Posted by AGORACOM
at 10:51 AM on Monday, November 9th, 2020
Highlights
Two occurrences of visible gold found in quartz vein separated by 15 metres
The northeast trending quartz veining has been traced over 550m
Textures of quartz veining are typical of epizonal style gold deposits
TORONTO, Nov. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX.V:LAB | OTCQX:NKOSF | FNR: 2N6) (“LabGold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the discovery of visible gold in quartz vein at its Kingsway Project near Gander Newfoundland. The Kingsway project is located within the highly prospective Gander Gold District to the northeast of New Found Gold Corp’s gold discovery announced earlier this year.
Two occurrences of visible gold in quartz vein were found, the first in outcrop and the second in subcrop, separated by approximately 15 metres. The quartz vein occurs in an underexplored area of the Kingsway Property where recent mapping and prospecting has uncovered a corridor of northeast-trending quartz veining hosted primarily in green-grey to black shale that extends over a strike length of at least 550 metres. While nine-metre-wide blow-outs of the quartz vein are seen sporadically along this corridor, contacts between the vein and host rock have not yet been adequately exposed to determine the true thickness of the vein over its length.
Veining is typically bright white, massive to vuggy, locally stylolitic with carbonate and sericite alteration. Vugs often contain euhedral quartz infilling. Prospecting has revealed that quartz veins along this corridor locally contain pyrite, chalcopyrite, and arsenopyrite. Fine grained visible gold has been observed in annealed quartz and vuggy gray quartz in the two occurrences. These features are characteristic of epizonal gold deposits similar to those identified on New Found Gold’s Queensway property to the south. Detailed sampling and mapping of this veining is ongoing. Samples collected to date will be delivered to Eastern Analytical laboratory today and results will be reported when available. Historical assessment reports do not note this quartz vein occurrence.
A photo accompanying this announcement
“We are very excited to announce the first visible gold found in the area covered by the Kingsway Property. This significant discovery is a result of the thorough work of LabGold geologists and prospectors, said Roger Moss, President and CEO of Labrador Gold. “The similarities to the gold mineralization at New Found Gold’s Keats Zone to the south are striking and gives credence to the district scale potential of the gold mineralization. We intend to aggressively follow up these occurrences with further detailed sampling and mapping, RAB drilling and, in the new year, diamond drilling.”
Roger Moss, PhD., P.Geo., President and CEO of LabGold, a Qualified Person in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements as set out in NI 43-101, has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained 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. 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 gold property covers much of the Florence Lake greenstone belt that stretches over 60 km. The belt is typical of greenstone belts around the world but has been underexplored by comparison. Initial work by Labrador Gold has identified a 3 kilometre mineralized section of the northern portion of the belt in the vicinity of the known Thurber Dog gold showing where grab samples assayed up to 7.8g/t gold.
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 exploration to date 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 Company has 101,674,175 common shares issued and outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LAB.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 9:08 AM on Monday, October 19th, 2020
5 drill holes are planned
Historical grab samples range from from 1.8 g/t Au to 61.73 g/t Au
TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX.V:LAB | OTCQX:NKOSF | FNR: 2N6) (“LabGold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that drilling has begun at its Kingsway Project near Gander Newfoundland. The Kingsway project is located within the highly prospective Gander Gold District along strike to the northeast of New Found Gold Corp’s gold discovery announced earlier this year.
Drilling started in the area around the Cracker showing where up to 5 drill holes are planned. Holes are targeting VLF-EM conductors associated with an altered mineralized gabbro and anomalous gold in soil samples. Historical results from the Cracker showing include grab samples from trenching ranging from 1.8 g/t Au to 61.73 g/t Au and channel samples ranging from <5ppb to 1.89 g/t Au.
Drilling will then proceed approximately 2km southeast to test coincident gold in soil and Mag-VLF-EM targets along two interpreted secondary structures trending northeast and north-northeast. Gold concentrations in soil samples range from below detection up to 281ppb (0.281g/t) with six samples assaying more than 100ppb Au (>0.1g/t Au). The higher concentrations are associated with the two structures.
