By James Kwantes
Published first at Patreon
Some insider buying of note as gold drops below US$2,600 an ounce and we head into the heart of tax-loss selling season ... and winter:
Mayfair Gold (MFG-V)
Given the relative trickle of outside capital into junior mining, the arrival of a well-known U.S. hedge fund (on the long side) is cause to pay attention.
I wrote about Mayfair Gold (MFG-V) and its new capital markets hire Nicholas Campbell in my last piece: Go Time For Mayfair Gold? On November 13 Campbell filed an opening balance of 463,889 shares and 300,000 options, then bought another $261,559 worth of Mayfair shares at $2.29 and $2.32. He owns 576,889 shares.
Mayfair's Fenn-Gib deposit in Ontario's Timmins gold camp hosts 4.3 million ounces of open-pittable gold, Indicated, at a grade of 0.74 g/t (0.3 g/t cutoff).
U.S. hedge fund Muddy Waters, with associates, took control of Mayfair and installed former K2 VP Darren McLean as chairman and interim CEO earlier this year. The fund put $2.87 million into Mayfair in a recent $1.80 financing and has been buying in the public market subsequently.
Muddy Waters - And a Golden Opportunity?
Since October 18, Muddy Waters has spent a further $1 million adding to its Mayfair stake, at prices from $1.95 to $2.20. The hedge fund was also involved on the long side with GT Gold, which sold for $400 million to Newmont in 2021.
Price: $1.91
Shares out: 109.25 million (119M fully diluted)
Market cap: $209 million
NGEx Minerals (NGEX-V)
Insiders figured prominently in a recent financing of Lundin-backed NGEx Minerals, the most exciting exploration play in Vicuña not owned by a major following Filo Corp's $4.5-billion sale BHP and Lundin Mining.
Guts, Glory ... and Another Lundin Moonshot?
NGEx has six drill rigs and a 20,000-metre drill program going at Lunahuasi, its high-grade copper-gold-silver discovery north of Filo. Lunahuasi and NGEx's 69% owned Los Helados deposit have generated a $2.5-billion market capitalization and a gravity-defying 1-year stock chart.
The drill program is being funded by a $176.9-million financing at $11/share. Lundin family trust Nemesia bought $25 million of the financing, taking their balance to 72.12 million shares, or 34.9% of the company. Director Alessandro Bitelli put $1 million into the financing; director Cheri Pedersen put $165,000 in.
On October 17, just after NGEx announced the private placement, Adam Lundin bought $149,124 NGEx shares in the public market, paying $11.56. On November 15, Finlay Heppenstall (VP Corp. Dev. and Investor Relations) spent $30,000 buying shares at $12.07.
Price: $11.89
Shares out: 206.9 million (217.57M fully diluted)
Market cap: $2.46 billion
Mirasol Resources (MRZ-V)
A world-class discovery district, in Vicuña. Tight share structure and patient, deep-pocketed backers. Flush treasury, pending drill program. Now, plenty of insider buying.
Mirasol fits the bill. You wouldn't know it from the company's share price, which is languishing at multi-year lows of 40 cents. The Chile-Argentina-focused project generator is preparing to drill targets on its 100% owned Sobek North and Sobek Central properties in Chile, located to the west of NGEx Minerals' (NGEX-V) Lunahuasi discovery and of Filo Corp's (FIL-T) Filo del Sol deposit, respectively. Filo Corp. was purchased for $4.5 billion by BHP/Lundin Mining.
Mirasol has had logistical trouble getting much drilling done in recent years, so a bona fide discovery could move the needle. First up is the Potro SE target at Sobek North, 3 km west of Lunahuasi, which is host to high-grade gold and silver rock chips and a copper geochem anomaly. Drilling will follow at the VN-Zone Au-Cu-Mo porphyry target at Sobek Central, 3 km west of Filo del Sol.
Mirasol just raised $5.1 million through the sale of 45-cent units, consisting of a share and a 1-year half-warrant exercisable at 60 cents. Haywood co-founder John Tognetti bought $1 million worth of units, taking his stake to 15.68 million shares, or 19.3%.
Other insiders participating were Troy Shultz, VP Investor Relations, who purchased $27,000 in units, and CFO Carmen Cazares, who bought $15,750 worth.
Tognetti isn't the only "whale" who has been loading up on Mirasol shares. 10% holder Glenn Pountney has been a prolific buyer of MRZ in the public market, dating back years, and lately he's been adding to his stake again. Since November 6 Pountney has spent about $18,549 on Mirasol shares, at 41-42 cents. He owns 8.56 million shares, a 10.5% stake.
Price: 0.40
Shares out: 81.2 million (88.6M fully diluted)
Market cap: $32.5 million
Aurion Resources (AU-V)
Aurion has been relatively quiet of late but there have been important developments in Finland's Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, where the company has a dominant land position.
