Mini-maxi combo signals opportunity for cashed-up miners

Alamos Gold Will Buy Orford Mining For Shares

Obscure Québec Explorer In $24 Million CAD Transaction 

 

[Tuesday: Dollar Shrinks Commodity Prices — below *]

A neglected sub-$15 million metals explorer, Orford Mining ORM ORMFF, will become part of a company, Alamos Gold AGI, that qualifies as one of the fastest growing Canadian gold producers of the past 10 years.

The Orford-Alamos boilerplate: external news report here please. Press Release here please.TCRs, we’ll be seeing more of these mini-maxi combinations (note Dundee Precious Metals‘ intention to purchase Namibia gold project developer Osino Resources OSI OSIIF a few weeks ago) in what was and still is a mediocre setting for tiny miners-explorers-developers’ frantic need for cash to prove their properties’ worth.

Next takeover on The Calandra Report list of obscure miners needing greater attention and money? Perhaps Banyan Gold BYN BYAGF, already in part owned by Yukon neighbor Victoria Gold VGCX VITFF (its Eagle Gold Mine just out with Q4 gold output numbers).

image.png
Orford Mining stock chart, until today, defines ‘obscure.’

Banyan Gold also Monday (Martin Luther King holiday in U.S. and a working day in Canada) published the remaining 2023 exploratory drill holes at its 6.2 million-ounce AurMac Project: those holes headlined 95 g/t gold over 35.7 meters.

Alamos already owned 27% of Orford.

John McCluskey, CEO of Alamos, tells me every year or so, “You have to go where no one goes to find world-class gold deposits.” John was on that tour of faraway Qiqavik those years ago.

John also spearheaded the purchase of the Lynn Lake gold project in northern Manitoba,  820 km northwest of Winnipeg. That transaction with Carlisle Goldfields took place in October 2015. Lynn Lake, which I visited before the Alamos transaction, is well on its way to becoming a mine.

Another obscure possible? Alamos owns 9% of Aztec Minerals AZT AZZTF, an Arizona and Mexico gold and polymetallic explorer. Another absurd market-cap at $18 million CAD. Enough said.

 

Eric Lemiuex, independent geo-analyst in Québec, tells me today, “Good portfolio of projects, but with less than $3 million, not easy for Orford to move full force ahead in 2024.”

 

[I own Orford Mining ORM ORMFF and Alamos Gold AGI shares. Ownership: 4 years. I saw Qiqavik in far northern Québec’s Nunavik in September 2021. See image. I own Osino Resources shares.]

Orford’s David Christie, at right of image, at Qiqavik’s Lake Shear drilling; Alamos Gold, 27% Orford owner, board member  & Toronto lawyer, Claire Kennedy, at left; Scott Parsons, Alamos Gold VP of exploration, in middle. Thom Calandra: image

Orford also operates a nickel project in Nunavik and a whole lot of lithium ground up there; and it owns a gold project in the Abitibi Gold Belt not far from Maple Gold Mines’ MGM MGMLF spread in Québec.

I will hold my ORM shares (up 100% Monday January 15, 2024) and await the Alamos Gold shares when the purchase closes.

Thank you, David Christie of Orford and John McCluskey of Alamos.

*Dollar gains, metals, oil decline Tuesday — U.S. central bank’s early 2024 interest rate plans questioned  — external article (Reuters) here please.

Also this 9-month dollar chart below, courtesy of our longtime Las Vegas technical analyst, subscriber Al Marden, who notes, “The irresistible force (death cross) meeting the immovable object (inverse Head & Shoulders).Both China and Russia in financial trouble… and so are we.”

— Thom Calandra
PayPal $229 Yearly Non-Recurring The Calandra Report
 
 

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.