AGORACOM Small-cap Investor Relations Blog

Affinity Metals Corp. (TSXV: AFF) (“Affinity”) (“the Corporation”) is pleased to release over-limit assays for samples from the fall 2019 exploration on the Regal property located in the northern end of the prolific Kootenay Arc approximately 35 km northeast of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada.

As previously reported, the Corporation received assay results for all 22 rock samples collected from surface outcrops in September 2019 from the Black Jacket and ALLCO areas of the property. Of the 22 grab samples collected, the majority contained bonanza grade silver, zinc, and lead with many samples reaching assay over-limits. The over-limit results for zinc and lead are reported in the table below (italicized) beside the original assay values. Assay values for tin, including high grade samples 11, 14 and 20 which were over-limit in the original assay report, are also presented in the last column of the table.

As part of the fall 2019 program, a total of 1,846.35 meters of diamond drilling was completed with 21 holes being drilled. The drilling was divided over two target areas with 10 holes allocated to testing one of the phyllite/limestone contacts in the ALLCO area and 11 preliminary confirmation holes designed to begin testing the historic 1971 resource (pre NI43-101 and therefore not compliant) reported for the Regal/Snowflake mines.

The core samples have been submitted to MSA Laboratories in Langley, BC and assay results are pending and will be reported once received.

Property History & Background

The Regal Project hosts several past producing small-scale historic mines including the Regal Silver. The property also hosts numerous promising mineral occurrences. From the historic records it appears that most, and perhaps all, of the known mineralized showings/zones have not been previously drilled using modern diamond drilling methods.

Snowflake and Regal Silver (Stannex/Woolsey) Mines

The Snowflake and Regal Silver mines were two former producing mines that operated intermittently during the period 1936-1953. The last significant work on the property took place from 1967-1970, when Stannex Minerals completed 2,450 meters of underground development work and a feasibility study but did not restart mining operations. In 1982, reported reserves were 590,703 tonnes grading 71.6 grams per tonne silver, 2.66 per cent lead, 1.26 per cent zinc, 1.1 per cent copper, 0.13 per cent tin and 0.015 per cent tungsten (Minfile No. 082N 004 – Prospectus, Gunsteel Resources Inc., April 29, 1986). It should be noted that the above resource and grades, although believed to be reliable, were prepared prior to the adoption of NI43-101 and are not compliant with current standards set out therein for calculating mineral resources or reserves.

ALLCO Silver Mine

The ALLCO Silver Mine is situated 6.35 Kilometers northwest of the above described Snowflake/Regal Mine(s). The ALLCO Silver Mine operated from 1936-1937 and produced 213 tonnes of concentrates containing 11 troy ounces of gold (1.55 g/t), 11,211 troy ounces of silver (1,637 g/t) and 173,159 lbs of lead (36.9%).

Airborne Geophysics to Guide Future Exploration

An extensive airborne geophysics survey conducted by Geotech Ltd of Aurora, Ontario, for Northaven Resources Corp. in 2011, identified four well defined high potential linear targets correlating with the same structural orientation as the Allco, Snowflake and Regal Silver mines. Northaven also reported that the mineralogy and structural orientation of the Allco, Snowflake and Regal Silver appeared to be similar to that of Huakan’s J&L gold project located to the north, and on a similar geophysical trend line. The J&L is reportedly now one of western Canada’s largest undeveloped gold deposits.

After completing the airborne survey, Northaven failed in financing their company and conducting further exploration on the property and subsequently forfeited the claims without any of the follow up work ever being completed. Affinity Metals is in the fortunate position of benefitting from this significant and promising geophysics data and associated targets.

The aforementioned Northaven airborne geophysical survey conducted at a cost of $319,458.95 in August of 2011 is described in The BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Assessment Report #33054. The results of the survey are competently explained and illustrated by professionals on You Tube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX431eBY_t0

Condor Consulting, Inc. who compiled the survey data and produced the original geophysics report was recently retained by Affinity in order to provide more detailed interpretations and potential drill target locations with the aim of testing two of the four target areas in the future.

Earth Sciences Services Corp. (ESSCO) has also provided acoustical geophysics data for portions of the Regal property.

The Corporation is in the process of correlating and interpreting all of the historic and new geophysical data with the objective of further advancing exploration plans and associated drill targets.

Affinity Metals has been granted a 5 Year Multi-Year-Area-Based (MYAB) exploration permit which includes approval for 51 drill sites.

Qualified Person

The qualified person for the Regal Project for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 is Frank O’Grady, P.Eng. 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 Metals is focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of strategic metal deposits within North America.

The Corporation’s flagship project and present focus is the Regal.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Robert Edwards, CEO and Director of Affinity Metals Corp.

The Corporation can be contacted at: [email protected]

Information relating to the Corporation is available at: www.affinity-metals.com

Sponsor: Affinity Metals (TSX-V: AFF) a Canadian mineral exploration company building a strong portfolio of mineral projects in North America. The Corporation’s flagship property is the Drill ready Regal Property near Revelstoke, BC. Recent sampling encountered bonanza grade silver, zinc, and lead with many samples reaching assay over-limits. Further assaying of over-limits has been initiated, results will be reported once received. Click Here for More Info

By: Frank E. Holmes, Chairman/CEO/CIO of U.S. Global Investors, Inc.,

 — Published: Tuesday, 14 January 2020 | 

Near the start of every year, I share our ever-popular Periodic Table of Commodity Returns, now updated to reflect the final results of 2019. To view the interactive table and download a copy of your own, click here.  

