Rupice produced 1.34 million silver-equivalent oz. last year and the company’s production guidance for fiscal 2025 is 12 to 13 million silver-equivalent oz. rising to 13 to 14 million silver-equivalent oz. in fiscal 2026. Rupice is forecast to produce an average of 11.5 million silver-equivalent oz. annually over a decade.
Last year, Adriatic completed 3 km of underground development and received permits for the first stage of its tailings storage facility. It plans to start disposing tailings during this year’s first quarter.
In January it received US$25 million ($35.7 million) from Trafigura as pre-payment for concentrate.
A definitive feasibility study in 2021 projected Rupice would deliver an after-tax net present value (at an 8% discount rate) of $1.06 billion and internal rate of return (IRR) of 134%. Initial capex of $168 million could be repaid in under a year. The DFS used metal prices of $25 per. oz. silver, $3,000 per tonne zinc, $2,300 per tonne lead, $9,500 per tonne copper and $1,800 per oz. gold.
The study did not include mining the Veovaca open pit deposit, 11 km from Rupice, and part of the company’s Vares project. The past-producing Veovaca mine produced lead, zinc and barite concentrates until it was put on care and maintenance in 1988.
Adriatic also owns the Raska zinc project in Serbia. The project consists of two past-producing zinc-lead-silver open pit mines. The deposits were discovered in the mid-1970s and Yugoslav state operated the mines between 1984 and 2000, when mining ceased due to conflict in the region. No significant exploration has taken place since.
Adriatic Metals has a market cap of about A$895 million (C$805 million).
Antipa Minerals
Antipa Minerals (ASX: AZY) is focused on its Minyari Dome gold-silver-copper-cobalt project in Western Australia. It’s about 35 km from Greatland Gold’s (LSE: GGP) Telfer gold-silver-copper mine and processing plant and 450 km from the regional hub of Port Hedland.
Last October, Antipa updated the resource estimate and scoping study for Minyari Dome, outlining a combined open-pit and underground mining operation that would produce 130,000 oz. gold a year or 1.3 million oz. gold in total over a 10-year life at an all-in sustaining cost of A$1,721 (US$1,205) per ounce. The mine plan envisioned a 3-million-tonne-per-year gravity and carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant producing doré gold.
The study estimated an after-tax net present value (at a 7% discount rate) of A$598 million and post-tax IRR of 52%. At a gold price of US$2,100 per oz., the initial capex of A$306 million, including A$90 million for pre-production mining, could be repaid in about two years.
The Minyari Dome project, which hosts seven deposits along a 3.2-km strike length, contains 32.2 million indicated tonnes grading 1.59 grams gold per tonne, 0.52 gram silver, 0.2% copper and 0.03% cobalt for 1.65 million oz. contained gold, 534,000 oz. silver, 64,000 tonnes copper and 10,000 tonnes cobalt. Inferred resources add 15.4 million tonnes grading 1.35 grams gold, 0.26 gram silver, 0.13% copper and 0.02% cobalt for 670,000 oz. gold, 127,000 oz. silver, 19,500 tonnes copper and 3,000 tonnes cobalt.
Antipa holds over 5,100 sq. km of tenements in Patterson province, of which Minyari Dome makes up just 880 sq. kilometres. Its remaining tenements have attracted major mining companies.
Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) is farming into Antipa’s 1,470-sq.-km Wilki project and IGO (ASX: IGO) into its 1,550-sq.-km Paterson project.
Last September, Antipa sold its 32% stake in the 1,200-sq.-km Citadel project to joint-venture partner Rio Tinto (LSE, NYSE, ASX: RIO).
Antipa Minerals has a market cap of A$230 million (C$207 million).
Heliostar Metals
Mexico-focused Heliostar Metals (TSXV: HSTR; US-OTC: HSTXF) became a gold producer last year through the US$5-million acquisition of the San Agustin and La Colorada mines from Florida Canyon Gold.
Residual leaching activities at St. Agustin in Durango state and La Colorada in Sonora state totalled 20,298 gold oz. and 43,076 silver oz.
in 2024. This year Heliostar forecasts production from the mines of 30,000-40,000 gold oz. and 76,500-94,500 silver ounces.
