into our everyday life.
But we don’t live in a free market.
Governments around the world are becoming larger and larger parts of the economy and, therefore, destroy any of the logic or economic factors that usually control markets.
I can’t say with any certainty what will or won’t happen, but what I can say is that if the government decides that the push is toward renewable energy and EV adoption, that is where the money will flow.
For instance, it’s rumoured that the Canadian government will soon unveil their version of “The Green New Deal.”
If true, I would guess that it’s very likely we would see some incentive for EV adoption.
The Canadian market is small and, therefore, I don’t foresee it actually making a discernible difference to the EV market on a whole, but if this is indicative of a broader trend, things might actually fall in place.
Future Role of Nickel Laterites
As I outlined earlier, nickel laterites can be processed into Class #1 nickel with the help of the HPAL process.
Back in 2018, Tsinghan, a Chinese company, made the headlines within the nickel space as they toted the ability to construct a 50,000 tonne per year HPAL plant in Indonesia in just over a year, for $700ishM.
Tsinghan has a great reputation in the market for the pioneering of the NPI processing, which revolutionized the nickel market in the early 2000s.
This proclamation was, therefore, taken literally.
The nickel price sunk, as the market determined that the affect of an increase in demand to Class #1 market over time would be quelled if Tsinghan had this ability to construct a HPAL plant of this size, on the tight construction schedule and for under a billion dollars.
In the 2 years since, Tsinghan has experienced many of the historical delays associated with building a HPAL plant.
They have delayed construction and added upfront capital expenditures to continue to move forward with development.
With that said, in my view, I do believe that Tsinghan will be successful in constructing the plant.
Also, I think that as long as the Class #1 nickel market doesn’t require a certain environmental standard in the future, HPAL processing of nickel laterites will help quell some of the disruption caused by the potential surge in Class #1 nickel demand, albeit at a nickel price higher than US$10/lbs.
Nickel Market Fundamentals
Supply and demand fundamentals must be solid for any market to be strong over the long-term.
As I said, in my view, the current uptick in the nickel price is mainly driven by sentiment rather than underlying supply and demand fundamentals.
With that said, I think that there are many points to be bullish about.
Nickel Inventory
Over the last 5 years, the LME nickel inventories have been trending in the right direction.
As you can see from the graph, the inventory levels have steadily fallen since 2017, with a dramatic draw down in 2019.
The dramatic draw, however, was met with almost as dramatic a spike in the 10 months since, and now sits above the 200kt level.
The LME warehouses an inventory of Class #1 and is a key factor in gauging the health of the nickel market.
If we were to begin to see inventories drawn down once again, it would be very bullish for the nickel price, with the proviso that the reason for its depletion could be linked to a sustained source of demand or a permanent loss of supply.
As it stands right now, in a post pandemic world, nickel market analysts are calling for a surplus of supply to end 2020.
This is in sharp contrast to the pre-pandemic nickel market, where analysts were calling for a supply deficit.
NorNickel Corp Presentation – May 2020
Nickel Sulphide Supply
What I find most interesting about nickel sulphides is that not only are their production figures predicted to curtail over the coming years, but the amount of projects awaiting development is low.
Why is this?
In my mind, there are 2 reasons:
First, a bear market in the nickel price, which pre-dates 2016, has stunted exploration.
Second is the fact that exploring for these deep deposits is very costly. Drilling for a deposit at depths greater than 500m adds up quickly. Plus, if you add in the costs associated with tough terrain and weather, you have the perfect storm for short and costly drill seasons.
NOTE: A high percentage of nickel sulphide exploration is concentrated in cold climates – Russia, Finland, Greenland and Canada. Why? Most of the discoverable nickel sulphide deposits found around the equator or in hotter and wetter climates have mostly been converted, by nature, into nickel laterite deposits. Thus, nickel laterite deposits account for up to 70% of the known crustal nickel deposits on the earth.
Constrained nickel sulphide supply has the potential to be very bullish for the nickel price moving forward, however, it will have to be mixed with strong demand to be fully realized.
Nickel Demand
In my view, nickel demand is the key to understanding where the nickel price is headed in the future.
As I outlined earlier in the article, increased demand for Class #1 nickel from battery manufacturers and/or speciality steel makers has the potential to dramatically disrupt the nickel market.
Demand in the range of 500kt to 1Mt of Class #1 nickel per year by 2030 would very quickly reveal the short fall in supply from the nickel sulphide producers, and require much higher nickel prices to allow HPAL processing to economically participate in actively supplying the market.
Concluding Remarks
Generally speaking, I’m very bullish on the long-term potential for higher nickel prices.
With that said, I remain skeptical of the short-term longevity of the current run in the nickel price.
The global economy remains in disarray and, although governments have pledged unlimited amounts of QE to stimulate inflation, I’m still left with many questions about the remaining 3.5 months in 2020.
How will the U.S. election result affect both the U.S. and world economy?
Does a Trump re-election mean the broader stock market can continue upward?
Does a Biden win result in more socialist government policy? If so, what is the fall-out for the American economy?