The third drilling area is located a further 2.6km to the southeast near the Appleton #2 showing close to the intersection of a northwest trending structure with the north-northeast structure targeted in Area 2. Gold in soil anomalies range from below detection up to 686ppb (0.67g/t Au) and are associated with a strong northeast trending conductor.
The last two areas for drilling are further to the northeast approximately 4.8km and 7 km northeast of the Cracker occurrence. The first area is in an area of complicated structure that is currently being covered with the CSAMT Survey (see news release dated October 8th, 2020). Gold in soil samples range from below detection up to 547ppb Au. A single historical till sample in the area assayed 1,093ppb Au (1.09g/t) and contained 60 gold grains. This area will be drilled following receipt of results from the CSAMT survey.
The final area covers an interpreted north-northeast trending splay of the Appleton Fault Zone. Gold in soil samples range from below detection to 1,618 ppb (1.62 g/t Au).
“The start of drilling on the Kingsway Project is a major milestone that we have worked hard to achieve this field season,” said Roger Moss, President and CEO of the Company. “The last drilling on the property was in the nineties, so we are excited to drill this prospective region after a more than twenty year hiatus.“
Roger Moss, PhD., P.Geo., President and CEO of LabGold, a Qualified Person in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements as set out in NI 43-101, has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained 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. 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 gold property covers much of the Florence Lake greenstone belt that stretches over 60 km. The belt is typical of greenstone belts around the world but has been underexplored by comparison. Initial work by Labrador Gold has identified a 3 kilometre mineralized section of the northern portion of the belt in the vicinity of the known Thurber Dog gold showing where grab samples assayed up to 7.8g/t gold.
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 exploration to date 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 Company has 93,294,175 common shares issued and outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LAB.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 8:36 AM on Thursday, October 8th, 2020
The Kingsway project is located within the highly prospective Gander Gold Belt
Along strike to the northeast of Newfound Gold Corp’s gold discovery
CSAMT survey consists of 20 line kilometres tarfeting an area of gold anomalies.
TORONTO, Oct. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX.V:LAB | OTCQX:NKOSF | FNR: 2N6) (“LabGold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that a CSAMT geophysical survey is currently underway 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 Newfound Gold Corp’s gold discovery announced earlier this year.
Controlled Source Audio Magnetotellurics (CSAMT) is an electrical geophysical technique that measures resistivity in the subsurface down to depths in excess of 500 metres. The resistivity profiles can be used to target silicification associated with gold mineralization as well as deep structures such as the Appleton Fault Zone.
The CSAMT survey is being undertaken by Clearview Geophysics and consists of 20 line kilometres covering an area of complex structure and significant gold anomalies. The structure is dominated by the Appleton Fault Zone and associated splays and cross faults outlined by a recently completed structural assessment of the district. Geochemical anomalies from previous work covering the survey area include gold values from below detection (0.5ppb) to 800ppb (0.8g/t) in soil, 111ppb to 1,073 ppb (1.1g/t) in till and 7 to 60 gold grains recovered from the till samples.
“We are excited to get the CSAMT survey underway as it will aid us in effectively targeting potential gold mineralization at depth along the Appleton Fault Zone and associated structures,” said Roger Moss, President and CEO of the Company. “It will complement the property wide soil sampling and VLF-EM surveys that are expected to produce anomalies for further follow up by the upcoming initial drilling program.“
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 4.5 kilometres along strike to the northeast of their recent discovery of 92.86 g/t gold over 19 metres. (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. Prior gold 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.
LabGold also announces the granting of 450,000 options to an officer and a consultant of the Company. The options are exercisable at a price of $0.45 for five years.
Roger Moss, PhD., P.Geo., President and CEO of LabGold, a Qualified Person in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements as set out in NI 43-101, has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained 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. 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 gold property covers much of the Florence Lake greenstone belt that stretches over 60 km. The belt is typical of greenstone belts around the world but has been underexplored by comparison. Initial work by Labrador Gold has identified a 3 kilometre mineralized section of the northern portion of the belt in the vicinity of the known Thurber Dog gold showing where grab samples assayed up to 7.8g/t gold.
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 exploration to date 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 Company has 93,294,175 common shares issued and outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LAB.
