Speaking of record trading,26.55 million shares Speaking of record trading, Matt Manson's Marathon Gold Corp. (MOZ) fell seven cents to $1.16 on 26.55 million shares, having begun the day with a 17.46-million-share premarket cross by National Bank at $1.06 per share, also using Pure Trading. Retail shareholders then followed suit, driving the stock lower -- a disappointment since Marathon had gained 11 cents to $1.23 on 5.44 million shares on Thursday.
Marathon has given its backers a wild ride after having held tenaciously to the $3 mark from the summer of 2021 until late last winter. Sagging gold prices and the old "yes, but-what-have-you-done-lately" attitude carried the company's stock to just 71 cents in November. Marathon has since been on the upswing, and news Thursday looked to help sustain the rally.
That news had the company hitting an 18-metre interval averaging 5.01 grams of gold per tonne in infill drilling at the newer Berry deposit, one of three deposits at Valentine Lake in central Newfoundland that will be part of Marathon's (hopefully) profitable, multimillion-ounce mine come 2025 or so. That was not an isolated hit, as a second hole yielded 3.5 grams per tonne over 14 metres and a third managed 6.91 grams per tonne over seven metres -- all from areas at Berry previously deemed to be waste rock.
Mr. Manson, president and chief executive officer, says that Marathon will be spending the year building its three-pit mine, but the company will also be a busy explorer, looking to add more ounces to its mine plan while also exploring other areas to add resources to the project. And so, while there will be 70,000 metres of drilling in and around the Berry, Marathon and Leprechaun pits, expect discovery-oriented exploration in the Eastern Arm and Western Peninsula areas.
The latest mine plan was laid out in a December feasibility update, based on a reserve of 51.6 million tonnes grading 1.62 grams of gold per tonne, about 2.69 million ounces. Marathon accounts for just over one million of those ounces, while Leprechaun hosts 840,000 ounces and Berry 770,000 ounces. Recall, however, that the project carries a resource estimate of nearly four million ounces of gold, measured and indicated, and a further 1.1 million ounces inferred. Expect those numbers to grow in the coming months, as the company's drilling applies the Midas touch to more Berry waste.