Will there be a 2nd wave of Covid-19? If so, will governments revert back to complete lockdowns of their economies?
Is the U.S. headed to war with China? The world’s two largest economies remain at odds, with potential conflicts on a range of topics such as, the South China Sea, Covid-19, and human rights violations.
In my view, the next 3.5 months should provide us with a few of the answers to these questions, which will allow us to see more clearly into where things are headed in 2021.
In the end, the fact remains that markets are impossible to predict with any consistency.
Instead, I believe it’s pertinent to remain focused on the reasons why we are speculating in the junior companies.
Understand why a company is undervalued and how they will unlock that value through the execution of their action plans.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 9:02 AM on Tuesday, October 6th, 2020
Vancouver, BC – TheNewswire – October 6, 2020 – Durango Resources Inc. (TSXV:DGO) (Frankfurt-86A1) (OTC:ATOXF), (the ” Company ” or ” Durango “) is pleased to report that further to its news release dated September 17, 2020, drilling is now underway on the Trove Property at Windfall Lake, Quebec.
Due to the limited outcrops in the area, Durango has relied to date on surface geochemistry and induced polarization (” IP “) for planning its 2020 drill program. New mechanical stripping on the northeast extremity of the Trove Property has strongly contributed to confirm and more accurately define carbonate-altered pyrite mineralized zones.
Durango has designed the 2020 drill program to test the lithological contacts between the units associated structures and shear zones. The initial drill holes on the Trove Property are planned to confirm a mineralized trend between two drill intersections ( OSK-UB-18-083 intersected 1.03 g/t Au and 5.13 g/t Au, OSK-UB-18-085 intersected 1.85 g/t Au) and to test near surface geophysical targets based on chargeability highs of the IP anomalies conducted in 2019 and coincident with gold in till.
Marcy Kiesman, CEO of Durango, stated, “Durango’s exploration team and drilling crew are excited that drilling has commenced after months of preparation. Surface results to date on the Trove Property have been very promising with the discovery of a sizable northeast shear zone, contact, alteration and quartz veining at surface near the initial drill targets. Within the Trove Property limits, there are no recorded drill holes, so our team is looking forward to drill testing the geophysical anomalies, shear zones and vein structures on the Trove Property.”
The technical contents of this press release were approved by George Yordanov, professional geologist, an Independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The Trove Property has not yet been subject to an NI-43-101 report.
Trove, Quebec
Durango owns 100% interest in the Trove claims, which are surrounded by Osisko Mining Inc. (TSX: OSK), in the Windfall Lake area between Val d’Or and Chibougamau, Quebec. The 1,185 hectare property is compelling due to the coincidence of gold found in tills coinciding with magnetic highs, several Induced Polarization anomalies and two faults crosscutting the property. The fault systems north and south of the Trove, control gold mineralization elsewhere, indicating the Trove has excellent exploration potential. Durango received all the final drill permits for the Trove property in September 2019 and is ready to undertake its inaugural drill program.
About Durango
Durango is a natural resources company engaged in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties. The Company is positioned for discovery with a 100% interest in a strategically located group of properties in the Windfall Lake gold camp in the Abitibi region of Quebec , Canada.
For further information on Durango, please refer to its SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com .
Posted by AGORACOM
at 8:54 AM on Tuesday, October 6th, 2020
TORONTO, ON /October 6, 2020 / Gratomic Inc. (“GRAT” or the “Company”) (TSXV:GRAT) (OTC Pink: CBULF) (FRANKFURT:CB81) (WKN:A143MR) announces a Aukam Graphite Property construction update.
The Gratomic team has completed the excavations intended to contain the concrete foundations that will accommodate the custom designed processing equipment including material thickener, cyclone, material hopper, settling reservoir, and filter press. Gratomic is currently preparing to begin pouring concrete in these areas the second week of October.
The current pilot sump area will be designated to house the new floatation columns and mixing tanks. The filter press area has been prepared and excavation is currently scheduled to begin October 6th on the product dryer area.
Final general assembly and layout of the Aukam processing plant have been completed. On site Management has received the cement from Pupkewitz Megabuild – Keetmanshoop. Aggregate and bricks were received from Dolerite Brick & Sand CC, which will be utilized in the construction of the settling reservoir and key foundations.
Manhattan Process Engineering, a South African based engineering firm, has provided the Company with detailed Civil Engineering reports to complete the concrete construction on site. This included detailed bending and manufacturing parameters to meet foundational specifications for the necessary rebar, which has recently been delivered to site.
Pro Edge steel, a local engineering and fabricating company, has also been engaged to build the steel frames, cat walks and rail guards required to complete the equipment installation and to maintain regulatory safety standards.
Gratomic has been successful in keeping the project on schedule in spite of National and Global COVID-19 restrictions, which has created various workplace constraints. The Team has implemented the new standards efficiently and effectively, adapting quickly to the new workplace safety standards.
“Our Namibian team is working diligently to complete construction in a safe and timely manner, their efforts are greatly appreciated,” said President and CEO, Arno Brand.