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 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.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 9:24 AM on Thursday, August 6th, 2020
TORONTO, Aug. 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX-V: LAB | OTCQB: NKOSF) (“LabGold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that its field crew has arrived in Gander and started the 2020 exploration program on the Kingsway Property.
LabGold’s work program will initially focus on following up known gold anomalies identified from previous work on the three licenses. Soil sampling has begun on a high priority target that covers a 3km long anomaly of gold in heavy mineral concentrates with values from <5ppb to 89ppm (89g/t Au) that runs along the interpreted trace of the Appleton fault zone. Geological mapping and prospecting of anomalous areas and known showings is also underway.
Up to 10,000 soil samples and 250 km of ground magnetics/VLF-EM are planned for the property and are expected to take about six weeks to complete. We intend to hit the priority areas with known gold anomalies first so that the results of these surveys, together with the results of the geological mapping and prospecting can be used to plan a first phase fall drilling program.
Concurrently with the field work, we are working on a structural compilation of the district. This compilation will allow us to more efficiently target areas for detailed mapping and prospecting based on a better understanding of the role of primary and secondary structures on the localization of gold mineralization.
“It feels good to get boots on the ground at Kingsway which we believe to be the most strategically located property in the Gander gold district relative to New Found Gold’s recent discovery,” said Roger Moss, President and CEO. “Our focus on soil geochemistry and mag/VLF to define structures and potential alteration zones is consistent with what has worked well in the past and we expect to generate numerous targets along the major structures for drill testing.”
“It’s good to see the Kingsway Project moving along. Our limited 2019 deeper soil program over anomalous gold in till and vegetation samples proved successful in outlining new gold targets that will be followed up during this season’s work,” said Shawn Ryan, Technical Advisor to LabGold. “Based on last year’s success, the proposed larger 10,000 sample soil program covering existing gold in till and vegetation samples should produce some nice new gold anomalies leading to new drill targets.”
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 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 91,584,175 common shares issued and outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LAB.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 11:01 AM on Monday, July 27th, 2020
Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX-V: LAB) (“LabGold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has received approval for mineral exploration on the Kingsway Property from the Department of Natural Resources, Newfoundland and Labrador. Receipt of the approval, which is good through July 22, 2021, means that the Company can now begin mobilizing field crews to Gander to kickstart its summer exploration program.
LabGold has planned a systematic exploration program that leverages its significant geochemical database to rapidly follow up known anomalies and generate drill targets. This will be done by a combination of soil sampling and magnetic/VLF-EM geophysical surveys on detailed grids over known anomalous areas. These include a 3km long anomaly of gold in heavy mineral concentrates with values from <5ppb to 89ppm (89g/t Au) within which a quartz vein boulder containing visible gold and assaying 168g/t Au was found. This anomaly runs along the interpreted trace of the Appleton fault zone and represents a high priority target.
Up to 10,000 soil samples and 250 km of magnetics/VLF-EM will be carried out on the property. The results of the surveys, together with detailed geological mapping will be used to plan a first phase drill program currently scheduled for the fall.
“We are excited to get the go ahead to carry out our proposed program at Kingsway,” said Roger Moss, President and CEO. “Due to our database and our research over the last four months we have a very good idea of where to focus our efforts to maximum effect to aggressively advance the Kingsway property to the drill stage. We anticipate an exciting field season exploring for Fosterville style gold mineralization in the Gander gold district.”
Exploration to date in the Gander district has shown the effectiveness of soil sampling to detect gold mineralization. Most of the known gold occurrences were discovered by following up gold in soil anomalies. It is also clear that mineralization in the district is structurally controlled as shown by the location of many of the known gold occurrences along the Appleton fault zone, a major crustal structure, and the secondary structures associated with it. The magnetic and VLF-EM survey will help define such cross-cutting structures that are often the focus of concentrated gold mineralization.
The Company also announces the grant of 3,150,000 options to the Company’s directors, officers and consultants. The options are exercisable at a price of $0.45 for a period of five years.
