Brian Leni, Editor of The Junior Stock Review joins me to share some recent research he’s been doing into high-grade copper assets and discuss a recent gold stock recommendation he has shared with his subscribers. 

These smaller copper projects offer higher grades and lower CapEx compared to the more well-known, large-scale copper deposits. Brian highlights Agnico Eagle's recent investment in a high-grade VMS deposit in Saskatchewan, showcasing a trend where senior gold miners are diversifying into high-grade copper assets in safe jurisdictions like Canada. We also touch on what qualifies as high-grade copper, discussing the percentages that classify a project as high-grade and emphasizing the potential in regions like Chibougamau in North Central Quebec. 

Following this, Brian shares his recent stock recommendation, Thesis Gold.

Click here to visit the Junior Stock Review website to keep up to date on what Brian is investing in. 

Click here to watch the latest Field Notes video.

Erik Wetterling, Founder and Editor of The Hedgeless Horseman website, joins us to review 2 junior gold exploration resource stocks that have his attention based on recent new and the value proposition he believes they offer investors at present.

We start off reviewing Altamira Gold Corp. (TSXV: ALTA) (OTC: EQTRF) and their announcement yesterday about the newly discovered outcrops of porphyritic rocks within the Cajueiro project area. Initial follow-up of these target areas has identified new outcrops of highly altered and brecciated porphyritic intrusive rock 1.6 kilometres to the east of the Maria Bonita target where recent drilling intersected 146m @ 1g/t gold. The area displays extensive sericitic alteration and shows the characteristic quartz veining seen in the mineralized porphyritic host rock at Maria Bonita.

 Next we discussed  Ridgeline Minerals Corp. (TSXV: RDG) (OTCQB: RDGMF) and their news announcement this morning they they have entered into an earn-in agreement dated August 21, 2024 with a wholly-owned subsidiary of South32 Limited, pursuant to which South32 can acquire up to an 80% interest in Ridgeline's Selena carbonate replacement deposit ("CRD") project.  We also discuss that they have Nevada Gold Mines as earn-in partners at Swift and Black Ridge, while retaining 100% ownership of Big Blue.

*In full disclosure, many of the companies mentioned by Erik in this interview, are positions held in his personal portfolio, and they also may be site sponsors of The Hedgeless Horseman website at the time of this recording.

Click here to visit Erik’s site – The Hedgeless Horseman

Peter Krauth, author of the book The Great Silver Bull and editor of the Silver Stock Investor newsletter, joins me for a wide-ranging discussion on the macroeconomic factors moving markets, the fundamentals for silver, and some pro tips on investing junior silver stocks.  This is a longer-format conversation where we cover many areas of consideration like Fed rate cuts, secondary sources of silver supply, silver pricing and momentum relative to gold, balance sheets of producers relative to net acquisitions, merger and acquisitions and much more…

The company examples that Peter provides for review that are on his radar include:  Outcrop Silver (TSXV: OCG) (OTCQX: OCGSF), Southern Silver Exploration Corp. (TSXV: SSV) (OTC: SSVFF), Guanajuato Silver Company Ltd. (TSXV:GSVR) (OTCQX:GSVRF), Sierra Madre Gold and Silver Ltd. (TSXV: SM) (OTCQX: SMDRF), Viscount Mining Corp. (TSXV: VML) (OTC: VLMGF), Dolly Varden Silver Corp. (TSXV: DV) (OTCQX: DOLLF), Vizsla Silver Corp. (TSXV: VZLA) (NYSE: VZLA), AbraSilver Resource Corp. (TSX.V: ABRA) (OTCQX: ABBRF), and Kootenay Silver Inc. (TSXV: KTN) (OTC:KOOYF) .

• In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Guanajuato Silver, Dolly Varden Silver, Vizsla Silver, and AbraSilver at the time of this recording. 

Click here to visit Peter’s site and follow along with his analysis of the silver sector

Jordan Roy-Byrne, CMT, MFTA, Editor of The Daily Gold joins us to share his insights on gold consistently extending all-time highs, why the stocks are not outperforming and how a falling US Dollar and interest rates are impacting these moves. 

With gold experiencing nearly two weeks of consistent gains, reaching historic highs on the futures market over $2,550, Jordan shares his technical potential upside targets around $2,720. We also explore why gold stocks, particularly GDX and GDXJ, lag behind gold's rise despite higher margins for producers. Jordan delves into factors such as more shares outstanding and investor behavior. 