The most valuable piece of land in the district is the part hosting Rupert Resources' (RUP-T) 4.1-million-oz Ikkari discovery, which has a grade of 2.18 g/t gold. A month ago, Graham Crew stepped in as the new Rupert CEO, replacing James Withall. Crew is a mining engineer who came over to Rupert from La Mancha Resource Capital and Golden Star Resources (GSC-T), companies backed by the billionaire Sawiris family.
Rupert has completed a PEA on Ikkari but further economic studies could be hampered by a less-than-optimal pit shell at Ikkari. The deposit sits on the doorstep of B2Gold/Aurion's joint venture (70% B2, 30% Aurion) ground to the south, which also hosts gold mineralization -- and probably, part of the Ikkari deposit.
Back in March of this year, Rupert offered B2Gold (BTO-T) shares worth $102.8 million for its 70% of the JV (implying a $44M valuation for Aurion's 30% stake). Aurion holds a right of first refusal on any sale of B2's interest, which it did not exercise. Talks between Rupert and Aurion failed to produce a deal, and Rupert did not close its deal with B2Gold. Presumably Rupert's new CEO will be motivated to get a deal done so the company can optimize the pit shell and economics at Ikkari.
To this backdrop, Lotan -- Aurion's largest shareholder -- has resumed his AU purchases. This month the veteran junior mining operator has purchased just under $80,000 worth of Aurion shares at prices from 57 to 64 cents. He owns about 15 million shares, a 10.1% stake.
Aurion raised $9 million back in August through the sale of 55-cent shares, a financing that Kinross Gold (K-T) participated in to maintain its 9.98% interest. Agnico Eagle (AEM-T), the owner of Finland's Kittila gold mine (Europe's largest), is another major in the mix in the greenstone belt. AEM owns 13.3% of Rupert's shares.
Price: 0.56
Shares out: 148.9 million (159.8M fully diluted)
Market cap: $83.4 million
Artemis Gold (ARTG-V)
A recent insider buy at Steven Dean's Artemis Gold, which is nearing completion of its Blackwater gold mine in central British Columbia, is notable both because of the buyer and the state of the company's flagship project.
The buyer was billionaire Ryan Beedie, who spent $252,220 to buy another 20,600 ARTG shares, paying $12.24/share. He owns, directly and indirectly, more than 67.7 million shares, a 30% stake worth about $860 million. The Beedie family made its fortune in real estate development before branching out into mining (the Beedies also backed Dean' s Atlantic Gold, sold for $800M to Aussie-listed St. Barbara in 2019).
On October 10, Artemis announced that construction at Blackwater was 95% complete. First gold pour is expected by the end of the year. The stock has more than doubled in the past year.
Price: $12.70
Shares out: 225 million (239M fully diluted)
Market cap: $2.86 billion
Prime Mining (PRYM-T)
Insiders at Pierre Lassonde-backed Prime Mining bought the dip late last week after a junior silver miners ETF dumped the company, causing a stock plunge. Prime is developing the Los Reyes gold-silver project in Sinaloa, Mexico.
On November 15 Director Chantal Gosselin bought about $50,000 worth of PRYM shares at $1.24. Gosselin also sits on the boards of Pan American Silver, Wheaton Precious Metals and Ero Copper. On the same day, Executive VP Exploration Scott Smith purchased 10,000 shares at $1.31.
Price: $1.55
Shares out: 147 million (175.1M fully diluted)
Market cap: $228 million
Onyx Gold (ONYX-V)
Sometimes it's the people doing the buying that catch your attention. Other times, it's the sheer volume of insider activity over long periods of time.
It's the latter that caught my attention at Onyx Gold, whose insiders have been loading up on stock ever since the company was spun out of HighGold Mining last year. Onyx has gold projects in the high-grade Yukon belt that hosts Snowline Gold and Fireweed Metals deposits, as well as a large land position in Ontario's Timmins gold camp. The latter is where Onyx's latest drill results were published: 1.87 g/t gold over 48.1 metres at the Munro-Croesus project.
CEO Brock Colterjohn came to Onyx from Cormark Securities, where he was a research analyst for three years covering companies including Snowline (and worked in institutional equity sales at Canaccord before that). Colterjohn has spent $109,101 in 2024 purchasing Onyx shares at 18-23 cents, in the public market and financings.
Onyx's executive chairman, Darwin Green, has spent $83,440 on Onyx stock at prices ranging from 16-21.5 cents, in public market and financing purchases. Onyx had $1.4 million in the treasury as of November 4 and will likely need to finance before further drill programs.
Price: 0.175
Shares out: 48.5 million (60M fully diluted)
Market cap: $8.5 million
Disclosure: I own shares of Mayfair Gold, Mirasol Resources, NGEx Minerals and Aurion Resources. No business relationship with any company mentioned. This article is for information purposes and should not be considered investment advice.
