The Conversation (0)
John Kaiser of Kaiser Research has suggested that opportunities remain for junior miners. Here’s a look at a few companies mentioned in a recent conversation with Kaiser.
“One of the beauties about this market is that you can see potential that the market refuses to see,” he told Resource Investing News. “It is really a fantastic time to see what the serious geologists are trying to do, to look at their stories, to look at their evidence.”
Kaiser argued that the broader market is “blind to the potential” of such stories. “It doesn’t want to listen,” he said. “It wants to see the 200-meter barn-burner intersection before it pays attention.”
Here’s a look at a few companies mentioned in a recent conversation with Kaiser.
1. Tsodilo Resources (TSXV:TSD)
Tsodilo holds the Xaudum project in Northern Botswana, and Kaiser noted that the company initially chased diamonds at the property before discovering an area of geological complexity that is “completely covered by Kalahari sand.”
“After some analysis, the company realized they were looking at the same setting that hosted fantastic sediment-hosted copper deposits in Zambia and the Congo,” he explained. “In other words, it’s a copper belt basin-sedimentary setting.”
The company wasn’t able to find a high-grade zone on its own, but Kaiser stated that its work has attracted the attention of First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM,LSE:FQM), which has now spent roughly $40 million on exploration work to define the property.
2. Adamera Minerals (TSXV:ADV)
Headed by Mark Kolebaba, Adamera is revisiting an area of Northeastern Washington that Kaiser said has hosted “a few interesting deposits” such as Kinross Gold’s (TSX:K,NYSE:KGC) Buckhorn mine, but that has mostly seen smaller vein systems and skarn deposits.
“Mark’s view is [that] this region has not really been seriously looked at from a systematic, modern perspective,” Kaiser said, adding that the company is working on a tiny budget, but is developing the argument that discoveries so far in the area are outliers relative to larger deposits that could still be present. A systematic reevaluation of the entire region will be required to find those.
“The trouble they’re having, of course, is getting anybody to believe them,” said Kaiser.
3. Nevada Exploration (TSXV:NGE)
Though Nevada Exploration is currently trading at just a penny, Kaiser said he is trying to resurrect the story. The company has spent $12 million assembling 5,000 samples in shallow basin parts of Northern Nevada. It has used groundwater sampling “on the theory groundwater picks up not just the toxic elements associated with Carlin-like deposits, but also gold itself.”
So far, the company has identified 20 or so “hot spots” outside of main trends such as Carlin and Cortez that are currently all owned by majors.
4. AMARC Resources (TSXV:AHR)
Providing an example of a company that’s looking where there’s been previous exploration, Kaiser pointed to AMARC Resources and its Ike project in South-Central British Columbia. Past exploration picked up copper-moly mineralization, but Kaiser explained that since it wasn’t obvious that a deposit anything would come together and since the property was a bit more remote than projects such as Teck Resources’ (TSX:TCK.B,NYSE:TCK) Highland Valley, it was never seriously followed up on.
However, last year, AMARC did follow up via grid drilling at the main area of the property. “They came up with really good results, suggesting ‘here’s at least a half-billion-tonne body with grades coming close to Highland Valley grades,’” said Kaiser.
5. Defiance Silver (TSXV:DEF)
Several years ago, Defiance picked up land covering old, high-grade silver veins in the Zacatecas area of Mexico.
“Their strategy now is to drill beneath the old mine workings and demonstrate that this stuff extends deeper. But the really big blue sky is that these vein structures disappear to the south on land that has never been explored,” said Kaiser. “If they could replicate what has been mined out in the last 300 years in the northern part, which the company owns, you’re talking about a hundred-million-ounce potential high-grade silver system.”
Kaiser noted that the project is “high risk,” predicting that Defiance will aim to delineate a smaller portion of the potential mineralization at the property in order to help attract a higher market capitalization and “pull in the bigger bucks needed to do the more expensive drilling.”
6. International Montoro (TSXV:IMT)
Kaiser said he recently received a call out of the blue regarding International Montoro and its Serpent River project near Elliot Lake in Ontario. Based on a geophysical anomaly found in the area, the company has drilled a deep hole and has encountered zones of sulfide mineralization.
While he pointed out that geophysics can be deceiving, Kaiser stated that his interest would be piqued by an encouraging intersection. “People like me will look closely at it and will want to know, ‘what is the geological context of these holes that you’ve drilled? What do they say about the geology? Where is this pointing you towards ideally the first hole should have been?’”
Kaiser suggested that the area could draw a lot of excitement if the project proves to be successful. “That would be a play that, all of a sudden, if there is a large nickel-PGM system in this area where they’re deeper — and [where] they have not really been explored for because they’re not sticking out on the surface — you could see a lot of the land staked up,” he said.
For more information and disclosures from Kaiser regarding the companies mentioned here, please contact him via his website — Kaiser Research Online
Securities Disclosure: I, Teresa Matich, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.
International Montoro is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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