“Gratomic will complete construction on its graphite plant in Namibia in the coming weeks, proving that 2020 can still deliver good news when you have a committed and knowledgeable team”, said COO & Head of Graphite Marketing and Sales, Armando Farhate.
About Gratomic Inc. Gratomic is an advanced materials company focused on mine to market commercialization of graphite products and components for a range of mass market products. The Company currently holds two off-take purchase agreements for graphite product sourced from the Aukam facility. One agreement is with TODAQ and the other is with Phu Sumika. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol GRAT.
For more information: visit the website at www.gratomic.ca or contact: Arno Brand at [email protected] or 416 561-4095
Posted by AGORACOM
at 11:29 AM on Monday, October 5th, 2020
Gold concentration up to 2,203ppb (2.2g/t Au) with 50 samples greater than 100ppb (0.1g/t Au)
Four areas of significant gold in soil anomalies with values up to 898ppb Au adjacent to Appleton Fault Zone
Anomalies cover a total strike length of 2.1km and are coincident with a shear zone outlined over 2.5km
TORONTO, Oct. 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX.V:LAB | OTCQX:NKOSF | FNR: 2N6) (“LabGold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce initial results of the soil sampling survey at its 77km2 Kingsway Project near Gander, Newfoundland. The Kingsway project is located within the highly prospective Gander Gold Belt along strike to the northeast of New Found Gold Corp’s gold discovery announced earlier this year. Soil sampling has now been completed with 7,740 soil samples collected over 16 grids. Results for 3,125 samples covering three grids on the Kingsway South license are reported here.
Gold values in the soils range from below detection (<0.5ppb) to 2,203ppb with 50 samples assaying greater than 100ppb. The gold in soil anomalies tend to be associated with interpreted structures, including the Appleton Fault zone, Dog Bay line and splays or cross faults to these major crustal structures.
Four northeast – southwest trending anomalies with gold values up to 898ppb and 11 samples with more than 100ppb occur adjacent to the Appleton fault zone over a combined distance of 2.1km. These anomalies are coincident with a shear zone in slate that appears to extend over approximately 2.5km based on field observations to date. The slate is carbonate altered in places and contains abundant quartz veining with local sericite alteration. Extensive sampling is currently underway along the shear zone.
Several other significant gold in soil anomalies occur on the three grids including a 532m northeast trending anomaly adjacent to the Dog Bay line with gold values from 24ppb up to 339ppb. The highest gold value of 2,203 ppb occurs within a 390m east-west trending anomaly that also includes samples with 142, 241 and 311ppb Au. This anomaly is close to the Cracker gold showing where historical grab samples resulted in assays from 1.8g/t to 61.73g/t Au (see news release dated July 6, 2020 for details).
“The initial results of the soil sampling survey have confirmed and expanded on the results of historical work. We are pleased to see the gold in soil anomalies trending along the Appleton Fault Zone and associated structures that are key to the localization of gold in the district,” said Roger Moss, President and CEO of the Company. “Follow up of the soil anomalies has already resulted in the discovery of a shear zone with significant quartz veining adjacent to the Appleton Fault Zone. We are just getting started at Kingsway and anticipate a lot more significant results to come.“
The Kingsway gold project covers 77 square kilometres of highly prospective ground in the Gander gold district of Newfoundland in Eastern Canada. The project is located immediately adjacent to New Found Gold’s Queensway project and just 2.5 kilometres along strike to the northeast of their recent discovery of 41.2 g/t gold over 4.75 metres at the Lotto Zone (Note that mineralization hosted on adjacent or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Company’s property). Most importantly, a recent structural interpretation of the district indicates the project covers approximately 22 kilometres of strike length of crustal scale faults, including the Dog Bay Line and Appleton Fault zone. The Appleton Fault Zone is known to be closely associated with many of the gold occurrences on New Found Gold’s Queensway project. As such, LabGold is the only other company in the district with ground covering this major crustal structure with a demonstrated association with gold mineralization. Our recent soil sampling, as well as prior exploration in the area covered by the Kingsway project, has shown significant gold anomalies along the Appleton fault zone suggesting it remains a fertile structure for associated gold.
Samples were shipped to Eastern Analytical Laboratory in Springdale, Newfoundland, for sample preparation, with analyses completed at the Vancouver laboratory of Bureau Veritas. Samples were analyzed for gold and another 36 elements by ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry) following an aqua regia digestion. The company submitted blanks, field duplicates and certified reference standards with batches of samples to monitor the quality of the analyses.
Roger Moss, PhD., P.Geo., is the qualified person responsible for all technical information in this release.
The Company gratefully acknowledges the Newfoundland and Labrador Ministry of Natural Resources’ Junior Exploration Assistance (JEA) Program for its financial support for exploration of the Kingsway property.
About Labrador Gold Labrador Gold is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and exploration of prospective gold projects in Eastern Canada.
