To say our portfolio has been on a roll lately is a serious understatement.
And even with the gold price down for the year, investors have rewarded the most exciting projects around.
Here’s a brief recap of what’s gone on in just the last 60 days. . .
First, Sokoman Iron Corp (V:SIC) announced 11.9 meters of 44.96 g/t Au which sent their stock soaring over 500%.
Second, Golden Ridge Resources Ltd (OTC:GORIF)) announced 327 meters of 0.31% Cu, 0.35 g/t Au, and 1.94 g/t Ag – causing shares to surge.
Third, Aben Resources Ltd (V:ABN) announced 10.0 meters of 38.7 g/t Au, including 6.0 meters of 62.4 g/t Au – sending shares up almost 150%.
And finally – most recently – Triumph Gold Corp (V:TIG) announced 125.13 meters of 1.24 g/t gold, 0.31% copper, 7.0 g/t silver and 0.01% molybdenum or 1.93 g/t AuEq.
This exciting announcement followed on the back of a news release from the end of July when Triumph also announced gold discoveries at their ‘WAu Breccia’ zone. Shares have since soared 100%.
So, besides massive gains over the last two months, what do all these companies have in common?
Well, other than a huge amount of luck – the management teams (as well as their projects) all passed our strenuous due diligence.
But there’s actually a much simpler reason that’s caused such explosive gains. . .
It was the numbers appearing in their mineral results that made the headlines.
And I don’t mean the mineral grades alone – which were spectacular – but another metric that all major companies and investment houses constantly keep an eye on. . .
And this is known as ‘Gram Meters’.
‘Gram Meters’ is a good way to compare the drill results of companies. And typically, when the number is over 100 – that’s good. Usually when it crosses that threshold – the big money comes knocking.
Here are some examples using the results above. . .
Sokoman Iron: 44.96 g/t Au average grade times 11.9 meters length equals 535.0 g/t
Golden Ridge Resources: 0.88 g/t AuEq average grade times 327 meters length equals 287.8 g/t
Aben Resources: 38.7 g/t Au average grade times 10.0 meters length equals 387.0 g/t
Triumph Gold: 1.93 g/t AuEq average grade times 125.13 meters length equals 241.5 g/t
Not surprisingly – the company with the highest ‘Gram Meters’ resulted in the highest gains (Sokoman Iron).
But here’s another mineral investing ‘secret’. . .
Investing in the above stocks were a lot less risky than investing in ‘greenfield’ explorers – companies exploring untouched, never-before-drilled, areas.
What I’m really saying is that there were already discovered minerals at these properties – and these companies just had to dig deeper.
For instance. . .
Sokoman Iron’s ‘discovery’ hole was drilled to test the up-dip potential of a previous intercept reported by Altius Resources in 2003 that was 278 g/t Au over 0.45 meters at a downhole depth of 257 meters.
Aben Resource’s successful drill hole – FK18-10 – was already collared in the North Boundary zone of the Forrest Kerr property where drilling late in the season during 2017 discovered strong mineralization. Some previously reported results from the 2017 campaign include: 6.7 g/t Au, 6.4 g/t Ag and 0.9% Cu over 10.0 meters, including 18.9 g/t Au, 16.6 g/t Ag and 2.2% Cu over 3.0 meters.
Triumph Gold’s recent hole was designed as a follow-up for the exploration conducted in 2017 – which included significant intersections. Including: 1.08 g/t Au, 6.6 g/t Ag, 0.285% Cu and 0.01% Mo over 57 meters and 0.34 g/t Au, 3.9 g/t ag, 0.17% Cu and 0.02% Mo over 94.38 meters.
Golden Ridge Resources’ hole in the Williams Zone target was made following up on a copper/gold soil and airborne magnetic anomaly. The hit was on the first hole which makes it that much more exciting.
You can see the trend here. . .
The takeaway from all this is that it’s much less risky investing in mineral exploration companies that are exploring in areas that have already proven results.
Or like they say, “if you want to find a mine – look next to a mine.”
The Next Big Hole?
All this is why we believe Rover Metals Corp (V:ROVR) could catch the market by surprise. . .
Share Price: C$0.065
Shares Outstanding: 46.9M
Market Capitalization: C$3.05M
Cash: ~C$0.9M
Rover Metals is a newly listed company, fused with an existing shell on the TSX Venture.
The market cap’s currently C$2.1 million – but their flagship project has already attracted some big names in mining.