We also touch on silver's potential to follow gold's upward trend, and the impact of a declining US dollar and interest rates on the precious metals sector.

Click here to visit Jordan’s site - The Daily Gold

Fred Davidson, President and CEO of Impact Silver (TSX.V:IPT – OTCQB:ISVLF), joins me to outline the key takeaways from the Q2 financial and operations, and provides an update on the current production and exploration upside at the Zacualpan Silver-Gold District, as well as the recently acquired Plomosas Zinc-Lead-Silver Mine in Chihuahua, Mexico.

We kick things off with deeper dive into the Zacualpan Silver-Gold District where the Company has 4 underground mines and 1 open-pit mine all feeding into the Guadalupe processing plant.  Fred outlines the flexibility that their operations team in turning on or off mines based on metals pricing trends, and that they’ve improved on the metallurgy and gold recoveries at their Alacran Mine, so they are now mining from it once again.

Next we look into the ramping up of zinc, lead, and silver production from Plomosas Mine, and that most of substantial development and refurbishment work that was needed to upgrade the mine, and portable mining equipment and vehicles, has been completed.  Fred outlines that at 14% zinc and 8% lead grades, Plomosas is one of the higher-grade zinc mines in operation, and in a sense, that carries the operations and they get all the silver for free.   The Q2 numbers were a bit of a one-off quarter, in that now that they are producing they had to write down all the prior costs of refurbishment this period, but that there should be steady ramp up in revenues and cashflows in Q3 and Q4 with that now behind them.

Overall revenue in Q2 2024 was $7.7 million, representing a significant 40% increase over Q2 2023 revenue of $5.5 million. Revenue in Q2 2024 includes $1.8 million from the Plomosas high-grade zinc mine up from $1.0 million in Q1 2024. The Plomosas high-grade zinc mine (acquired in April 2023) was brought online in late 2023 and therefore, year-over-year comparisons do not include any revenue or operating costs recorded in Q2 2023. Meanwhile, revenue at the Zacualpan silver-lead-zinc project increased to $5.9 million in Q2 2024 from $5.4 in Q2 2023 despite lower production on a year-over-year basis, owing mostly to stronger silver prices.

After recapping the current operations we discussed the 20,000 meters drilled in the first half the year, with about the same amount planned for the second half of the year.  Fred discusses the exploration upside and the growth potential at both the Zacualpan Silver-Gold District and Plomosas Zinc-Lead-Silver District.  Additionally, Fred recaps some new targets around Carlos Pacheco and some deeper copper – gold district targets that they’ll be exploring further out into next year. 

If you have any follow up questions for Fred about Impact Silver then please email me at  [email protected].

• In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Impact Silver at the time of this recording.

Click here to visit the Impact Silver website and read over the recent news out of the Company.

Jeff Christian, Managing Partner at  the CPM Group joins me to recap the recent fund flows for GLD and discuss why major gold miners don’t hold gold on their balance sheet. 

Jeff shares his perspectives on gold ETFs trends, the concept of holding physical gold versus ETF holdings, and counterparty risk concerns. Additionally, we discuss the financial strategies of major miners, including cash management, M&A activities, and the potential benefits of holding produced gold on their balance sheets.

We then turn our focus to the major gold miners, examining their financial strategies amid the higher gold prices. Despite their strong earnings, questions arise about how these companies manage their profits, with some advocating for retaining a portion of their produced gold on their balance sheets. Jeff reflects on his longstanding support for this approach as a means of enhancing investor appeal and providing additional price exposure, though it remains a rare practice among miners. We delve into the operational strategies of these companies, particularly why they don't vertically integrate more by developing their own refining and smelting capabilities. Jeff explains the challenges and expertise differences that discourage major miners from taking these steps. Finally, the conversation touches on the balance between M&A activities and organic growth for these companies, noting a tendency to favor acquiring deposits over developing new ones.

Click here to visit the CPM Group website to learn more about the firm.