In early March 2020, Labrador Gold acquired the option to earn a 100% interest in the Kingsway project in the Gander area of Newfoundland. The property is along strike to the northeast of New Found Gold’s discovery of 92.86 g/t Au over 19.0 metres on their Queensway property. (Note that mineralization hosted on adjacent or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Company’s property). In early July 2020, the Company signed an option agreement to acquire a third license to add to the property package which now covers approximately 77 km2. The three licenses comprising the Kingsway project cover approximately 22km of the Appleton and Dog Bay Line faults which is associated with gold occurrences in the region, including the New Found Gold discovery. Historical work over the area covered by the Kingsway licenses shows evidence of gold in till, vegetation, soil, stream sediments, lake sediments and float. Infrastructure in the area is excellent located just 18km from the town of Gander with road access to the project, nearby electricity and abundant local water.
The Hopedale property covers much of the Hunt River and Florence Lake greenstone belts that stretch over 80 km. The belts are typical of greenstone belts around the world but have been underexplored by comparison. Initial work by Labrador Gold during 2017 show gold anomalies in soils and lake sediments over a 3 kilometre section of the northern portion of the Florence Lake greenstone belt in the vicinity of the known Thurber Dog gold showing where grab samples assayed up to 7.8g/t gold. In addition, anomalous gold in soil and lake sediment samples occur over approximately 40 kilometres along the southern section of the greenstone belt (see news release dated January 25th 2018 for more details). Labrador Gold now controls approximately 57km strike length of the Florence Lake Greenstone Belt.
The Ashuanipi gold project is located just 35 km from the historical iron ore mining community of Schefferville, which is linked by rail to the port of Sept Iles, Quebec in the south. The claim blocks cover large lake sediment gold anomalies that, with the exception of local prospecting, have not seen a systematic modern day exploration program. Results of the 2017 reconnaissance exploration program following up the lake sediment anomalies show gold anomalies in soils and lake sediments over a 15 kilometre long by 2 to 6 kilometre wide north-south trend and over a 14 kilometre long by 2 to 4 kilometre wide east-west trend. The anomalies appear to be broadly associated with magnetic highs and do not show any correlation with specific rock types on a regional scale (see news release dated January 18th 2018). This suggests a possible structural control on the localization of the gold anomalies.
The Company has 93,294,175 common shares issued and outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LAB.
For more information please contact:
Roger Moss, President and CEO Tel: 416-704-8291 Or visit our website at: www.labradorgold.com
Posted by AGORACOM
at 9:16 AM on Monday, October 5th, 2020
American Creek will transfer the Assets to a wholly-owned subsidiary, Stinger Resources Inc. in consideration for 45,000,000 Stinger common shares
Cardston, Alberta–(Newsfile Corp. – October 5, 2020) – American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AMK) (the “Company” or “American Creek“) is pleased to announce that its board of directors has unanimously approved a spinout of the Company’s Dunwell Property, and other properties and assets, to its shareholders by way of a share capital reorganization effected through a statutory plan of arrangement (the “Arrangement“). Under the Arrangement, American Creek will transfer the Assets (defined below) to a wholly-owned subsidiary, Stinger Resources Inc. (“Stinger“), in consideration for 45,000,000 Stinger common shares. The Stinger shares will then be distributed to American Creek’s shareholders pro rata their interest in American Creek. Upon completion of the Arrangement, American Creek’s shareholders will own shares in two public companies.
The assets that will be transferred to Stinger under the Arrangement will be the Dunwell, D1 McBride and Gold Hill properties, the optioned interests in the Silver Side, Ample Goldmax and Glitter King properties, 1,400,499 common shares of Tudor Gold Corp., the office located at #92 – 2nd Avenue West, Cardston, Alberta, together with office furniture and equipment located therein, certain vehicles, $1,500,000 – $3,000,000 cash and the right to receive 80% of the net warrant exercise proceeds received by the Company after completion of the Arrangement from the exercise of warrants that were outstanding at the time of completion of the Arrangement (collectively, the “Assets“).
Upon completion of the Arrangement, Stinger’s principal property will be the Dunwell Property. Consequently, the Company does not expect that it will conduct further work on the Dunwell Property at this time as any exploration work conducted prior to the closing of the spinout transaction may potentially result in “material events” which could have the effect of delaying the spinout transaction. After the Arrangement is completed, Stinger will continue with exploration work programs on the Dunwell Property.
American Creek will retain its 20% interest in the Treaty Creek Property and 100% interest in the Austruck Bonanza Property and will focus its immediate attention on conducting further exploration work on the Austruck Bonanza Property as it continues to have a carried interest in the Treaty Creek Property until such time as a production notice is issued, if ever.
The spinout transaction will be effected pursuant to the arrangement provisions of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) and must be approved by the Supreme Court of British Columbia and by the affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3) of American Creek’s shareholders in attendance at a shareholders’ meeting to be held on December 3, 2020 (the “Meeting“).