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 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 85,610,451 common shares issued and outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LAB.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 10:29 AM on Thursday, July 2nd, 2020
Plethora now owns 13.92% of LabGold
Stichting Depositary Plethora Precious Metals Fund (“Plethoraâ€) announces that on June 26, 2020 it acquired 1,100,000 Units (hereinafter defined) of Labrador Gold Corp. (the “Companyâ€) at $0.175 per Unit pursuant to a private placement for gross proceeds of $192,500 (the “Acquisitionâ€). Each “Unit†acquired consists of one common share in the Company (a “Shareâ€) and one common share purchase warrant in the Company (a “Warrantâ€). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one Share for $0.30 until June 25, 2022.
Prior to this Acquisition, Plethora owned or controlled 8,579,000 Shares and 1,500,000 common share purchase warrants representing 16.12% of the Company’s issued and outstanding Shares on a partially diluted basis. On an undiluted basis, Plethora’s ownership before the Acquisition represented 14.05% of the Company’s issued and outstanding Shares. Following the Acquisition, Plethora now owns or controls an aggregate 9,679,000 Shares, and 2,600,000 common share purchase warrants, representing 13.92% of the issued and outstanding Shares on a partially diluted basis. On an undiluted basis, Plethora’s ownership after the Acquisition represents 11.31% of the Company’s issued and outstanding Shares.
In satisfaction of the requirements of National Instrument 62-104 – Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids and National Instrument 62-103 – The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues, an early warning report respecting the acquisition of securities by Plethora will be filed under the Company’s SEDAR Profile at www.sedar.com.
Plethora acquired the Units for investment purposes only, and depending on market and other conditions, Plethora may from time to time in the future increase or decrease their ownership, control or direction over securities of the Company, through market transactions, private agreements, or otherwise.
Plethora is incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands and its head office is located at Prins Hendriklaan 26, 1075HD, Amsterdam, Netherlands. The principal business of Plethora is a Management Fund.
For information, please contact:
Douwe van Hees- Fund Manager Prins Hendriklaan 26 1075HD, Amsterdam Netherlands Phone: +3 16 14 51 46 92
About Labrador Gold:
Labrador Gold is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and exploration of prospective gold projects in the Americas.
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). The two 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 Florence Lake greenstone belt that stretches over 60 km. The belt is typical of greenstone belts around the world but has 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).
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.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 9:28 AM on Friday, June 26th, 2020
SPONSOR: Labrador Gold – Two successful gold explorers lead the way in the Labrador gold rush targeting the under-explored gold potential of the province. Exploration has already outlined district scale gold on two projects, including a 40km strike length of the Florence Lake greenstone belt, one of two greenstone belts covered by the Hopedale Project. Recently acquired 14km of the potential extension of the new discovery by New Found Gold’s Queensway project to the south.Click Here for More Info
Providing our call of the day is Crescat Capital’s global macro analyst Otavio ‘Tavi’ Costa, who thinks we’re in the early stages of a major bull market for precious metals as a noncorrelated macro asset class. That is good news for one unloved group of stocks.
“Wait until the Robinhood traders learn about the gold and silver penny stocks, that’s where we’re long,†Costa told MarketWatch. He was referring to a low-cost trading app that has lured a flood of new investors, who have lately won some bets on beaten-down stocks.
“The mining space has been in sort of a recession since the 2011 peak of gold and silver prices. The capital in the space has dried up significantly. I think that now with the macro and fundamentals aligning with technicals on the long-term side, I’ve never seen such a good setup for an industry like precious metals,†said Costa.
Costa says they have been taking friendly activist stakes in some “junior explorer†miners with prolific projects.†Crescat created a fund devoted to mining companies a year ago because the sector was so beaten-down.
Miners are divided into juniors GDXJ, +0.79% that focus on hunts for precious metal deposits, and senior miners GDX, +0.63% that have big developed mining operations
He said the large-cap mining space has started to improve a bit, and thinks investors will move from there onto the bottom part of the industry.
The overall market cap of the precious-metals industry represents less than 1% of the overall market cap of the equity market as a whole, said Costa. It is best placed to benefit from factors such as a virus-driven depressed economic picture, historically high U.S. equity valuations, fiat money printing globally and suppressed long-term rates, to name a few.