Exploration last year confirmed potential to exploit metals from La Colorada’s Junkyard stockpile and mining began in January. At St. Agustin, residual production continues this year and the company has applied for permits to expand the open pit. It is also evaluating San Agustin’s sulphide potential.
A 12,500-metre drill program with five rigs is underway at La Colorada’s Creston pit ahead of a feasibility study and expansion decision by mid-year. Underground resources at three pits are also open at depth.
Drill results from Colorada released in January included 11.6 metres grading 1.72 grams gold and 3.7 grams silver from 342.4 metres downhole in 24-LCDD-238; 4.3 metres of 9.87 grams gold and 6.8 grams silver from 179.2 metres in 24-LCDD-244; 15 metres of 2.54 grams gold and 7.5 grams silver from 439.4 metres in 24-LCDD-251; and 5 metres of 9.69 grams gold and 62 grams silver from 59 metres in 24-LCDD-254.
The company is also developing its Ana Paula project in Guerrero state. Heliostar acquired the project from Argonaut Gold for US$10 million in 2023. A feasibility study is expected in this year’s third quarter.
Heliostar kicked off a 5,000-metre drill program last August to expand Ana Paula’s underground resource. Recent highlights included 87.8 metres of 16 grams gold starting from 141 metres, including 16.1 metres of 71.8 grams gold in drill hole AP-24-317, and 126 metres of 4.02 grams gold from 105 metres downhole in AP-24-315, including 23.6 metres grading 12.5 grams gold.
Ana Paul has 3.35 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 6.60 grams gold for 710,920 contained oz. gold and 3.28 million inferred tonnes grading 4.24 grams gold for 447,512 oz. gold.
The company also owns the Cerro del Gallo gold-silver project in Guanajuato state and the San Antonio gold project in Baja California Sur.
Heliostar Metals has a Toronto market cap of $215 million.
Ivanhoe Electric
In January, Ivanhoe Electric (TSX, NYSE-AM: IE) released the first drill results from its 50:50 joint venture project in the Arabian Shield with Saudi Arabian mining company Ma’aden. The JV was drilling the Umm Ad Dabah target, about 6 km northeast of Ma’aden’s Al Amar gold-copper-zinc mine.
Drill hole UAD-005 returned 13.1 metres grading 1.31% copper and 4.5 grams silver from 718 metres downhole, and hole UAD-006 cut 5.9 metres grading 0.79% copper and 1.9 grams silver starting from 374.5 metres.
The drill targets were identified last year during an initial 76-sq.-km geophysical survey using Ivanhoe Electric’s Typhoon technology system. Typhoon geophysical data was then processed using the inversion software of Computational Geosciences, a 94%-owned Ivanhoe Electric subsidiary.
The work identified two chargeability anomalies spanning about 4.5 km in length. The southern anomaly, beginning around 200 metres below surface, extended beyond 1,000 metres in depth, and has a strike length of 1.8 kilometres. Three Typhoon systems are active across the JV’s 48,500-sq.-km land package.
Ivanhoe Electric also mobilized a Typhoon unit last December to start surveying an area of interest in Arizona in an exploration alliance with BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP). The alliance, created last May, is focused on exploring for deposits hidden under rock cover in the southwestern United States. BHP has committed US$15 million (C$21.4 million) in funding over three years. Ivanhoe Electric is the operator.
Ivanhoe Electric is also advancing a portfolio of projects across the U.S., including Santa Cruz (copper) in Arizona, Tintic (copper-gold) in Utah, and Hog Heaven in Montana.
The company is on track to update the Santa Cruz resource and complete a preliminary feasibility study in this year’s second quarter. Recent drill results include 99.4 metres grading 2.39% total copper from 738 metres downhole in hole SCC-234; 140.1 metres of 1.56% total copper from 753.4 metres in hole SCC-228; and 102 metres of 1.65% total copper from 678.1 metres in hole SCC-232.
Ivanhoe Electric has a Toronto market cap of $1.1 billion.
