Gold Summary for Sept. 17, 2020
2020-09-17 19:31 ET - Market Summary
by Stockwatch Business Reporter
New York spot gold lost $10.50 to $1,948.30 on Thursday. The TSX-V fell 4.13 points to 743.22 while the TSX gold index dropped 7.33 points to 383.26. Most Canadian gold miners followed bullion lower today. New Gold Inc. (NGD) was energetic in retreat, dropping 20 cents to $2.51 on 10.75 million shares. So was Teranga Gold Corp. (TGZ), which fell 63 cents to $14.77 on 771,000 shares. While New Gold has been silent for the past three weeks, Teranga said today that it has drilled an 80-metre interval at Woulo Woulo, a new area at Afema in Ivory Coast, which averaged 1.64 grams of gold per tonne.
Thursdays are usually a banner day for assays, but today's results were decidedly unspectacular at best. Brad Humphrey and Dr. Andreas Rompel's QMX Gold Corp. (QMX) fell to 20.5 cents, then ended the day off one-half cent to 23 cents on 4.26 million shares, on word that it has drilled a 78.5-metre interval averaging 1.7 grams of gold per tonne at its Bonnefond deposit at Val d'Or East, in northwestern Quebec. A second of the six new holes and extensions to two previous holes produced 1.18 grams per tonne over 136.2 metres, while a one-metre hit in one of the extensions managed 62.44 grams per tonne.
Dr. Rompel, vice-president of exploration, was "very happy" to see a western extension of the previously identified mineralization, adding that the company continues to expand the known bounds of the Bonnefond deposit in all directions, including at depth. Assays are now expected from drilling to the north, and new holes are currently being completed in a gap to the south between Bonnefond and New Louvre. "Very happy" is the lowest Dr. Rompel has felt in months, starting early this year when he was "extremely impressed" that QMX had hit a 3.4-metre zone at Bonnefond averaging 41.82 grams of gold per tonne.
Mr. Humphrey, president, chief executive officer -- and not as prone to wearing his emotions on his sleeve -- had nothing quoteworthy to offer today, but he was talkative in July, when QMX received assays of up to 21.29 grams of gold per tonne over 4.5 metres from Bonnefond, predicting "a lot of positive news" over the summer and into the fall. He was chattier still a few weeks later, when QMX hit a 5.6-metre zone averaging 29.38 grams of gold per tonne. Meanwhile, Dr. Rompel was predictably "very excited" with the "fantastic results" obtained in July.
Indeed, even investors were excited in mid-August, when QMX received assays averaging 1.48 grams of gold per tonne over a whopping 1,110 metres at Bonnefond, a hit that included a 73.2-metre interval averaging 6.48 grams of gold per tonne not far below a 5.3-metre interval that produced 12.65 grams of gold per tonne. That news pushed QMX's stock to a 37.5-cent high, but the bloom has since come off the rose.
Bonnefond has a long, if not particularly storied past, having been worked sporadically for over a century. (Gold was first discovered on the property 100 years ago.) Generations of explorers came and went, with QMX, then called Alexis Minerals, acquiring an option on the project in 2004. QMX produced a maiden resource estimate for Bonnefond a year ago, listing 4.76 million tonnes indicated at 1.69 grams per tonne and 2.41 million tonnes inferred at 1.87 grams per tonne, or just over 400,000 ounces.
Jason Weber's Alianza Minerals Ltd. (ANZ) left investors underwhelmed with new assays from Horsethief, in Nevada. Alianza, which fell 1.5 cents to 16 cents on 1.49 million shares, has drilled a three-metre interval averaging 0.141 grams of gold per tonne in one of three new holes at the project. Mr. Weber, president and CEO, applied all the promotional english he could muster, stating that the three holes "continue to confirm the presence of favourable host stratigraphy, alteration and/or anomalous gold mineralization" -- calling on all three of the usual stand-ins for worthwhile gold assays.
Mr. Weber offered the same words in early August, when Alianza received the assays from the first three holes into Horsethief, with a 12.2-metre hit averaging 0.13 gram of gold per tonne in one of the holes providing the anomalous gold. He also let loose a torrent of geologese to support the spin, concluding that he was "very excited" for the coming assays results. He is perhaps less enthused today, but there are still some assays to come. Hope springs eternal on Howe Street.
Clive Johnson's B2Gold Corp. (BTO) gained eight cents to $9.18 on 5.5 million shares on word that it has drilled a 20.1-metre interval averaging 15.47 grams of gold per tonne in the Cardinal zone, near its Fekola deposit in Mali. B2Gold had a few other higher-grade intercepts at Cardinal, and in the Mamba zone. More drilling is planned, says Mr. Johnson, president and CEO, with 5,300 metres set to target the Anaconda area. Drilling is also planned at Cardinal and FMX ahead of a resource update early next year.
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