“The metals prices should be rising significantly and capital will start to pour into the industry in general, and I think that’s going to be a big change in terms of margins and fundamentals of those businesses,†said Costa. The mining sector is trading at five to 10 times free cash flow — a measure of company’s operating expenses and capital spending — versus any tech-sector industry that trades at 20 to 70 times sales.
“There are no fundamental reasons in which we’re going to see organic growth in the economy, and that brings you back to the situation of the government. It’s already broke and deficits will only increase going forward…it will force the Fed to continue stimulus going forward. That creates and an environment for gold,†and all those miners, he said. Read more on his thoughts here.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 10:00 AM on Monday, June 22nd, 2020
SPONSOR: Labrador Gold – Two successful gold explorers lead the way in the Labrador gold rush targeting the under-explored gold potential of the province. Exploration has already outlined district scale gold on two projects, including a 40km strike length of the Florence Lake greenstone belt, one of two greenstone belts covered by the Hopedale Project. Recently acquired 14km of the potential extension of the new discovery by New Found Gold’s Queensway project to the south.Click Here for More Info
Dear Investors:
The US stock market should not be trading anywhere close to the multiples it is today given the enormity of the macro events that have already unfolded this year:
US and Iran being on the brink of war in January with still unresolved problems.
The virus pandemic that now has an incredibly high probability of a 2nd wave unfolding.
The steepest economic downturn in US history.
Front-month crude oil prices turning negative in April.
20 million of unemployed Americans enjoying a temporary boon of Federal unemployment benefits under the CARES Act, a program that expires at the end of July.
The savings rate shot up to 33% in April, the highest monthly level ever. A new trend in consumer savings versus spending will be a major drag on the overly anticipated recovery.
Government debt outstanding has increased by $2.5 trillion so far this year with the deficit doubling from 5 to 10% while corporate debt issuance is surging. Treasury debt alone has consumed all the money printing by the Fed.
The days for a US-China trade deal are long gone. Since the virus outbreak, relations have deteriorated yet again. The world’s two largest economies are firmly entrenched not just in a trade war but a new cold war.
Riots and protests have been breaking out nationwide in the US with race discrimination and wealth inequality at the core.
The latest Fed liquidity injections have divided the rich and poor to the highest levels since the Great Depression creating class warfare and heightened political conflict.
Conflicts between Beijing and Hong Kong, and even Taiwan, are heating up again with wealth inequality in China and Hong Kong even greater than the US.
Similar to China, Hong Kong suffers from a credit bubble of its own. Poor living standards for the bulk of Hong Kong’s younger population fuels its willingness to protest against the recent interventions by the China Communist Party. Hong Kong’s role as a global banking and trade hub is severely threatened by CCP interventions.
The chart below is a great illustration of how insanely disconnected equity prices are from their underlying fundamentals. S&P 500 profit margin estimates are plunging! “Buy the dip†investors are not paying attention and have simply been too eager to call the bottom.
At Crescat, we are focused on three major macro investing themes in our portfolios today:
Record Overvalued US Stock Market
The US stock market is absurdly overvalued. In our analysis, the gap between current prices and discounted present value of likely future cash flows is the highest ever. Speculation is rampant and being championed by a bold new breed of Millennial day-traders. The mania is based on a widespread hope in Fed money printing. The catalysts for reckoning are numerous as a major cyclical economic downturn has only just begun. With too many afraid to tread there, the potential reward-to-risk tradeoff from shorting stocks is worthy of a significant allocation today. It is perhaps one of the best macro set-ups in US history to rotate out of overvalued stocks and into undervalued precious metals.
New Precious Metals Bull Market
Crescat is working in concert with renowned exploration geologist, Quinton Hennigh, PhD on an exciting new activist investing campaign in the precious metals exploration industry which you can read about below. We are confident that a critical mass of investors will soon realize there is an alternative to buying over-valued US stocks with abysmal growth and profitability outlooks. Those who care about fundamentals can buy historically inexpensive precious metals instead with outstanding macro supply and demand drivers, especially for gold and silver mining companies. We believe we are in the early innings of a major new bull market for precious metals as a non-correlated macro asset class. There is good reason why gold and silver have served as hard money around the world for thousands of years. It is the same reason gold remains the most ubiquitous global central bank reserve asset on the planet. We expect the world’s sovereign treasury departments acting in their national interests to provide strong demand for gold in the current global economic downturn. Treasury departments must consider the value of owning government obligations of highly indebted economies with fiat money printing presses compared to the value of gold today.