Osisko Metals
Osisko Metals (TSXV: OM; US-OTC: OMZNF) raised $107.4 million in a private placement last December that will be used to advance the company’s Gaspé copper project in Quebec and its Pine Point zinc project in the Northwest Territories.
The company kicked off a 110,000-metre drill program in February at Gaspé, a past-producing copper mine on Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula about 825 km east of Montreal. It plans to update the resource estimate in the second quarter of 2026 and advance the project to a construction decision.
In Gaspé’s most recent resource update last November, the company outlined 824 million indicated tonnes grading 0.27% copper, 0.02% molybdenum and 1.74 grams silver for 4.91 billion lb. contained copper, 274 million lb. molybdenum and 46 million oz. silver. Inferred resources measure 670 million tonnes averaging 0.3% copper, 0.02% molybdenum and 1.37 grams silver for 4.39 billion lb. copper, 294 million lb. molybdenum and 29.5 million oz. silver. The resource used a copper cut-off grade of 0.12%.
The company acquired all of the project from Glencore Canada in July 2023, and last December acquired an additional group of 199 claims adjacent to the project.
At Pine Point, where Osisko holds a JV project with Appian Capital Advisory, a feasibility study is expected in this year’s second quarter.
The project, on the south shore of Great Slave Lake near Hay River, currently contains 49.5 million indicated tonnes grading 4.22% zinc and 1.49% lead and 8.25 million inferred tonnes averaging 4.18% zinc and 1.69% lead.
Osisko Metals has a Toronto market cap of about $98 million.
Perpetua Resources
In January, the U.S. Forest Services approved the mine plan for Perpetua Resources’ (TSX, NADSQ: PPTA) Stibnite gold and antimony project in central Idaho. The permitting milestone paves the way for a construction decision as the company works towards finalizing the remaining federal and state permits and securing financing.
The project will redevelop the abandoned Stibnite mine site for gold, silver and antimony. It will also clean up legacy tailings and restore kilometres of river habitat and re-establish fish migration.
Perpetua says Stibnite will be one of the highest-grade open-pit gold mines in the U.S. and will supply about 35% of the country’s demand for antimony in its first six years of operations. China, Russia and Tajikistan control about 90% of the world’s antimony supply and currently the U.S. has no domestically mined source of the critical metal.
Last December, Perpetua said that United States Antimony (NYSE: UAMY), which operates an antimony processing facility in Montana, will conduct metallurgical testing of concentrate samples from Stibnite. Perpetua also signed a memorandum of understanding the same month to explore antimony processing opportunities at Idaho-based Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining’s Sunshine mine complex.
Last September, the company received a letter of interest from the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. for potential debt financing of up to $1.8 billion (C$2.57 billion for the project.
The company has also received funds from the U.S. Department of Defense. Last February, the DoD conditionally awarded up to $34.6 million in additional funding, bringing its total funding for the project to $59.4 million.
Stibnite contains proven and probable reserves of 104 million tonnes grading 1.43 grams gold and 0.06% antimony for 4.8 million oz. contained gold and 148 million lb. antimony.
A 2020 feasibility study outlined a mine life of 15 years recovering a total of 4.24 million oz. gold and 115 million lb. antimony. The study estimated an after-tax NPV (at a 5% discount rate) of $1.32 billion and an IRR of 22.3% at metal prices of $1,600 per oz. gold, $20 per oz. silver and $3.50 per lb. antimony. Initial capex including contingency was pegged at $1.26 billion with an after-tax payback period of 2.9 years.
Perpetua Resources has a Toronto market cap of about $1.2 billion.
Rumble Resources
Rumble Resources (ASX: RTR) launched a 20,000-metre drill program last November at its past-producing Western Queen gold project in Western Australia, about 110 km northwest of Mt. Magnet.
The goal is to find new high-grade plunging shoots that could boost resources beneath the Western Queen South, Princess, Marquis, Duke and Western Queen Central deposits.