Sean Brodrick, Editor of Wealth Megatrends and contributing analyst to Weiss Ratings Daily, joins us to outline opportunities that he is seeing in silver and the quality silver stocks. We start off discussing the disconnect we’ve seen the last couple of years in silver versus gold, but that recently this year, and even in the month of August so far, we’ve started to see that outperformance of silver over gold.  Sean points to the industrial side of solar panel production underpinning the current pricing, but ultimately sees investor demand starting to come in to both silver and the silver equities as the force that could really create some outsized moves to the upside in the medium-term.

When looking at the universe of silver equities, Sean is less attracted to the earlier-stage junior explorers, preferring the revenue generating silver producers as having the best leverage to rising prices without getting stuck in value stunting equity dilution. We discuss the potential for the silver producers just below or near parity to have the most upside torque when higher silver prices lead to significant margin expansion and improving economics. Sean brings up Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) as an example where they’ll see their margins improving in Q2 and Q3 and that they have the Keno Hill mine that they acquired from Alexco as another area of growth in the latter half of this year.  This leads into a discussion on if we'll see more merger and acquisitions start up in the silver space.

We wrap up discussing how diversification in jurisdiction plays a factor in his portfolio and recommendations to subscribers.  He is in a wait and see mode currently with regards to Mexico, due to the political posturing, but that makes him more open to other areas in Canada, the US (specifically in Nevada), Argentina, Australia, and even Africa.  He highlights Aya Gold & Silver (TSX: AYA, OTCQX: AYASF) as having had great performance for his subscribers for some time, while most North American investors may not have expected that out of a company based in Morocco.

• In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Hecla Mining at the time of this recording.

Click here to follow along with Sean’s work at Weiss Ratings Daily and Wealth Megatrends

Click here to learn more about Resource Trader

Eric Roth, President and CEO of Capella Minerals (TSX.V:CMIL - OTCQB:CMILF) joins me to discuss the Company’s focus now strictly in Scandinavia on projects in Norway and Finland (in the Lapland Greenstone Belt). Recently Capella has been divesting projects in other parts of the world. 

We delve into Capella's recent strategic partnership with Teako Minerals on the Løkken copper-cobalt-zinc ("Cu-Co-Zn") project in Trøndelag, central Norway, where Teako Minerals will acquire a 90% interest. Eric explains the divestment of non-core assets outside Scandinavia and the potential benefits for Capella

I also ask about the future focus on the Hessjøgruva asset in Norway and the Northern Finland projects, prioritizing either Hessjøgruva or the Northern Finland targets based on capital and resources. Eric highlights potential new discoveries at the Killero targets, an old Anglo American target in Northern Finland. We conclude with discussions on funding strategies and future work programs.

Click here to visit the Capella Minerals website to learn more about the Company. 

Collin Kettell, Founder and CEO of Nevada King Gold (TSX.V:NKG - OTCQX:NKGFF) joins me to recap 3 recent gold discoveries made at the Atlanta Gold Mine Project, in Nevada. The three recent discoveries are the East Ridge Zone, South Quartzite Ridge, and Wild West Zone.

Collin provides an in-depth analysis of each discovery, emphasizing the geological complexities that facilitated these high-grade finds and explaining the significance of their locations in relation to the resource area. I have Collin provide an overview of how he is ranking each discovery. We also look ahead to a planned phase 3 drill program that will follow up on the recent discoveries and drill new potential discovery areas. 

Collin also addresses how Nevada King Gold plans to manage its finances, including the potential budget for the phase 3 drill program. We then look to the share price actions to discuss market sentiment and share price performance on the back of the discoveries. We wrap up by covering the strategic rationale behind the spin-out of NV King Goldlands and its potential future public listing.

Click here to visit the Nevada King Gold website to learn more about the Company. 

Jeff Swinoga, President and CEO of Exploits Discovery (CSE:NFLD - OCTQX:NFLDF - FSE:634) joins me to discuss the recent drill holes expanding the Saddle Zone discovery on the Bullseye Project, in Newfoundland. See figure 1 from the news release to see where the Project and drill holes are located. 

Jeff provides insights into drill holes and the high-grade gold intercepts, the potential of the Saddle Zone for further expansion, and the plans for future drilling. We discuss the geological trends observed, the use of advanced tools like the televiewer for better targeting, and comparisons with nearby discoveries by New Found Gold. Additionally, I ask about the status and future plans for the Gazebo South Property, to the north in Newfoundland.

Click here to visit the Exploits Discovery website to read over the news release and learn more about the Company.