China Currency Bubble
With even greater non-performing domestic debt than the US and even greater poverty and wealth inequality, China is run by a totalitarian government responsible for running what in Crescat’s view is the largest banking and currency Ponzi scheme in world history. The inevitable if not imminent implosion of China’s financial system and economy only adds to our globally contagious economic downturn thesis and case for precious metals.
US Imbalances
Aggregate enterprise value to EBITDA for the S&P 500 has never been higher. The set-up reminds us of early February when stocks were also grossly misaligned with economic reality. We think we are about to see another reckoning moment which will mark the second leg of the bear market.
Markets driven by euphoria never end well. The US stock market today is in la-la land. It is discounting a new expansion phase of the economy at the same time as a major recession has only just begun. Since the March lows, investors have turned overwhelmingly bullish. They are trusting that central banks’ liquidity will miraculously create economic growth rather than just temporarily ease the pain of declining gross domestic incomes and crushing debt burdens. This delusional thinking is induced by the intense but short acting dopamine response to Fed money printing but completely ignores how business cycles work. Government money printing has failed miserably, repeatedly, throughout history at eliminating recessions and frequently coincides with some of the worst downturns. Today, it is a major symptom of a severe recession if not a depression.
Ongoing government fiscal and monetary stimulus does not prevent economic downturns. To the contrary, such past actions are the moral hazard that is chiefly responsible for the imbalances that have built up over time already, the set-up for today’s recessionary environment in the first place. Brutal bear markets and recessions begin from record asset valuation bubbles and debt imbalances, and that is the case again this time. In our analysis, the current downturn has only just started and has much further to play out. Economic downturns are rarely halted and reversed by government intervention so early in the process. They must play out to bring the necessary creative destruction that sets the stage for a new economic expansion and bull market. That is how the business cycle works. We have not seen anything yet in terms of such a necessary downturn in equity valuations. We only had a brief taste of it in March, the first tremor. It has been followed by a massive, but overzealous relief rally.
Money printing does not fix the economy. It is visually astonishing how divergent the Fed’s balance sheet assets and the Weekly Economic Index (WEI) has been. Developed by the Federal Reserve of New York, WEI measures activity by combining a series of other baseline indices such as same-store retail sales, consumer sentiment, initial jobless claims, temporary and contract employment, steel production, fuel sales, and even electricity consumption. The chart below shows clearly that this index hasn’t experienced any level of improvement since the March lows, a drastic comparison to the recent vertical growth in Fed’s assets.
We are also seeing a significant liquidity withdrawal due to the historic debt imbalance today. The Fed’s weekly monetary stimulus has not only been drastically reduced but is also being dwarfed by the amount of government debt growth. We just had the largest monthly net issuance of Treasuries in history, $760B in May alone. This number surpassed the Fed’s quantitative easing by over $300B! It is the largest net decline in Fed assets vs. government debt since the repo crisis started back in September of 2019. The government debt is more than crowding out all the new liquidity.
In our view, the Fed is incapable of injecting enough liquidity to quell the losses in asset values associated with what was $250 trillion in global debt at a record three times global GDP before the Covid-19 crisis even began without also triggering a fiat money crisis. This is what we call a liquidity trap.
Another part of the market and economy that looks particularly fragile is small cap stocks. These stocks have never been so indebted relative to EBITDA. In terms of valuation, the Russell 2000 stocks now trade at a historic 15x EV to 2020 EBITDA estimates! There is a stunning and totally unwarranted level of optimism still priced into the markets today.
US labor markets unexpectedly improved last month but were not enough to support the bullish narrative of late. To put things into perspective, since the market peak we saw nonfarm payrolls drop by close to 22 million employees. May’s positive number, the best monthly change ever, was an improvement of close to 3 million payrolls, but even the Department of Labor questioned the validity of these numbers. The DOL said it believed the unemployment rate was understated in both April and May while May indeed did register improvement. In any case, we would need 7 months like the prior to regain the same level of strength in labor markets prior to the virus outbreak. The timid “V†shape recovery looks nothing like a “rocket ship†as Trump referred to in one of his recent tweets.
