Post by
lptuf93 on Nov 28, 2023 7:58pm
Jamaica - the next Tier 1 jurisdiction?
With drilling programme in full throtle, now seems like a good a time as any to go over the investment thesis here at C3. C3 Metals has two main copper-gold assets across its district-scale land packages: Peru & Jamaica.
Whilst Jamaica is where the focus is currently on, Peru underlines the base value here. Spent the majority of 21/22 drilling their Jasperoide license and this year announced a maiden resource at Montana de Cobre of 52mt @ 0.5%Cu & 0.2g/t Au - a good start. Given inground resources are usually valued at 4c/lb, on an equivalent basis that's worth around $30m (half their current market cap) so good downside protection. They have 18 other skarn targets which could deliver similar results to Montana De Cobre as well as one high potential porphyr target at surface that is undergoing permitting called Khaleesi. Dan has stated early indications have highlighted how the Khaleesi target could be the most prospective across all their assets. Curently working on permitting which unfortunately can take a considerable amount of time in Peru. But given they're 40km along strike from the 8th biggest producing copper mine in the world (Las Bambas), expect this to develop further over next few years as this is truly elephant country...
And now, Jamaica. C3, as well as previous operators, have drilled shallow prospects (averaging 225m) which have come back with good results but nothing extraordinary. They re-did the geophysics and went on a license-wide mapping program to really understand what they had. Given all the information as well as historical data, they concluded that shallow porphyrs were being driven by something much larger and needed to drill deep to prove this up. Last summer, they tested that theory by drilling a 300m+ hole that intercepted 300m @ 0.66% CuEq which was not only their longest interval but their highest grade to date. This started to validate their theory regarding deeper targets which they believed were larger than near surface targets and had a bornite-core where the grades could increase 2 to 5 fold. Unfortunately they hit a granite body and the drill rig wasn't equiped to go any further.
Fast forward to this summer, they've procured a big contract rig which can drill 1,000m+ as well as a cost-effective man portable rig that is capable of going to ~600m. This two pronged approach ensures they can drill out the shallow targets and potentially have enough data to go for a resource but also drill the deeper targets where they believe the Tier 1 prospectivity lies. So far the programme at Provost and Camel Hill has been nothing short of a success. One of the first holes from Provost assayed 391m @ 0.37%Cu + 0.19g/t Au - their longest interval to date. The latest results have really added to their understanding. Within the deepest drill to date, going all the way down to 600m, they intercepted bornite in what they believe was a slice off the bornite-core. Within the 287m @ 0.37%Cu + 0.21g/t Au, a 2.5m intercept at 503m assayed 1.14%Cu + 1.19g/t Au with associated bornite mineralisation. The change in mineralisation also lends weight to their model. As they drill, the geology changes from pyrite to chalcopyrite to bornite with associated increase in metals content - a typical feature of bornite-core porphyrs. They plan to follow this hole with the big contract rig to go down to 1,000m so it is all to play for. What's scary here is that these areas currently being drilled aren't even their highest conviction target. Epidote Ridge which has the largest anomaly sitting below multiple surface porphyrs should be drilled early into 2024 and that will be a follow up to last summers 300m intercept.
From a corporate standpoint, Dan has recently announced alongside the placing there'll be a 13 to 1 reverse-split to clean up the registry. Some funds are hesitant to invest in "penny stocks" so moving to a cleaner share count in the dollar region is more likely to attract larger institutions.
The aforementioned fund raise pushes the kitty above $10m so very likely we will now be drilling until next summer (increasing programme from 8,500m to 20,000m) so plenty of newsflow to come. We've seen since the programme started, our share price rise from 4c to 8c. If the drillbit keeps performing and we can find the elusive bornite-core in the deeper, bigger part of the porphyr then I would expect C3 to outperform even the 2021 highs.