After the announcement this week of exceptional Au and Ag recoveries in Pilar leach study, Tocvan closed a strong week of trading at $0.76 on 115,000 shares. There were over 770,000 shares passing hands for the week. This is a pretty high weekly trading volume for Tocvan given the tight weekly trading cycle over the last several months.
It is important to note that the price has recovered from the mid $0.40 price range since the first of March., so there will likely be some profit taking by penny speculators and manipulation by BOTS that are constantly active making small trades. I didn't know a lot about BOTS until I did some reading, " Trading BOTS are highly efficient. They can analyze market data and automate trade execution faster than a human trader, allowing traders to leverage opportunities in seconds". I noticed several times in the past few weeks that a 500 share trade occurred with less than a few seconds before the close, often hitting the bid. BOTS will often chase the stock up when there is higher volume to allow for more trading opportunities, i.e., larger the daily price spread and higher volumes allow the BOTS to trade more often.
Some may argue that the high volume this week is an indication that people didn't like the Au and Ag recoveries from the Pilar leach study, but as my Dad always said, "for every seller there is a buyer". Investors sell for a variety of reasons, i.e., taking profits, covering a margin call, or simply needing money for other reasons such as mortgages, car payments and so forth. I look at it this way, the price would have collapsed given this much volume, however, it didn't collapse but rather moved higher. This tells me people are either building larger positions and/or buying for the first time because they understand the long-term potential of Pilar. Tocvan is in a unique position with the ability to raise capital at higher prices with less dilution. They are also fully funded for the next two years at minimum. As an investor, this dramatically reduces the risk going forward as it allows one to comfortably hold a position without the risk and distraction of the company not being able to raise capital.
Highlights from the Au and Ag leach study at Pilar. - Diagnostic Leach Study Reports High-Percentage of Recoverable Gold and Silver (Au: 95 to 99 per cent; Ag: 73 to 97 per cent)
- Head Screen Assays Report High-Grade Gold and Silver (2.7 to 24.9 g/t Au and 8.8 to 74.2 g/t Ag)
- Gravity Concentrate Assays for Gold and Silver range from 35.6 to 290.3 g/t Au and 53 to 1,152 g/t Ag
- Majority of Gold and Silver can be Recovered with Gravity Concentration and Agitated Cyanide Leach
- Drill core sample indicates the same recovery potential at depth (150m down hole) as at surface.
"These results far surpass our expectations and provide us with new insight on the optimization of gold and silver recovery at Pilar" stated Brodie Sutherland, CEO.
Besides the significant recovery of Au and Ag, I was particularly interested in the free gold mentioned in a previous press release on March 29, 2023.. It seems the large percentage of free gold and silver portion is predominantly "exposed but attached", indicating a large percentage of the gold and silver can be recovered.
This quote from Brodie sheds light on the path to production, "To have such a large percentage of the gold and silver free and accessible for multiple recovery methods allows us to evaluate the most efficient ways to develop the project. This is a huge checkmark for the project and an excellent indicator to the industry that Pilar can be developed. We look forward to further evaluating the bulk sample data in the coming months.".
What is very interesting, the drill core sample used for the leach study indicates the same recovery potential at depth (150m down hole) as at surface. This is an exciting finding as it has huge implications in developing Pilar into a profitable operating mine. One other point to note is advanced studies are usually not undertaken until there is a strong indication of a robust mineralization system with the potential to reach production, i.e., early stage companies spend their money on drilling, exploration, and promotion. It can take many years to get to a point where leach studies become relevant (Tocvan has reached this stage in development).
After reviewing video clips I have seen circulating on CEO and Twitter by Tocvan, the 1,000 ton bulk sample appears to be nearly complete and ready for a production run. This should free resources to begin drilling at Pilar and El Picacho. As reported earlier, Tocvan has completed a renewed 2-year permit for Pilar allowing for nine trench areas and 83 drill pads at Pilar. The permit will provide access for planned infill and step out drilling along the 1.2-kilometre trend that remains largely untested at Pilar. El Picacho is already permitted for 15,000 meters of drilling and 2,000 meters of trenching.
A quote from the last press release on Tuesday is another good summary of exactly what is happening at Pilar, "Over 1,400 tonnes of oxide-gold material have been extracted from select areas exposed at surface across the project area, focusing on the Main Zone and 4-T Trends where preliminary column leach studies have returned promising head-grade and recovery results. Bulk Sample material will be prepared for processing by heap-leach method at a private mining operation less than 25 kilometers to the west of Pilar. Information from the sample will aim to provide a more detailed account of expected head-grade and recovery percentage of gold along with providing key information to optimize future production facilities. The information provided from the sample will be used for planning in coordination for permitting of full-scale mine and process facilities on-site at Pilar.".
This quote also confirms the potential at Pilar, "The Pilar Gold-Silver property has recently returned some of the region's best drill results. Coupled with encouraging gold and silver recovery results from metallurgical test work, Pilar is primed to be a potential near-term producer. Pilar is interpreted as a structurally controlled low-sulphidation epithermal system hosted in andesite rocks. Three primary zones of mineralization have been identified in the north-west part of the property from historic surface work and drilling and are referred to as the Main Zone, North Hill and 4-T. The Main Zone and 4-T trends are open to the southeast and new parallel zones have been recently discovered. Structural features and zones of mineralization within the structures follow an overall NW-SE trend of mineralization. Mineralization extends along a 1.2-km trend, only half of that trend has been drill tested so far. To date, over 23,000 m of drilling has been completed.". Here is a recent interview by Manuel Kock with Brodie Sutherland in Germany. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGrFnsIpXhY
Here are two good video clips of activity at the heap leach site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PKlaggG3S8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKW74wY4HFw