C3 Metals (Jamaica, Peru) Shrinks Share Count
Xtra-Gold (Ghana) Shows Worthy Boomerang Intercept
TCR Developer List
— C3 Metals CCCM CUAUF reduced its plentiful share count by a 1:13 ratio. I own CUAUF and follow it largely for the Jamaica exploration, the copper-gold-etc. possible porphyry at Bellas Gate, which I have seen. Dan Symons in Toronto just closed out his first year as CEO for this obscure wanna-be miner. I placed an order for more shares at 48.9 cents USD, this because I am a sucker for consolidated share counts. The trade went through. The bid-ask spread in USD for CUAUF (62 million shares) is 48 cents to 52 cents. Release here please.
— I am going to downplay today’s latest 4,100 METERS of drilling assays at Xtra-Gold Resources’ XTG XTGRF Kibi Gold Belt targets. Look, these are 12 more holes that show the Kibi Gold Belt (where Zone 2 and the new Boomerang East and West targets are) hosts several strings of high-grade gold that one day will become a productive, cheap and potent open pit, or perhaps two pits. My reckless opinion, after owning XTG and seeing Kibi 5 times since 2009: a mid-tier will purchase the entire kit-and-kaboodle when the resource, currently about 830,000 ounces, surpasses 1.6 million ounces — and perhaps pay a price of $80 an ounce. That is 4.5 times the current market value for the entirely self-financed, alluvial-income Xtra-Gold.
“People will see that Dundee (Precious Metals) paid about $75 an ounce this week in Namibia (announced Monday Dec. 18, 2023),” Jim says. See earlier The Calandra Report/TCR for the Osino Resources OSI OSIIF $287 million CAD transaction at Twin Hills — a win for us here at home. (View Heye Daun and Alan Freedman on video, discussing the takeover.]
I just spent 35 minutes on the horn with CEO James Longshore, country manager and founder-major shareholder; Jim in rural Ontario is forgoing a three-week holiday break to return to Ghana right after Jan. 1, 2024.
The Boomerang Deep ‘headline hole’ is 9 meters at 9.29 grams per metric ton gold — a cross-plunge of the lower main shoot. This is mostly definition drilling for an expanded resource estimate of what is approx. 800,000 ounces already. “How big this can get? We only have 1 drill hole in Boomerang Deep, so too early to tell the shape yet but it was 9 meters thick so that is positive. I believe the structure will hold, but the question is what will future drill grades be as we step out? I have no idea.”
Yves Clement is the long-toiling VP of exploration at Xtra-Gold — he and 4 of every 5 workers at the Apapam’s eastern flank of the Kibi and the company’s nearby camp have been there since 2008 or so.
So-named ‘blue sky’ could come in a bidding war for genuine gold developers in Africa and in other discounted venues (far northern Québec, for one). Were Xtra-Gold’s resource get to 2 million ounces (next resource update likely in May 2024 is my guess), mid-tiers and-or maybe Ghana-active Newmont Mines could figure on 3 million to 4 million ounces over the life of the mine. Let’s see.
[Ok, so I didn’t downplay this, not by measured word count, anyway.] See our Developer List below please.
The other Ghana developer I track (and am re-purchasing my profitably sold shares this week or next) is Luke Alexander & Doug Forster‘s Newcore Gold NCAU NCAUF.
Developer Candidates
Other developers, genuine ones, that are in our The Calandra Report fold: Western Copper & Gold WRN in Yukon (just bought more); West Vault Mining WVM WVMDF in Nevada; Xtra-Gold XTG XTGRF in Ghana (just bought more); Newcore Gold NCAU in Ghana; Banyan Gold BYN BYGAF in Yukon; Anglogold Ashanti-backed G2 Goldfields GTWO GUYGF in Guyana (have not purchased it yet; shares up neatly in wake of Anglogold Ashanti investment.)
Keeping An Eye On: Banyan Gold BYN (Yukon) — shares were depressed and now are rising 30% in a week.
Keeping An Eye On: Contango Ore CTGO (Alaska) — NYSE-AMEX shares all over the place, mostly down, and appears to be a bloodsucking arbitrage related to convertible securities; CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse tells me today my guess is as good as his — “but at least no one can complain about liquidity.” I purchased more CTGO earlier in the week.
Thom Calandra is a writer and an investor. Research and material are meant as editorial opinion. He is not a professional investment adviser. Please do not consider his reporting as a recommendation to buy or sell securities.