The current monetary stimulus is severely amplifying the wealth gap problem in the US. When inverted, the Fed’s balance sheet asset has followed the share of total assets held by the bottom 50% remarkably close. Logically, this relationship makes sense. As shown in the chart below, since QE 1 started, the less financially privileged parts of the society have suffered from a shrinkage of wealth relative to the overall pie. If the economy continues to prove incapable of growing organically, further monetary stimulus will be necessary and therefore only exacerbating the inequality problem.
Crescat’s New Precious Metals Activist Campaign with Quinton Hennigh as Advisor
With record global debt to GDP, historic US equity valuations, and new fiat money printing around the globe, the macro environment is incredibly bullish for precious metals today. We have been hard at work negotiating deals in select gold and silver exploration companies. In our hedge funds, we have been investing in private placements in public companies, often at significant discounts with warrants. We are building activist positions in some the best properties around the globe at highly attractive valuations after a decade long bear market. We are following the economic and technical advice of renowned exploration geologist, Quinton Hennigh, PhD. Based on his extensive experience and many past successes, we have asked Quinton to serve as Crescat’s geologic and technical advisor. He has identified many of the best next generation mining assets on the planet that are still in hands of junior exploration companies today. We are bringing necessary capital to advance these projects in return for significant stakes.
Quinton has 30 years of exploration experience, starting with Homestake, Newcrest, and Newmont then branching off from there. He is now Chairman and President of Novo Resources, one of Crescat’s largest positions. At Novo, Quinton made a massive nonconventional and potentially highly profitable gold discovery in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Quinton is credited with the 5 million ounce discovery of the Springpole alkaline gold deposit near Red Lake, Ontario. He was instrumental in recognizing the potential for Fosterville mine in Eastern Australia and advocating for Kirkland Lake to acquire it, which it did in 2016. It was Quinton’s expertise and enthusiasm that made the allocation of capital happen to develop what was arguably the single most economically successful high-grade gold mine of the last decade.
At Crescat, we are striving to recreate that same kind of value again capitalizing on Quinton’s knack for identifying junior companies with high quality assets today that have the potential to be some of the most profitable mines of the next decade. We are bringing friendly activist capital to these exciting new deposits. They are not the same old picked-over carcasses of the last mining cycle. We are investing in a new generation of mining deposits all over the world. Each company is unique and each one has a great story tell. Crescat will be broadcasting a series of live videos with Quinton in the coming days and weeks on Youtube profiling our strategy and the investment thesis behind each of these companies. Each one controls potentially rich underground gold and silver deposits in viable jurisdictions that should propel them to substantially larger valuations in today’s macro environment.
Capitalizing on a new bull market in precious metals is one of our most important themes today. Crescat is infusing important growth capital into carefully vetted companies. In some cases, we are also bringing in new expertise to the board and technical team. Most importantly, and with Quinton’s guidance, we are making sure that our capital is spent on the key technical work needed to validate and expand what are some of the world’s most promising discoveries.
We are encouraged that small cap precious metals miners have recently started to outperform big caps. The junior-to-senior ratio is exactly where it was ahead of the 2016 gold rally. If you recall, back then, after 6 months: the GDX ETF (seniors focused) went up 87% while the GDXJ ETF (juniors focused) was up 137%!
Crescat’s Precious Metals SMA strategy with its overweighting in more of the smaller cap names, including many of Quinton’s favorites, handily outperformed its benchmark in May rising 18.2% for the month versus 5.7% for the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold & Silver Index.
China
In our analysis, the Chinese Communist Party is running a $42 trillion banking Ponzi scheme that is ripe to implode in a currency crisis. The US and other highly leveraged democratic developed economies are in bad shape economically today, no doubt, but its peoples need not fall into a Thucydides’ trap, i.e., to be unduly threatened by a perceived rising power. China is a menace to global freedom and democracy, to be sure, but the country has a weak hand economically which will almost certainly be its downfall. It is true and well documented that the CCP runs an unfair technology transfer regime, discriminatory licensing, outbound investment schemes, cyber hacking, and intellectual property theft. As a result, Western democratic advanced economies and their Eastern allies are doing the right thing today by disengaging with the CCP on trade. The Chinese economy is destined to implode on its own, most importantly due to its historic banking imbalances.