Under the Arrangement, the Company’s current shareholders will receive Stinger common shares by way of a share exchange, pursuant to which each existing common share of the Company will be exchanged for one new American Creek common share (each, a “New American Creek Share“) and 0.11973 of a Stinger share. Holders of American Creek options and warrants will also be entitled to receive one New American Creek Share and 0.11973 of a Stinger share on exercise of each option and warrant. On completion of the Arrangement, American Creek shareholders, option holders and warrant holders will maintain their interest in American Creek and will acquire a proportionate interest in Stinger. Upon completion of the Arrangement it is intended that Stinger will have 45,000,000 common shares issued and outstanding. American Creek currently has 375,851,109 issued and outstanding common shares. If this number changes prior to completion of the Arrangement, which may occur if outstanding warrants or options are exercised, then the fraction 0.11973 referred to above will adjusted so that it is the fraction calculated by dividing 45,000,000 by the number of outstanding American Creek shares immediately prior to the effective time of the Arrangement.
Completion of the Arrangement is subject to a number of conditions, including the following:
American Creek shareholder approval at the Meeting;
The approval of the Supreme Court of British Columbia;
TSXV approval for the Arrangement by American Creek; and,
TSXV approval for the listing of the Stinger shares upon completion of the Arrangement.
Upon completion of the Arrangement, it is intended that Darren Blaney will be the CEO and President of Stinger and Robert Edwards will be Stinger’s CFO. Upon completion of the Arrangement, it is expected that Stinger’s Board will be comprised of Darren Blaney, Robert Edwards, Dennis Edwards and Sean Pownall. Changes and additions to the management team and Board may be made thereafter, as needed, as the company moves forward with its exploration projects.
Additional details regarding the Arrangement will be included in the Information Circular to be mailed to shareholders of American Creek in early November 2020, in connection with the Meeting. The Arrangement is expected to close the end of December 2020 or early January 2021.
About American Creek
American Creek holds 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 joint venture project with Tudor (Walter Storm) as well as the 100% owned past producing Dunwell Mine and 100% owned D1 McBride properties.
The Company also holds interests in the Gold Hill, Austruck-Bonanza, Ample Goldmax, Silver Side and Glitter King properties located in other prospective areas of the province.
For further information please contact Kelvin Burton at: Phone: 403 752-4040; or, Email: [email protected].
Posted in All Recent Posts, American Creek Resources Ltd. | Comments Off on American Creek $AMK.ca Announces Spinout of Dunwell Property and Other Assets and Sets Date for Annual General & Special Meeting$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 Monday, October 5th, 2020
Toronto, Ontario–(Newsfile Corp. – October 5, 2020) – Red Light Holland Corp. (CSE: TRIP) (FSE: 4YX) (OTC: TRUFF) (“Red Light Holland” or the “Company“), an Ontario-based corporation positioning itself to engage in the production, growth and sale of its brand of magic truffles to the legal, recreational market within the Netherlands, is pleased to announce their iMicrodose Packs (“iMicrodose Packs“) powered by Red Light Holland are expected to be available on by the end of October, 2020 in Smartshop Oss located at Walstraat 29, 5341 CJ Oss, Netherlands as Red Light Holland has reached a distribution agreement with Smartshop Oss.
Red Light Holland has also reached an agreement with Smartshop Oss to build and set up an iMicrodose Media Information Centre (“iMIC“) in Smartshop Oss, expected to be ready before the end of 2020.
“This is just another example on how aggressive we are by immediately increasing the ability for consumers, all over the Netherlands, to purchase our iMicrodose packs powered by Red Light Holland. It also instantly increases our brand’s visibility,” said Todd Shapiro, CEO and Director of Red Light Holland. “Equally as important, we are very excited to work with Shai Ramsahai and his team, as they are very familiar with the Truffles’ industry in the Netherlands. This once again proves how open and accepting the pioneers of the industry are, as they continue to welcome us with open arms, as together we plan on growing the market synergistically.”
“We are really happy to work with Red Light Holland. Todd and Hans Derix (President of Red Light Holland) have really impressed me with their early knowledge of the industry and their ability to instantly think of creative ideas to help capture a new customer base including their clever iMicrodose Media Information Centre (iMIC) to help educate consumers, which we are pleased to eventually have in Smartshop Oss. Their iMicrodose fridges are pretty cool too!” added Shai Ramsahai, CEO of Smartshop Oss.
Smartshop Oss is located at Walstraat 29, 5341 CJ Oss, on one of the main shopping streets in the city centre of Oss. Oss is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant.
The Company is an Ontario-based corporation positioning itself to engage in the production, growth and sale (through existing Smart Shops operators and an advanced e-commerce platform) of a premium brand of magic truffles to the legal, recreational market within the Netherlands, in accordance with the highest standards, in compliance with all applicable laws.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 9:00 AM on Monday, October 5th, 2020
Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – October 5, 2020) – Affinity Metals Corp. (TSXV: AFF) (FSE: 34IA) (“the Corporation”) (“Affinity”) is very pleased to report that it has entered into an option agreement to earn up to a 100% interest in the Carscallen Extension property located immediately adjacent to the Melkior Resources- Kirkland Lake Gold Carscallen Project approximately 25 km west of Timmins, Ontario, Canada. Affinity’s Carscallen Extension property consists of 47 claim units covering approximately 940 hectares.