President, Keith Minty, has almost 30 years of experience in mine operations and project development. He’s served on the Board of Directors of Asanko Gold and Oremex Silver. And he served as COO at Aurvista Gold. He’s currently on the board of Auryn Resources and Callinex Mines. All companies are very well-known and are supported by high-profile mining names.
Tookie Angus is a significant investor and currently acts as an Advisor to Rover. He’s fresh off a $1.3 billion exit from Arizona Mining. Mr. Angus was the original owner of Arizona Mining’s Hermosa Project – before selling it and remaining a long-term investor.
He’s served as a Director of Canico Resources until its takeover by Brazil’s CVRD in 2005 for $865 million. Director of Bema Gold until its takeover by Kinross Gold in 2007 for $3.1 billion. Director of Ventana Gold until its takeover by AUX Canada Acquisition in 2011 for $1.56 billion. And a Director of Plutonic Power until its merger with Magma Energy in 2011 for $575 million.
That’s a total of $7.4 billion in M&A (mergers and acquisitions) . . .
Luckily, we had the pleasure of speaking with Tookie last month on Palisade Radio. And if you missed this interview – you can view it here. His insight about investing in this sector and what he expects going forward is always worth listening too.
Rounding off the impressive insiders is mining Hall of Famer, Gren Thomas, who brings over 50 years of experience. During his storied career, he built up a track record of discoveries – most notably the world–class Diavik mine and the Thor Lake rare metals deposit – both in the Northwest Territories. He was the founder of Aber Resources (now Dominion Diamond Corporation) and the current Chairman of North Arrow Minerals, Strongbow Exploration and Helio Resources.
Gren began his Canadian career with Falconbridge – taking posts in the Sudbury nickel camp of Ontario, and at the Giant gold mine in Yellowknife, NWT.
He left Giant to form his own company specializing in NWT mineral projects – which lead to his involvement with the Cabin Lake project.
Cabin Lake – Significant High-Grade Gold Intercepts
Cabin Lake was incubated and explored by Gren Thomas in the late 1980’s. The property’s located 110 kilometers northwest of Yellowknife, and hosts high-grade gold in iron formation within Archean metasedimentary rocks.
Cabin Lake has been worked on by Cominco, Freeport McMoRan Gold Company and Gren’s Aber Resources.
Previous exploration centred on a steeply east-plunging package of folded sulphidized-iron formation containing pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite.
Three historic resources are reported on the property:
On the south limb of the fold, a resource of 100,000 tons at 0.30 ounce per ton gold.
And on the north limb of the fold, a resource of 43,900 tonnes at 4.39 g/t Au in the Bugow zone and 18,100 tonnes grading 7.89 g/t Au in the Andrew North Zone.
The property has over 10,000 metres of historical exploration data – all of which Rover was able to acquire.
Rover Metals also owns 100% interest in both the Slemon Lake and Camp Lake projects which are located approximately 10 kilometres and 20 km away, respectively, from the Cabin Lake property.
Drilling is slated for the New Year – and just like Sokoman Iron, Aben Resources, and Triumph Gold, there are all the makings of a serious drill hole.
Just look at some of the historical holes already:
DDH 86-13: 7.74 g/t Au over 1.52 meters and 6.85 g/t Au over 3.04 meters and 15.77 g/t Au over 6.09 meters. . .
DDH 86-26: 12.54 g/t Au over 4.1 meters. . .
DDH86-10: 9.53 g/t Au over 0.95 meters and 12.0 g/t Au over 8.84 meters. . .
DDH 86-11: 8.22 g/t Au over 4.72 meters. . .
DDH 86-28: 14.98 g/t Au over 12.1 meters. . .
DDH 86-12: 15.77 g/t Au over 8.02 meters. . .
Several of these intercepts are already above the 100 g/t ‘Gram Meters’ threshold.
Rover just has to replicate a historical intercept to get the market’s attention – which shouldn’t be too hard.
One of the reasons why Gren Thomas was forced to abandon such a prospective project was due to First Nation issues.
But on July 24, 2018, Rover Metals announced that it has received a five-year land use permit from the Wek’eezhii Land and Water Board and the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board. The agreement can be considered historic – and definitely the right step moving forward.
Rover looks like a great trade – backed by prolific winners, an interesting high-grade gold project, and a market capitalization of only C$2.1 million.
But still – first things first.
Before Rover can begin drilling again, they must do some preliminary work, including an IP survey (Inducted polarisation survey).
The already extremely low market cap looks like a bottom – i.e. it can’t fall much further. We would suggest using the downtime and cheap price to begin accumulating a position
After all, do you want to miss the next big hole?