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.
Brazil-focused explorer Bravo Mining (TSXV: BRVO) shares surged on Monday after the company announced an initial resource estimate for its Luanga palladium-platinum-rhodium-gold-nickel project located in Pará state.
The resource for Luanga showed a substantial increase in tonnes and contained metals at higher palladium-equivalent grades than the historical estimate reported by Vale SA (NYSE: VALE), the project’s previous owner, Bravo said.
Indicated resources amounted to 73 million tonnes at 1.75 grams per tonne palladium-equivalent for 4.1 million oz. of palladium-equivalent, while inferred resources totalled 118 million tonnes at 1.5 grams palladium-equivalent for 5.7 million oz. palladium-equivalent.
This represented increases of 38% and 62% in the respective categories over the 2017 historical estimate, which was reported to be 124 million tonnes grading 1.24 palladium, platinum and gold and 0.11% nickel using a cut-off grade of 0.5 grams platinum group metals and gold.
“The delivery of our maiden mineral resource estimate after only 15 months from our IPO is arguably Bravo’s most significant milestone to date. The resource estimate underscores Luanga’s size, grade, and potential open-pittable nature, which is supported by straightforward metallurgy,” said Luis Azevedo, CEO of Bravo Mining.
“On top of such attributes, Luanga has the potential to be one of the few multi-million-ounce sources of such critical and scarce PGM and Ni metals outside regions challenged by political instability, infrastructure shortcomings and permitting complexities.”
A majority of the Luanga resource is in sulphides, including 89,500 tonnes of nickel in the indicated category and 104,600 tonnes inferred. Oxide material totalled 4.6 million tonnes at 1.43 grams palladium-equivalent per tonne in the indicated category and 10 million tonnes at 1.3 grams palladium-equivalent inferred.
The initial estimate was based on 77,612 metres of drilling across 394 drill holes completed by Bravo and historical owners inside the mineralized envelope at Luanga between 1992 and 2023.
According to the company, there is significant potential to increase Luanga’s oxide resource inventory beyond that in the resource, as the mineralization remains open at depth along the entire 8.1-km strike of the deposit.
A fully funded, 63,000-metre drill program is currently underway to follow up the encouraging results beyond the current resource limiting pit constraints. The trenching program, which Bravo says has proven to be an effective way of assessing oxide mineralization potential, is also set to be completed.
By mid-morning on Monday in Toronto, company shares rose 11.6% to C$2.70 apiece, valuing the company at C$271 million.