Melkior’s Carscallen property has gained considerable attention in recent months since Kirkland Lake Gold (“KL”) first entered into negotiations to join with Melkior in advancing the property. On September 30th, 2020, Melkior closed a strategic partnership with KL in an option deal worth up to $110 million. The confidence of a major producer like KL entering into an agreement of this size is very promising and shows the potential of this newly discovered gold system.
The Carscallen hosts high-grade gold and has strong indications of a base metal volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) system. In a news release dated June 26th, 2020, Melkior reported that to date, they have delineated a potential 800m striking gold system running NW-SE through the Zam Zam and Shenkman Gold Zones that is also open in both directions. The Affinity Carscallen Extension property borders Melkior’s property to the north and is located on trend approximately 1000m NW of the presently defined gold system with similar underlying geology.
Melkior’s Carscallen property and Affinity’s Carscallen Extension property are located on the western end of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, in the geopolitically stable and resource friendly province of Ontario. Along with the Frasier Institute deeming it the 4th most attractive mining jurisdiction in the world, the Abitibi Greenstone Belt is home to dozens of world class deposits, and has reportedly produced in excess of 170 million ounces of gold, 400 million ounces of silver, 15 billion tons of copper, and 35 billion tons of zinc.
Affinity previously entered into an option agreement for the West Timmins property with the same arm’s length party that also holds the Carscallen Extension property. The West Timmins property was recently drilled by Affinity. An existing single shallow drill hole was extended to 525m in depth in an effort to accomplish two objectives: 1) to test the validity and accuracy of the Stargate Acoustic EM technology to delineate geological contacts, more specifically to define the extent of granite caps which commonly mask the underlying geology within the west Timmins region, and 2) to test the geology immediately beyond the granite cap.
The technology was able to predict the contact where the granitic cap terminated in the hole. This ability to potentially map granitic intrusions and caps at depth, where other geophysical techniques have failed, has far reaching positive implications and potentially opens up many possibilities for increasing exploration success in granitic environments within the Timmins camp and elsewhere.
The geological environment to the 525m depth drilled did not produce any significant precious metal values in the core samples that were assayed.
Given the recent Melkior-KL partnership, and after considerable examination of the regional data specific to the immediate vicinity around Melkior’s Carscallen Project, it was determined that Affinity’s immediate focus and priority should shift away from the Timmins West property to the south and instead to secure the northern Carscallen Extension project and pursue a more aggressive exploration program on this property located on trend to the north and much closer to Melkior’s recent work that attracted KL to the Carscallen property.
The relationship that Affinity has developed with the owners holding both the Timmins West and Carscallen Extension properties allowed us the flexibility to have optionality between priorities and projects. The Timmins West property option has now been terminated with no cash or share payments having been made, and the Carscallen Extension project has effectively replaced the previous agreement. Affinity has the opportunity to enter into a new option agreement and return to the Timmins West property at the discretion of the optionor but Affinity may not hold both the Timmins West and Carscallen Extension properties concurrently. Affinity’s present and immediate focus is now to advance the Carscallen Extension property.
Rob Edwards, Affinity CEO & President stated: “As the Carscallen Extension property immediately adjoins the Melkior-Kirkland Lake Carscallen project to the north, and also clearly appears to be on trend with the gold system that Melkior has defined to date and believes to be open for expansion, we believe the Carscallen Extension to be the most prospective property within the immediate region associated with this exciting partnership project. We very much appreciate the flexibility afforded us by the holders of the Timmins West and Carscallen Extension properties and for their confidence in Affinity in allowing us to secure the Carscallen Extension property and to shift focus and capitalize on the recent Kirkland Lake developments and associated potential.”
The terms of the Carscallen Extension option agreement are as follows:
Granting of 70% option:
In order for Affinity to earn a 70% interest in the property, within 6 months of Exchange approval of the option agreement:
1) Affinity shall pay $1,539.63 in outstanding assay fees and shall receive assays for the bottom section of a previously drilled hole. 2) Pay the optionor $30,000 in cash. 3) Complete a minimum of 1,300 meters of drilling. 4) Grant to the optionor a 1% NSR along with an initial $25,000 advance royalty payment.
Granting of additional 10% (80% option):
In order for Affinity to earn an 80% interest in the property:
1) Within 30 days of receipt of assays from the 1,300m drilling above, issue 400,000 shares of Affinity to the optionor. 2) Complete an additional 6,000 meters of drilling on the property within 4 months of completing the 70% option.
Granting of additional 10% (90% option):
In order for Affinity to earn a 90% interest in the property:
1) Upon completing the 80% earn in and electing to proceed with the 90% earn in, issue 500,000 Affinity warrants to the optionor. 2) Complete an additional 4,000 meters of drilling on the property within 15 months of Exchange approval of the option agreement.
Granting of additional 10% (100% option):
In order for Affinity to earn a 100% interest in the property:
1) Pay $5,000,000 to the optionor.
