It was another quiet week for Tocvan, closing Friday at $0.455 on 87,400 shares. Tocvan traded only 138,000 shares for the entire week, with the vast majority trading on Friday. What I found interesting from watching the trading, Canaccord has been placing and removing a sell order for 50,000 shares for the last few weeks. Each time they do that, it seems to scare out impatience sellers. They removed it at the end of Friday.
At one point yesterday, National stepped up to buy 50,000 shares in what looked like an effort to buy the 50,000 shares from Canaccord, however, a quick trader at Anonymous jumped in to fill the National order. Then shortly after, Canaccord once again dropped down that 50,000 share sell order at $0.495. This instantly resulted in Anon selling 20,000 shares down to $0.46, as though they were trying to artificially push down the price of Tocvan. Your guess is as good as mine behind the Anonymous trading patterns, but one thing that remains constant, the volumes are low and buyers are engaged in supporting the price.
Tocvan put out an excellent update on Tuesday in which they outline the progress in the field over the summer, preparation for drilling in September, and plans for an on-site pilot plant in early 2025.
Highlights include:
1) Summer surface exploration work continuing at Gran Pilar, over 200 soil samples collected to date along northern and eastern extensions of Main zone, North Hill and 4-T trends;
2) Major producer completes its district-scale review of Gran Pilar's multimillion-ounce potential;
3) Upcoming core drill program at Pilar Main zone scheduled for September start: outlines plans for resource drilling with core and RC.
4) Tocvan has been invited to present at Mexico's biggest annual mining conference: Congreso Internacional Minero Oct. 22 to Oct. 26.
I am excited to see that Tocvan has elected to use a two-step process leading to full scale production. The first step is a 50,000 ton Pilot facility slated for early 2025 that would have four important benefits:
1) optimization of final processing design by utilizing data such as heap leach, gravity and agitated leach undertaken previously, see Aug. 22, 2023 news release for more details,
2) provide Proof-of-Concept that would attract either a JV partner/buyout or allow for future financing of the full production facility,
3) quicker turnaround of permits, and
4) cash flow to fund future exploration, thus minimizing share dilution.
Tocvan has been busy this summer with collection of over 200 samples across the Gran Pilar area with a focus on the northern and eastern extensions of the Main zone, North Hill and 4-T trends. They continue to explore several high-grade gold and silver zones east of the Main zone highlighted by 7.3 g/t Au with 177 g/t Ag and 5.5 g/t Au with 80 g/t Ag. They are also exploring the high-grade gold and silver results associated with a large footprint of hydrothermal alteration five kilometers north of the Main zone where 5.6 g/t Au was obtained in October 2023 and 3.2 g/t Au with 1,225 g/t Ag was obtained in March of 2024. These samples and investigations will undoubtedly lead to several very interesting drill targets.
As a result of these previous surface findings on the Gran Pilar, this has led to a detailed review of Gran Pilar spanning over six weeks of on-site due diligence by a regional major producer. The company states that "Once data have been processed and reviewed, both parties will discuss next steps later in the fall". This is surely an interesting development for Tocvan. Again, your guess is as good as mine as to what will happen from these investigations, but I will say, there must be something intriguing there otherwise why would they waste their time.
I think the overall progress is best summarized by the quote from Brodie, "Making the most of the rain season in Sonora, our field crews have been hard at work advancing our understanding of the broader mineralized footprint that extends out from Pilar," commented Brodie Sutherland, chief executive officer. "We are excited to review the results of their initial work as it will provide key information in drill targeting across the broader Gran Pilar property. We are also preparing for the next phases of drilling which will include important core drilling through our Main zone and other prospective trends. The last core program we completed in 2022 was a huge success, giving us a better understanding of the host rocks and the pervasive alteration and brecciation one would expect from a robust mineralized system. Drilling completed before the end of the year will go into a maiden resource estimate for Pilar, a starting point for establishing initial resources for development. Along with these preparations the company is evaluating a pilot mine facility to process material at site. A logical step forward as we showcase the accessibility of gold and silver whilst taking advantage of current market prices for the commodities. The company anticipates necessary equipment set-up and permitting can be completed by early 2025, with the objective of processing up to 50,000 tonnes of material directly from Pilar. A key differentiator for the company and project. Our core objective is to unlock the potential of the greater project area while advancing mine development. The work completed to date has sparked interest from producers on the project potential and the immense upside to resource expansion we have shown quickly through exploration. We expect discussions to increase leading up to Mexico's biggest mining conference in October. The company maintains a positive outlook on the future of mining in Mexico and looks forward to advancing its initiatives of transitioning to a producer. Taking full advantage of the excellent infrastructure and talented workforce Sonora provides."
Drilling should be underway soon with between 1,200 to 2,000 metres of core drilling being considered along with 1,700 to 2,500 metres of RC drilling. This drilling will be generally focussed on the Main Zone with the purpose of publishing a maiden resource estimate for the Main Zone. Additional drilling will be considered at the end of the year as exciting targets are scattered throughout the entire Gran Pilar.
Lastly, Tocvan has been invited to present at the annual Congreso Internacional Minero held in Hermosillo, Sonora. The mining conference sees over 10,000 attendees, showcasing the resource industry in Mexico. I don't usually give much weight to attending a mining conference but since Tocan is invited, it makes it slightly more relevant.
This is one of the largest events in Mexico. Overall, an estimated $9 B USD is being spent to bring 26 projects to production by 2028. Mexico is the largest producer of silver in the world and there are 530 active mining projects worth Billions in revenue and sustaining in excess of 200,000 direct and many more indirect jobs and supporting families. Sonora alone hosts 25% of the active exploration and mining projects with 47 Canadian mining companies active in the area.
Summer is slowly coming to an end, time for one last vacation.