Jim's Mining Letter - May 16, 2024

NexGen Energy (NXE.TO NXE NXG.AX) announced the offering of 20,161,290 common shares at a price of C$11.11 per share. The offering was distributed to Australian investors to enhance the liquidity, trading volumes and market capitalization of the company's CDIs listed on the ASX. The net proceeds will be used to fund the continued development and further exploration of the company's mineral properties, and for general corporate purposes. NexGen is a British Columbia corporation focused on the development into production of the Rook I Project located in the southwestern Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Sovereign Metals (SVM.AX SVML.L) announced the results of downstream testwork conducted at the independent consultancy ProGraphite in Germany. Sovereign provided Kasiya graphite concentrate to ProGraphite to produce and characterise coated spherical purified graphite active anode material for lithium-ion batteries. The overall program includes shaping and purification to produce spherical purified graphite, coating of the material to produce coated spherical purified graphite and evaluation of the electrochemical performance of Kasiya coated spherical purified graphite in a battery. The initial steps of shaping and purification to produce spherical purified graphite have now been completed with the results showing Kasiya spherical purified graphite has world-leading specifications. This spherical purified graphite material is now undergoing coating and electrochemical testing to characterise coated spherical purified graphite active anode material for lithium-ion batteries. Kasiya’s spherical graphite purification demonstrated exceptionally low levels of residual impurities achieving a 99.99% loss-on-ignition.

Caledonia Mining Corporation (CMCL CMCL.L) announced an increase to the mineral resources and mineral reserves estimates at the Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe. The 2023 drilling campaign yielded excellent results, with better than expected grades and widths indicated from the deep level drilling programme, resulting in a significant increase to Blanket's mineral resources and mineral reserves estimates.  Measured and indicated mineral resources, reported under NI 43-101, have increased by 63% to 1,789k ounces and mineral reserves by 106% to 812k ounces. Blanket's mine life is estimated to 2034 based only on the updated mineral reserves estimate, thus securing the future of Caledonian’s flagship asset and demonstrating its continued prospectivity and potential at higher production levels. Management believes that the inferred mineral resources may, based on past successful conversion rates, further extend the life of mine past 2040.

Arras Minerals (ARK.V ARRKF) announced the commencement of a regional field program across the more than 3,300 square kilometre license package it controls in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. The 2024 Exploration program will target licences associated with the Teck Resources (TECK (NYSE), TECK.A and TECK.B (TSX)) strategic alliance, and Arras’s 100% owned Elemes and Tay projects. This will be the company’s third exploration season in Kazakhstan. In addition to the work with Teck, Arras says it is excited to follow up on the Elemes and Tay prospects and expects to drill them later in the season after refining the targets with additional mapping and geophysics. The 2024 field program has the potential to be transformative for Arras. The company expects to drill at least three new porphyry prospects this year, which when combined with the Beskauga Project which it has under an option to purchase, means Arras potentially has at least four porphyry prospects controlled by the company.

Awalé Resources (ARIC.V AWLRF) announced that Newmont (NEM NGT.TO) has progressed to Phase 2 of the earn-in agreement over the Odienné Joint Venture Project. This is said to be a significant milestone that underscores the ongoing success and potential of the Odienné Gold-Copper Project through which Newmont could earn a further 14% interest (for a total 65% interest) via $10 million in exploration expenditure and defining a minimum 2 million ounce gold resource. This follows the company's successful Phase 1 outcomes, which included positive drill results and four discoveries. The $10 million from Newmont paired with Awale’s recent C$11.5 million equity financing now puts the company on a solid footing,

SolGold (SOLG.TO SOLG.L) announced financial results for the third quarter ended 31 March 2024. Highlights include completion of the updated Cascabel pre-feasibility study, which incorporates a phased approach plan, significantly reducing initial capital costs. The project has a pre-tax NPV8% of $5.4 billion, a 33% IRR, and a post-tax NPV8% of $3.2 billion with a 24% IRR. An exploration update for the Blanca-Nieves Project states that channel-saw samples of gold-bearing epithermal quartz vein outcrops at the Florida target returned results of 6.15m @ 7.46 g/t Au, including 2.2m @ 21.1 g/t Au. Additionally, a significant porphyry target has been identified at Cielito Norte, covering approximately 2.5 x 2.5 km. SolGold also has signed a memorandum of understanding with Grupo Empresarial Semaica, Enerhydra, and Constructora Nacional S.A. for a sustainable hydro-solar energy initiative at the Cascabel Project. The collaboration aims to develop a power project delivering approximately 200 megawatts of renewable energy.

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