The deposits remain open at depth and mineralization remains open along strike and at depth along the 2.7-km Western Queen shear zone. At the Princess deposit, which has been only sparsely drilled below 50-80 metres, previous exploration returned 11 metres grading 6.11 grams gold from 52 metres depth in drillhole WQJC-2; 2 metres of 40.37 grams from 4 metres in WQY-85; and 3 metres of 19.90 grams from 8 metres in WQRC011.
The company updated Western Queen’s JORC-compliant resource last October, outlining 2.39 million indicated tonnes grading 2.11 grams gold for 161,800 oz. gold and another 2.03 million inferred tonnes averaging 1.91 grams for 124,700 ounces.
Mining at Western Queen in the late 1930s recovered about 880,000 tonnes grading 7.16 grams gold per tonne for 215,000 ounces.
Last year the company also found tungsten. Drillhole WQDD013 returned 4.05 metres grading 4.58% tungsten trioxide (WO3) and 0.72 gram gold from 175 metres downhole, including 2.05 metres of 8.71% W03 and 1.38 grams gold.
The company recently signed a term sheet with Bain Global Resources, one of India’s largest mining contractors, to start cutting back and deepening the South pit and some of the smaller pits.
The project is within 100 km of three gold mills, offering the possibility for a near-term toll treating option.
The company is also advancing the Earaheedy zinc-lead-silver project, 10 km north of Wiluna in Western Australia. The open-pit project contains 2.2 million tonnes zinc, 700,000 tonnes lead and 122.6 million oz. silver in 94 million inferred tonnes grading 2.4% zinc, 0.7% lead and 4.2 grams silver. The JORC resource used a zinc-lead cut-off grade of 2%.
Rumble Resources has a Sydney market cap of about A$40.4 million ($36.3 million).
SolGold
SolGold (TSX, LSE: SOLG) is developing one of the largest copper-gold discoveries in South America at its Cascabel project in northwestern Ecuador, about 180 km from the deepwater port Esmeraldas.
A prefeasibility study last February envisioned an initial 28-year mine plan producing 123,000 tonnes copper, 277,000 oz. gold and 794,000 oz. silver per year. The study forecast an after-tax NPV (at an 8% discount rate) of $3.2 billion (C$4.57 billion) and an IRR of 24%. Pre-production capital of $1.55 billion could be repaid in four years from the start of processing based on metal prices of $3.85 per lb. copper, $1,750 per oz. gold and $22.50 per oz. silver.
Cascabel’s Alpala deposit contains 3.01 billion measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.35% copper, 0.28 gram gold and 0.94 gram silver per tonne (0.52% copper-equivalent) for 10.7 million tonnes copper, 26.8 million oz. gold and 91.3 million oz. silver.
Inferred resources tally 607 million tonnes grading 0.26% copper, 0.19 gram gold and 0.56 gram silver for 1.5 million tonnes copper, 3.7 million oz. gold and 11 million oz. silver. The 2023 resource estimate used a 0.23% copper-equivalent cut-off grade.
SolGold has a $750-million gold stream on Cascabel with Franco-Nevada (TSX, NYSE: FNV) and Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX: OR.CA; NYSE: OR).
The company’s Tandayama-America deposit is 3 km to the north of Alpala and its Porvenir project in southeastern Ecuador lies about 100 km south of Lundin Gold’s (TSX: LUG) Fruta del Norte project. The company’s other exploration projects in Ecuador are Blanca Nieves and Rio Amarillo.
BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP) and Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) each own about 10% of SolGold’s shares and China’s Jiangxi Copper 6%, according to a corporate presentation in January.
Porvenir contains 396.8 million indicated tonnes grading 0.35% copper and 0.14 gram gold for 1.4 million tonnes copper and 1.8 million oz. gold and another 97 million inferred tonnes grading 0.29% copper and 0.12 gram gold for 280,000 tonnes copper and 380,000 oz. gold.
Tandayama-America hosts 722 million indicated tonnes grading 0.23% copper and 0.19 gram gold for 1.7 million tonnes copper and 4.5 million oz. gold and another 247 million inferred tonnes averaging 0.21% copper and 0.21 gram gold for 500,000 tonnes copper and 1.6 million oz. Gold.
SolGold has a Toronto market capitalization of about $375 million.