We should not forget that US economic prominence in the world is a result of a long-standing Constitution built on core principles that include individual rights and freedoms, rule by the people, freedom from tyranny, checks and balances that prevent abuse of power, and limited government. The grass is most definitely not greener under totalitarian communism which by contrast has a track record of persistent and inevitable economic impoverishment and human rights enslavement. It is important to understand that the imbalances in the Chinese economy are even more extreme than the US which faces its own historic imbalances. As a result, global economic contagion risks remain extremely elevated today. China at the forefront of these risks arguing for a continuation of the serious global financial market downturn and recession that only just began in March.
The Chinese Communist Party takeover of Hong Kong along with the dismantling of its democracy has destroyed the former British colony’s status as an international banking haven and jeopardized its special trade status with both the US and the UK. We believe global capital has been fleeing the country and outflow pressure only continues. Meanwhile, Hong Kong sits on one of the most overvalued property markets in the world that has just started to burst. For instance, Hong Kong office properties are now plunging by 24% YoY, the worst decline since I the Global Financial Crisis. One major difference, however, is that Hong Kong’s under-reserved massive $3.3 trillion banking system was not 9 times the size of its economy back then.
Private non-financial credit in the country is a world beating 300% of GDP. Hong Kong is on the Bank for International Settlements’ crisis watch list for that as well as its record high debt service ratio among all countries. The performance of Hong Kong’s banks over the last two years, as we show below, illustrates the risks to the Hong Kong banking system and the country’s currency peg to the US dollar.
Like with China, the world still believes Hong Kong maintains sufficient foreign reserves to maintain the value of its currency. We believe the reserves supporting both the yuan and Hong Kong dollar are encumbered. Necessarily, these reserves are the collateral in the global interbank FX markets that have been posted in defense of these currencies against years of Chinese capital outflow pressure. We believe China and Hong Kong are not netting the collateral posted for their short FX positions from their FX reserves. A currency crisis is potentially just a margin call away.
Crescat’s Positioning
At Crescat, we remain determined to capitalize on a US equity market downturn via short positions in our hedge fund strategies and believe there is much further downside for stocks at large ahead. Asset bubbles always burst. US stocks prices are way ahead of future fundamentals and poised to disappoint. Equity and credit markets are not immune from a business cycle downturn. They must eventually catch up to the abysmal fundamentals of today’s global economy that is in a severe recession.
With the Covid-19 shutdowns, we just experienced an economic shock likely worse than any single quarter of the Great Depression. It was made worse by the pre-existing imbalances that were threatening to send the economy into a recession of their own accord as had been forewarned by Crescat’s macro model. Yet stock prices are back near record highs and record valuations in response to temporary excitement over massive fiscal and monetary stimulus. It is the same unwarranted speculative mania that was driving the market in 2019 and early 2020, a pumping up of stock prices totally unwarranted by simultaneously deteriorating fundamentals and solely based on the faith in government stimulus.
The macro fundamentals for a new precious metals bull market have never been better as we have outlined herein. We are positioned long gold and silver mining equities across all four Crescat strategies.
Persistent, bi-partisan abuse of Keynesian policies has been a poor substitute for free market capitalism. The lesson is clear. Excessive and ongoing government intervention only creates mounting non-productive debt that stifles future real economic growth. Credit imbalances in the world today are at a historic high relative to global GDP. They are even worse in state-run communist China where historic banking bubbles warn of coming currency crises for both the Chinese yuan and Hong Kong dollar. Crescat Global Macro Fund continues to maintain long US dollar call option positions versus yuan and Hong Kong dollar puts with large US banks counterparties. Our goal is to profit with asymmetric reward-to-risk. While it has yet to play out in the dramatic fashion we envision, we believe it is coming soon.
Profit Attribution by Theme in the Crescat Global Macro Fund
Performance Across All Crescat Strategies
Given the enormous imbalances in the markets today, we believe it is an excellent time to consider an allocation to Crescat’s strategies.