It was a brisk week for news flow in the junior mining sector with a number of companies releasing drill results and drill program updates. I have selected four companies to highlight as the trading week draws to a close.  

Eloro Resources (TSX-V:ELO, OTC:ELRRF) continues to expand the Santa Barbara Target Area at its Iska Iska Project near Potosi, Bolivia. I feel like most of Eloro's NRs are very similar; they usually contain multiple 100+ meter intersections of 100+ g/t silver-equivalent. While the results reported this morning continue to confirm that the Santa Barbara Area is both very large and increasing in size, it is the drilling to the south at the El Porco Target that could transform Iska Iska from an outstanding project to a world class project:

"Drilling is continuing in the Porco area to test for a potential Sn porphyry as suggested by the 3D inverse magnetic model (see Eloro press release March 1, 2022). Thus far, 4,870 m in five (5) holes have been completed in the Porco target area with assays pending."

Dr. Bill Pearson also added the following:

“The addition of a fourth drill and the more rapid turnaround from both our assay laboratories at ALS and AHK has allowed us to increase the pace of the exploration drill program considerably. In the next 2-3 weeks we expect to have the GeologicAI core scanner on site. We have worked closely with GeologicAI to build the database for the scanner from all our available geological and geochemical information. The scanner will allow us to better outline and track the mineral and metal zonation at Iska Iska, which is critical to efficiently explore this remarkable mineralizing system which remains open in all directions.”

One of the hottest metals on the planet today happens to be tin. Tin is in short supply and there is almost insatiable demand for the metal due to its multiple uses as solder, coating, and as an alloy. WoodMac has published an excellent article on tin fundamentals that includes this graphic showing a metal moving into chronic undersupply:


TinOne Resources (TSX-V:TORC) is the new kid on the tin block and Wednesday morning the company announced that it has begun drilling its Great Pyramid Tin Project in Tasmania, Australia. Great Pyramid is a very nice project for a company with a US$10 million market cap. The project contains shallow historic drilling that is estimated to have outlined a small near surface deposit with an average grade of around .2% Sn (tin). Considering that tin is trading $19/lb an average grade of .2% tin is excellent.

Tin One intends to complete a 5,000 meter drill program (2,200 meters of RC drilling and 2,800 meters of diamond drilling) at Great Pyramid with the following objectives:

  • Target the potential immediately below and adjacent to the historical resource where average drill depth is 46 meters;
  • Drill confirmation holes adjacent to historical holes to provide additional data regarding the tenor of tin mineralization using modern drilling methods compared to historical open hole percussion; and
  • Test the deeper and lateral IP targets generated by the offset pole-dipole IP survey recently completed by the Company.

I used this week's market swoon to pick up a starter position in TORC.V shares.

Last weekend I attended a conference in Scottsdale, Arizona where I met with 20 companies. The company that stood out among the crowd was Superior Gold (TSX-V:SGI, OTC:SUPGF). This morning, Superior Gold confirms that I have good taste from time to time.

Superior Gold - Superior Gold Intersects 83.2 G/t Gold over 3.2 Metres as it Opens the 1.6-Kilometre-Long Western Mining Front at Plutonic

The Superior Gold story is a straightforward one that includes a profitable gold production story, a multi-million ounce gold resource in the #1 mining jurisdiction on the planet (Western Australia), and a company that has more than C$20 million in its treasury and no near term financing needs.

All of that can be acquired at yesterday's closing price for a C$110 million valuation. There are only two ways that I can see an investor losing money in this situation:

1. The gold price goes into a tailspin.

2. Superior's Plutonic Gold mining operations prove to not be so superior after all.

The latter seems more likely than the former, however, I view both to be low probability outcomes. From my perch SGI.V shares are a strong buy below $.95, and one can use a ~20% stop loss to manage downside risk. SGI shares are on my shopping list. 

Last but not least, Puma Exploration (TSX-V:PUMA, OTC:PUXPF) reported more impressive high-grade gold step-out intersections at the O'Neil Gold Trend at its Williams Brook Property in New Brunswick, Canada. The following map helps to illustrate how the high-grade hits appear to be clustered along the favorable contact:

Hole WB22-25 intersected 34.93 g/t gold over 3.0 meters within a wider zone assaying 6.47 g/t gold over 16.90 meters. The intercept in hole 25 was essentially right from surface and shows high-grade gold mineralization within a lower grade envelope.

The recently completed drill holes and field observations show the same mineralized quartz veins and stockworks with disseminated sulphides locally (pyrite, galena, sphalerite, malachite, azurite, tetrahedrite) and sporadic visible gold within widespread limonite and sericite alteration. The alteration appears to be localized at the contact between brecciated rhyolite and sediments and along the major high-grade quartz veins.

Puma’s technical team estimates that the 10,000 meters drilling campaign will be completed in June, after which the 2022 field exploration program will begin over the entire property. A detailed exploration program is being prepared and will be announced shortly. It will focus on first priority targets defined from the current geophysical, geochemical and drilling compilation.

PUMA shares have been under pressure in recent weeks as they test important support near $.35:

PUMA.V (Daily)

The last two times PUMA tested this area of support it proved to be an attractive buying level, will the 3rd time prove to be a charm?

Disclosure: Author owns shares of ELO.V, TORC.V, and PUMA.V at the time of publishing and may choose to buy or sell at any time without notice. 


DISCLAIMER: The work included in this article is based on current events, technical charts, company news releases, and the author’s opinions. It may contain errors, and you shouldn’t make any investment decision based solely on what you read here. This publication contains forward-looking statements, including but not limited to comments regarding predictions and projections. The author of this article has been compensated for marketing services by Eloro Resources Ltd., TinOne Resources Inc., and Puma Exploration Ltd.  The author is not a registered investment advisor and advice you to do your own due diligence with a licensed investment advisor prior to making any investment decisions. Readers of the article are expressly cautioned to seek the advice of a registered investment advisor and other professional advisors, as applicable, regarding the appropriateness of investing in any securities or any investment strategies, including those discussed above. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. This publication is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always thoroughly do your own due diligence and talk to a licensed investment adviser prior to making any investment decisions. Junior resource companies can easily lose 100% of their value so read company profiles on www.SEDAR.com for important risk disclosures. It’s your money and your responsibility.