Gold Price Steady as Companies Update on Project Progress

The price of gold has fared well since the beginning of 2015, and Wednesday was no different. The yellow metal traded in a fairly short range of $1,210.70 to $1,217.30 per ounce, just slightly under the previous day’s high of $1,220.10. 

Against that background, a number of gold-focused companies took the opportunity to release results from their various projects. Here’s a little background information on those companies, as well as a quick look at what they had to say Wednesday.

Continental Gold (TSX:CNL,OTCQX:CGOOF) 

Advanced-stage exploration and development company Continental Gold hopes to become a leading gold producer in Colombia, where its flagship Buritica project is located. Though a November preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for Buritica was well received, overall the company suffered in the last few months of 2014 due to various factors, including gold’s price decline and the fact that it was reportedly one of the stocks dropped in October by German gold stock newsletter writer Oliver Gross. Continental was also booted off the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index (INDEXTSI:TXGM) midway through December.

All that said, the company doesn’t seem to be slowing down and, as mentioned, kicked off the year by releasing results from Buritica. Specifically, Continental put out new channel sampling results from developmental drifts and cross cuts in the upper levels of the Yaragua mine, located at Buritica. They show higher grades and thicknesses than in the resource estimate set out in the Buritica PEA; one highlight is 1.77 meters at 50.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 68 g/t silver along 61.5 meters at the San Antonio vein at an elevation of 1,560 meters.

The company ended Wednesday down 1.68 percent, at $2.34.

Rubicon Minerals (TSX:RMX,NYSEMKT:RBY)

Similar to Continental, Rubicon is an advanced-stage gold development company. Its main project, Phoenix, is situated in Ontario, and the company recently confirmed that production is due to start up there in mid-2015, with initial production pegged at 1,250 tonnes per day.

Wednesday saw Rubicon announce the completion of a 38,000-meter infill drilling program from the 244-meter level at its F2 deposit. It resulted in mineral discoveries within the deposit to the north and south of the main zone. Previously unpublished assay results include 157.12 g/t gold over 1.5 meters and 31.3 g/t gold over 4 meters, including 44.6 g/t gold over 3 meters.

Commenting on the company’s next steps, Michael A. Lalonde, president and CEO of Rubicon, said, “[w]e located potential economic intercepts at both the north and south ends of the 244-metre level in areas that had been sparsely drilled. Further drilling in this area is planned for 2015. We also have commenced a surface drilling program to test the potential northern extension of the F2 Deposit. A considerable number of historical high-grade intercepts suggest that the F2 Deposit could extend to the north. We are also pleased to continue the stockpiling of mineralized material on surface from underground stope development.”

Rubicon closed Wednesday at $1.29, down 1.53 percent.

Marathon Gold (TSX:MOZ) 

Rounding off the list is Marathon Gold, which on Wednesday put out results from the Marathon zone, located 7 kilometers from the company’s Leprechaun gold deposit and 5 kilometers from its Victory gold deposit — both are situated within Marathon’s flagship Victory Lake project in Newfoundland. Holes MA-14-015 to MA-14-022 intersected “wide intervals of gold mineralization hosting narrower high-grade ore shoots,” and Marathon said that thus far the zone has a strike length of over 200 meters. Higher-grade intervals include 14.51 g/t gold over 2.4 meters and 11.53 g/t gold over 0.6 meters in hole MA-14-021

This month, the company plans to keep drilling the Marathon zone with the aim of increasing the strike length further. Later on in the year, the focus will be on drilling at the Narrows and Triangle zones.

At close of day Wednesday, Marathon was sitting at $0.29, up 3.57 percent.

Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article. 

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