Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Arizona Metals (TSX: AMC) has discovered a new lens of mineralization in its Kay deposit on the namesake copper-gold project, outside the known deposit’s edge, the company reported Thursday.
Drill hole KM-24-166 pierced the new zone, called Kay2, cutting 50 metres grading 0.66% copper, 3.2 grams gold per tonne, 5.15% zinc and 30.5 grams silver from 676.2 metres depth. The hole, part of phase three drilling at Kay, included 6.9 metres at 0.5% copper, 5.8 grams gold, 11.14% zinc and 92.7 grams silver. Kay2 is about 100 metres north of previously drilled mineralization at Kay.
“We have long anticipated the expansion potential of the Kay project, and this drill hole shows that the upside at Kay is substantial,” Duncan Middlemiss, Arizona Metals president and CEO said in a release, adding that two out of three rigs at Kay are drilling into the Kay 2 zone. “We expect the newly discovered Kay2 zone to contribute to the upcoming mineral resource estimate for the Kay deposit.”
The past-producing Kay site hosts several other historic mines in the United States’ top copper producing state.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Rene Cartier said in a note Thursday that results at Kay continue to highlight its expansion potential. BMO expects Arizona Metals to release its upcoming resource estimate in the first half of 2025, he said.
Shares in Toronto-based Arizona Metals gained 1.4% to C$1.47 apiece, valuing the company at C$170.5 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of C$1.40 and C$2.68.
The results at the 5.3-sq.-km project, about 70 km north of Phoenix, came just before the price of gold touched yet another historic high of $2,790.10 per oz. on Thursday morning, amid a year of record prices for the yellow metal.
Another noteworthy hit at Kay includes step-out hole KM-24-162 which cut 1.5 metres grading 1.86% copper, 0.4 gram gold, 1.36% zinc and 22.6 grams silver from 747.1 metres depth. That hole extended mineralization 30 metres to the south, Arizona Metals said.
KM-24-160A intersected 3.7 metres at 0.05% copper, 0.2 gram gold, 1.37% zinc and 1.7 grams silver from 559 metres depth. It pierced a 95-metre gap near the centre of the deposit.
Including the third phase of drilling at Kay, Arizona Metals has drilled 122,000 metres on the property.
