Erik Wetterling – Value Proposition For Silver47, Callinex Mines, and I-80 Gold
Erik Wetterling, Founder and Editor of The Hedgeless Horseman website, joins me to discuss three junior gold, silver, and zinc companies with recent news out to the market; where he is attracted to the current value proposition.
We start off discussing the exploration upside, prospective project, and recent drill results, at Silver47 Exploration Corp. (TSXV: AGA). Highlights from hole DC24-106 include 2.48 meters of 61.44% ZnEq or 2,938.5 g/t AgEq (14.95 g/t gold 249.50 g/t silver, 21.97% zinc, 7.03% lead, 0.42% copper). While this was near known mineralization it is an impressive high-grade hit, and Erik is interested in seeing more follow-up drilling.
Next we reviewed Callinex Mines (TSXV: CNX) (OTCQX: CLLXF) ongoing fully funded 2024 exploration campaign at the 100% owned Pine Bay Project located within the Flin Flon Mining District of Manitoba. This project is near infrastructure and the nearby Hudbay 777 mine and processing center that is currently sitting idle, and where this project may be a potential source of mill feed if an economic deposit can be delineated.
We wrap up discussing the news out last week on November 12th, i-80 Gold Corp (TSX: IAU) (NYSE American: IAUX) where in the process of reporting its operating and financial results, the Company announced it envisages a two-step recapitalization process which will include demonstrating a viable path to generating free cash flow, and rescheduling and/or refinancing the existing debt obligations. The company also declared that it is no longer proceeding with the Ruby Hill Base Metal Joint Venture, and considering the potential value of the existing gold resources in a rising gold price environment and taking into account the limited understanding of the base metal potential, it has elected to prioritize more advanced staged gold and silver projects with established resources and technical studies.
(IAU.TO) sold off from $1.32 down to $0.47 on this news on November 13th, but has started to bounce back some this week. We question whether the big miss in production guidance, the Base Metals JV being called off, the dilutive C$115million raised in May at much higher prices, and this company restructuring are all too many red flags to recover. Conversely we are curious to see how the new CEO Richard Young, famous for selling Teranga to Endeavor Mining, and recently Argonaut to Alamos Gold, is preparing to right-size and restructure the company, and if there is the potential their board may decide to sell of part or all of the company to a larger producer, where this could be a compelling opportunity to be positioning in the company.
* In full disclosure, the companies mentioned by Erik in this interview, are positions held in his personal portfolio, and also may be site sponsors of The Hedgeless Horseman website at the time of this recording. Additionally, Shad holds a position in I-80 Gold at the time of this recording.