Affinity shall pay advance royalty payments of $25,000 every 6 months to an aggregate total of $250,000 to maintain the property in good standing.
Affinity will also deliver a Preliminary Economic Assessment within 5 years of executing the option agreement or the property will revert back to the optionor.
The optionor will hold a 1% NSR on the property with no buy back provision.
All shares or warrants issued under this agreement will be subject to a statutory 4 month hold period. This agreement is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.
Qualified Person
The qualified person for the Carscallen Extension Project for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 is Kevin Montgomery, P.Geo. He has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this news release.
About Affinity Metals
Affinity is focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of strategic metal deposits within North America. Affinity is following a hybrid approach of combining the advancement of strategic assets along with following a Project Generator model.
In addition to the recently acquired Carscallen Extension property, Affinity presently holds two properties in British Columbia as well as four additional properties located near Timmins, Ontario.
A drill program is presently underway on the Regal property located near Revelstoke, BC in the northern end of the prolific Kootenay Arc. Over 3,000m of drilling has been completed to date.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Robert Edwards, CEO and Director of Affinity Metals Corp.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 2:53 PM on Friday, October 2nd, 2020
The 3 Reasons Why Arctic Star Is A World Class, Small Cap Diamond Explorer
Arctic Star Exploration (ADD:TSXV / ASDZF:OTCQB / 82A1.F:FRA) is in the diamond finding business.
The Company owns 100% of its flagship Timantti Diamond Project in Finland, where Arctic Star has discovered three diamondiferous kimberlites that may represent the first finds in a large kimberlite field. If you don’t know what a kimberlite is, keep drilling down and see below because this is truly exciting.
The project is located on the same geological belt as the Grib Diamond Mine in Russia, just 450 kms away. The Grib mine is one of the largest diamond mines in the world and was discovered by a team led by Arctic Star Director Roy Spencer. Keep drilling down to see more about him.
For those investors who have a little more experience and find themselves asking Why Finland? You should know that Finland was ranked as the World’s #2 mining jurisdiction in the world by the Fraser Institute 2020. In addition to its flagship project in Finland, the Company also controls diamond exploration properties in Nunavut (Stein) and the Northwest Territories of Canada (Diagras and Redemption).
But the real secret of Arctic Star is that it has tremendous potential to revolutionize the way in which Diamonds are discovered – and become a pioneer in the exploration industry – by finding diamonds in a place where no previous explorer has thought to do so. More than just a wild theory, Arctic Star has the team to back it up.
Here are the 3 things you need to know
1. World Class Diamond Finders
Arctic Star exploration has a highly experienced diamond exploration team previously responsible for numerous world class diamond mine discoveries. The team is led by Buddy Doyle who originally discovered Diavik Mine, Canada’s largest diamond mine in terms of carat production. Diavik’s exceptional grades make it one of the most valuable diamond mines in the world. Diavik is located in the Northwest Territories of Canada, where Arctic Star has 2 of their diamond properties.
Few geologists have seen 2 projects from discovery through to decision to mine. Mr. Doyle is recognized by his peers in the exploration industry as an authority on diamond exploration and kimberlite geology, and has authored/co-authored numerous papers on these subjects. He was awarded the 2007 Hugo Dummitt Award for excellence in Diamond exploration.
Roy Spencer – If that wasn’t enough, the geologist who discovered the multi-billion-dollar Grib Diamond Mine in Russia (see above). which is just 450 KMs away from Arctic Star’s project in Finland, has now joined Arctic’s Board of Directors! Clearly, the Arctic Star team has the credibility necessary to put forth a new thesis on how to find diamonds.
2. Brand New Exploration Model To Find Diamonds
In order to find diamonds, you need to first find Kimberlites. What are Kimberlites? Essentially, they are the rocks which contain diamonds. These kimberlite rocks are found underground in vertical structures known as kimberlite pipes. To illustrate in simple terms, see this basic image of a kimberlite pipe with kimberlite rocks inside of it.
Kimberlite pipes are the biggest source of diamonds today. When exploration companies go looking for kimberlites, the industry standard for finding them is to look for magnetic signatures. This is done by taking a magnetic survey from the air and/or ground. with a device called a magnetometer. Now, most of you won’t understand what you are looking at – but here is an example of one of the company’s magnetic surveys on its Canadian Diagras property.
The most important thing to understand is that the industry looks for magnetic signatures ….. but Buddy Doyle and the accomplished Arctic Star team have developed a NON MAGNETIC THESIS. They believe they will find economic diamonds by locating Kimberlite that do not have a magnetic signature where previous explores sought not to look. Arctic in a sense is exploring for diamonds the opposite way the industry traditionally does. Arctic acquired property big mining company’s dropped, because they looked at them one way. Arctic is looking differently and success is occurring quickly for this small, yet accomplished exploration outfit. There are already multiple drill ready targets in 2 countries using this new way of looking for diamonds.
Arctic offers multiple opportunities in 2 countries to turn the Diamond Industry on notice with a discovery.