• Having broken above $2,000 an ounce last week, palladium in now forecast by Citi analysts to hit $2,500 by the middle of this year.

Commodities as a whole had a mostly positive 2019, returning 16.53 percent as measured by the S&P GSCI. This far surpasses commodities’ five-year average return of about negative 11.52 percent, between 2014 and 2018.

Precious metals were responsible for much of the growth. For the third straight year, and for the fourth time in six years, palladium was the top-performing commodity. The metal, used widely in the production of catalytic converters, increased an incredible 54.21 percent to end 2019 at $1,912 an ounce, a slightly higher price than gold’s all-time high set in September 2011.

As was the case in past years, palladium benefited from mounting global demand to curb emissions from gasoline-burning engines. It’s also among the world’s scarcest precious metals, mined primarily in Russia and South Africa, which means supply will potentially remain in deficit for years to come.

Having broken above $2,000 an ounce last week, palladium in now forecast by Citi analysts to hit $2,500 by the middle of this year.

Gold Price Up in Four out of Every Five Years

Gold, meanwhile, had its best year since 2010, climbing as much as 18.31 percent. The yellow metal’s role as an exceptional store of value shined brightly in the second half of the year when the pool of negative-yielding debt around the world began to skyrocket, eventually topping out at around $17 trillion in August. On the news last week that Iran launched a counterstrike against U.S.-occupied military bases in Iraq, the safe haven briefly broke above $1,600 an ounce for the first time since April 2013.    

In the past two decades, gold has helped investors limit market volatility and portfolio losses. Between 2000 and 2019, the precious metal’s average annual price was down in only four years. Put another way, gold was up on average in four out of every five years—a remarkable track record.

Safe haven-seeking investors around the world piled into gold-backed ETFs in 2019, making it the best year on record for gold holdings. Assets under management (AUM) in gold bullion ETFs expanded 37 percent from the previous year, adding $19.2 billion, or 400 tonnes, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). During the fourth quarter, total holdings hit a jaw-dropping 2,900 tonnes, the equivalent of 102 million ounces, which is the most on record.

As of the end of last week, gold looked slightly overbought on a relative strength basis, meaning a correction wouldn’t be such a bad thing and in fact expected.

Has the Greenback Peaked?

Short of escalating tensions in the Middle East or a pullback in stocks, the catalyst for higher gold prices—and, indeed, commodity prices in general—may very well be a substantial weakening of the U.S. dollar. On Tuesday, the U.S. Dollar Index experienced a “death cross,” a bearish signal that takes places when an asset’s 50-day moving average crosses below its 200-day moving average. We haven’t seen this from the greenback since May 2017.

Other firms and analysts have recently made the case that the dollar is ready to decline in 2020, which would give gold and other hard assets the room to gain momentum. Below are just three such forecasts from the past couple of weeks:

“Our view is that the dollar is ready to decline in 2020 and will be encouraged to do so as negative interest rates abroad turn less negative while the Fed holds pat (or cuts)… In the event of an unlikely recession in 2020, U.S. fiscal and monetary policy will turn sharply expansionary, the dollar will decline further, and gold will do well.”

                ~Murenbeeld & Co., January 3

“We expect that U.S. dollar weakness will likely characterize global financial markets throughout 2020… A weaker dollar is always good news for commodity prices. We are particularly bullish gold at this point. Gold is a direct play on a weaker dollar and could also benefit from any major flare-up in geopolitical tensions.”

                ~Alpine Macro, January 6

“Starting 2020, the key setup from a macro perspective is the confirmed top in the U.S. Dollar Index as well as the U.S. Trade-Weighted Broad Dollar Index… The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) has broken below the 97 support to trigger the bearish implication of the June-December topping pattern (head-and-shoulders top) and the U.S. Trade-Weighted Broad Dollar Index has broken below the early-November 2019 low as well as the 200-day moving average to confirm a similar topping pattern to the DXY.”

                ~CLSA, January 7

Bitcoin as a Safe Haven Asset

Gold isn’t the only asset that responded positively to geopolitical uncertainty involving Iran. The price of bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, surged on the news that President Donald Trump had ordered a strike on Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, before commenting that the U.S. was targeting as many as 52 sites in Iran.

From January 2, the day before the strike, to January 8, when Trump announced that Iran appeared to be “standing down,” bitcoin traded up as much as 21 percent to its highest level in six weeks. In addition, there were reports that local bitcoin sellers in Iran were charging three times the market rate in response to the threat of war with the U.S.

Google searches for “bitcoin” were also up. Cointelegraph reports that the search term “bitcoin Iran” exploded more than 4,450 percent in the seven days through January 8.

All of this tells me that bitcoin continues to mature as an asset, and that investors and savers increasingly trust it as a store of value in times of uncertainty.

Looking for the inside scoop on mining companies? Click here to read U.S. Global Investors portfolio manager Ralph Aldis’ interview with MoneyShow and get his favorite mining picks for 2020!

Source: http://news.goldseek.com/USFunds/1579015085.php