TCRs, thank you for what is a 12th year of our subscriber reports. This report adds comments from Contango Ore CTGO CEO about share price. -- Thom Calandra
Ivanhoe Mines | Contango Ore | Alamos Gold | Maple Gold Mines
Ivanhoe Mines IVN IVPAF shares are back above $10 USD (and $13.33 CAD) Friday.
Stretch point for the Africa copper [and soon, zinc, platinum, nickel and gold] miner’s shares: $13. 71 CAD a share and $10.61 USD, notched July 31, 2023.
Still, select few metals stocks this first week are rebounding or showing resilience late this first week of 2024.
DRC Congo (and South Africa)’s Ivanhoe’s shares at a $12 billion USD market worth ($17 billion CAD) are an exception. This even as copper’s price meanders between $3.80 and $3.95 a pound since early December 2023.
Congo Election
Investors appear to be sidestepping some skepticism about the landslide election of incumbent President Félix Tshisekedi in the resources-laden nation of 100 million. See article please.
IVN closed Thursday at $9.86 USD, seeing in the North America market day’s final 90 minutes approx. 800,000 of 2.1 million shares traded. A Friday(today) close above $10 USD will hearten fresh investors.
I believe the late-week rebound for IVN recognizes belatedly this week’s earlier headline: Ivanhoe Mines’ Copper In DRC Congo Stsrt Shipping Along Lobito Atlantic Rail Corridor. The cathode goes to a town on the DRC/Angola border and the shorter transporting could reduce shipping costs dramatically. Thus, 8 days by rail vs. as much as 25 or so days by truck to Durban, RSA. See release please.
Other rebounders this week include Western Copper & Gold WRN, albeit mildly; Alamos Gold AGI, as always when gold is looking primed; several others.
Alaska Miner
Getting hammered this week is Alaska explorer-future producer Contango Ore CTGO, whose NYSE-listed stock at the very least is getting some volume. I own a good amount, now underwater. CEO Rick van Nieuwenhuyse tells me he is not aware of any changes in his company’s plans to start production at 50-50 venture Manh Choh (with Kinross Gold KGC).
Rick shared this with me today-Friday-Jan. 5, 2024:
“The Committee for Safe Communities has sued the Alaska Department of Transportation for allowing Peak Gold LLC , the joint venture between Kinross Gold and Contango, to transport ore between the Tetlin mine site and Kinross’s Fort Knox operations. Peak Gold believes the lawsuit is without merit.”
Rick, who had handled legal challenges in Alaska with Trilogy Metals and other companies, notes the trucks are carrying legal loads with licensed drivers and meet all weight and length requirements, and require no special permits
Alaska’s Department Of Transportation ]cannot single out specific trucks carrying specific types of loads as that is against state statutes.
“We believe the judge overseeing the case has all the information she needs to decide on the merits of the case and specifically CSC’s request for a preliminary injunction. We expect to hear from the judge sometime in January.”
Maple Gold Mines: I am not one to repeat annual letters from execs to shareholders. Unless their shares are crushed, pummeled and minced. Thus: Maple Gold Mines MGM MGMLF new CEO, Kiran Patankar, has since August 2023 been grappling with a BIG LETDOWN after deep-drilling results in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Québec. The brief letter here please.
Kiran in a conversation acknowledges Maple overspent on drill programs at the 100%-controlled Eagle Mine Project and the 50%-owned Douay and Joutel Gold Projects. What the geo-engineer and Yale MBA does not mention, at least in his letter, or to me, is whether Maple will seek partners with nearby gold projects.
Orford Mining ORM ORMFF has a Joutel property in the same Abitibi region and it is getting no respect from shareholders. I own Orford.
Kiran told me, “I am a geological engineer (Colorado School of Mines) … and I do not spend money like a drunken sailor. I know accretive deals.”
DHT Maritime Holdings: DHT’s NYSE stock continues to reflect a turbulent Red Sea passage for shipping-cos. I own it. The stock is rising each day this week.
Here is a Reuters update about surging spot leasing rates for carriers in the region, which is beset by Houthi (Yemen) rebel attacks.
— Thom Calandra
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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.