3. Arctic Star Has Two Diamond Projects Ready To Verify Its Non-Magnetic Theory
Arctic has 2 diamond projects on which to verify its theory: Diagras in Northwest Territories of Canada and Timantti in Finland, where early exploration searching for Non-Magnetic signatures has already yielded multiple new diamond target
A. Diagras is next to Diavik (Canada’s largest diamond mine) and is drill ready to prove Buddy’s theory. Arctic has plans to drill in 2020
B. Timantti in Finland has 3 separate target areas and 6 targets altogether identified through non-magnetic signatures as a means to find diamonds and further excel Buddy’s theory, it is the company’s goal to drill test in 2020
If Buddy Doyle and the Arctic Star team are correct it will create a new discovery process for understanding how diamonds are brought to surface in areas previous explorers cared not to look. Arctic Star has the potential to create multiple discoveries and copycat companies trying to duplicate their success.
However, there is only one Buddy Doyle and Roy Spencer, which is why Arctic Star is the one Diamond Exploration Company every investor should be aware of.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 8:10 AM on Thursday, October 1st, 2020
TORONTO, Oct. 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX.V:LAB | OTCQX:NKOSF | FNR: 2N6) (“LabGold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Matthieu (Matt) Lapointe as VP Exploration effective immediately.
Mr. Lapointe, P.Geo. has over 15 years of greenfield and brownfield precious metal exploration throughout Canada and internationally. Most recently Mr. Lapointe was Chief Geologist for TMAC Resources where he developed exploration strategy and managed regional exploration of the 1,600 km2 Hope Bay Project in Nunavut including brownfield targeting at the active Doris gold mine and two advanced stage gold deposits.
“I am very pleased to welcome Matt to the LabGold technical team,” said Roger Moss, President and CEO of the Company. “He is a seasoned explorationist well versed in evaluating large land packages and advancing projects from grassroots to production stages. I expect him to have an immediate impact on our exploration program at Kingsway, especially as we gear up for our fall drilling campaign.”
Matt Lapointe commented, “I am pleased to join the LabGold team as the company begins the next phases of exploration. LabGold has assembled an impressive property portfolio and have been systematically exploring highly prospective areas. The progress and results to date are encouraging and I look forward to continue advancing these exciting projects.”
Roger Moss, PhD., P.Geo., is the qualified person responsible for all technical information in this release.
About Labrador Gold Labrador Gold is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and exploration of prospective gold projects in Eastern Canada.
In early March 2020, Labrador Gold acquired the option to earn a 100% interest in the Kingsway project in the Gander area of Newfoundland. The property is along strike to the northeast of New Found Gold’s discovery of 92.86 g/t Au over 19.0 metres on their Queensway property. (Note that mineralization hosted on adjacent or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Company’s property). In early July 2020, the Company signed an option agreement to acquire a third license to add to the property package which now covers approximately 77 km2. The three licenses comprising the Kingsway project cover approximately 16km of the Appleton fault zone which is associated with gold occurrences in the region, including the New Found Gold discovery. Historical work over the area covered by the Kingsway licenses shows evidence of gold in till, vegetation, soil, stream sediments, lake sediments and float. Infrastructure in the area is excellent located just 18km from the town of Gander with road access to the project, nearby electricity and abundant local water.
The Hopedale property covers much of the Hunt River and Florence Lake greenstone belts that stretch over 80 km. The belts are typical of greenstone belts around the world but have been underexplored by comparison. Initial work by Labrador Gold during 2017 show gold anomalies in soils and lake sediments over a 3 kilometre section of the northern portion of the Florence Lake greenstone belt in the vicinity of the known Thurber Dog gold showing where grab samples assayed up to 7.8g/t gold. In addition, anomalous gold in soil and lake sediment samples occur over approximately 40 kilometres along the southern section of the greenstone belt (see news release dated January 25th 2018 for more details). Labrador Gold now controls approximately 57km strike length of the Florence Lake Greenstone Belt.
The Ashuanipi gold project is located just 35 km from the historical iron ore mining community of Schefferville, which is linked by rail to the port of Sept Iles, Quebec in the south. The claim blocks cover large lake sediment gold anomalies that, with the exception of local prospecting, have not seen a systematic modern day exploration program. Results of the 2017 reconnaissance exploration program following up the lake sediment anomalies show gold anomalies in soils and lake sediments over a 15 kilometre long by 2 to 6 kilometre wide north-south trend and over a 14 kilometre long by 2 to 4 kilometre wide east-west trend. The anomalies appear to be broadly associated with magnetic highs and do not show any correlation with specific rock types on a regional scale (see news release dated January 18th 2018). This suggests a possible structural control on the localization of the gold anomalies. Historical work 30 km north on the Quebec side led to gold intersections of up to 2.23 grams per tonne (g/t) Au over 19.55 metres (not true width) (Source: IOS Services Geoscientifiques, 2012, Exploration and geological reconnaissance work in the Goodwood River Area, Sheffor Project, Summer Field Season 2011). Gold in both areas appears to be associated with similar rock types.
The Company has 93,294,175 common shares issued and outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LAB.
