Gold Has Major Breakout Above $2700 And The Gold Stocks Were Even Stronger On Friday

Gold had a fantastic day on Friday closing at a new record high over $2700 on both the futures market and spot market. It looks like the market is starting to see the potential for $3000 gold by the end of this year, or early in 2025, is in the cards. 

The gold stocks also had an impressive day as well with several of our picks up well over 5% on Friday. I’ve been reporting that it was time for the gold stocks to start performing much more bullishly in line with the power of the gold bull market. It is starting to happen and I get the sense that generalist investors are starting to get more involved with the gold stocks. 

Silver also had a terrific day on Friday, hitting a high that you have to go back to 2012 to find the last time it traded at its current price. Some feel it is starting to squeeze the shorts in the paper market, which are remarkably high considering physical silver supply is well below physical silver demand and that deficit looks to grow dramatically.

Silver is an important metal to follow as it has a way of confirming the strength in the gold bull market. In the early days of a gold bull market, silver lags and then ramps up to outperform on a percentage basis. With silver still well below its record highs, while gold is at record highs, it has a lot of catching up to do, but certainly is primed to do that in the short-term and long-term.

Copper is another metal that first lags gold in a bull market and then joins the party. Copper is getting very close to its record high. The supply and demand fundamentals for copper are extremely bullish and with both China and America in stimulus mode it is also primed to go much higher.

I’m very bullish on gold, silver and copper, partially because they all went through long-term underinvestment into the supply chains. The old mines aren’t being replaced with new mines, and that will stay that way for many years. Precisely because the underinvestment in new mine development and exploration means that there aren’t enough development and important discoveries to help the majors increase production nor to replace their old mines with new mines.

As bullish as I am on gold, silver and copper, I strongly believe that the best way to play bullish moves in the metals are through the stocks. Including a nice mix of best in breed miners, much needed developers with impressive projects and explorers with important discoveries.

While generalist investors have been busy over the past couple years running up the prices of tech stocks to insane valuations, and bitcoin to Dot-com era prices, and lately the artificial intelligence stocks, they haven’t noticed the mining stocks. Yet.

Gold miners, like our top picks Agnico Eagle and Alamos Gold are producing remarkable free cash flow that few industries can match. That will certainly catch the attention of generalist investors, at least the smartest money ones. 

We are also seeing an impressive increase in M&A activity, which also has a way of grabbing the attention of generalist investors. One of our top picks, SilverCrest Metals, has recently received a takeover offer from Couer Mining. Which is not surprising because they are building up a big warchest of cash, plus gold and silver that will help Couer reduce its debt, plus increase their production and decrease their costs of production. 

In the past, I had reported that SilverCrest was a likely takeover target, but I didn’t want to see them taken over because I thought they could build a mid-tier silver-gold miner. The industry needs more mid-tiers, but now they will help Couer Mining grow into a much larger miner. That is if a higher takeover offer doesn’t come in that wins the SilverCrest prize. It wouldn’t surprise me if Couer Mining has to sweeten the deal with a higher bid.

I have no problems finding many reasons to be bullish on gold, silver and copper. What I struggle with is finding high-quality stocks in those metals that pass through my filters. Whether that is miners, developers or explorers. Which in itself is bullish for the metals as it means that the supply chains of these metals will continue to be constrained for many years.

It is also very bullish for the high-quality stocks for a couple key reasons. One is that they will benefit from higher metals prices. Secondly, as generalist investors come into the metals stocks, they will find a small menu to choose from. Which is a perfect setup to drive stock prices much higher.

Top Picks At Rocks And Stocks News

Below is my current list of top picks. I have others on my radar screen that I am awaiting important catalysts to then add them to my list of top picks. 

To find those on my radar screen, you can look at my Substack account and Youtube account, where I have written about them or interviewed their management.

As always, please remember that I am only an idea generator, you need to do your own homework and consult with your financial advisors before making any investment decisions.

I can assure you that I have done my homework and feel the picks and sponsors are excellent companies for you to do your homework on. 

Agnico Eagle

They are the premier gold miner of the Big 3 gold miners. They have reported three consecutive quarters of record free cash flow. In the second quarter of 2024, gold had its highest average price for a quarter and the third quarter beat that quarter by a significant margin. In the second quarter, they had a record in free cash flow reaching a half a billion dollars. Not many companies, in any industry, are consecutively breaking free cash flow records and the third quarter should be a dazzling report that will come out at the end of the month. In addition to the fantastic numbers coming out from their current mining operations, they are also making efforts to increase production and bring down costs. When you look at the important metrics for gold miners, Agnico Eagle is a shining star that is accomplishing things their peers are unable to achieve. On the most important metric for their shareholders, the stock is also a star performer as it is trading at all-time highs and significantly outperforming gold. With their excellence in execution, and the power of the gold bull market, they are perfectly prepared to continue to be a stellar performer as the best in breed major gold miner.

Alamos Gold

If you are looking for an Agnico Eagle lookalike, one need not look further than Alamos Gold. They also made a record for free cash flow in the second quarter and things are set up perfectly for them to do it again in the third quarter. In addition to being an exemplary gold mine operator, they are also one of the best at mergers and acquisitions. Their past timely M&A deals have put them in a position to increase their production and also drop their cost of production to around $1000 per ounce. Which will make them one of the lowest cost producers of gold amongst the gold miners. They are also handsomely rewarding their shareholders with record highs in their stock price. I can see them being a stellar performer for several years that consistently outperforms the powerful bull market for gold. 

Amex Exploration (sponsor, see disclosure below)

It is rare that an explorer puts out a resource estimate (MRE) with a plan to follow that with a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) within a few months. Often it can be years between a MRE and a PEA. This is because most juniors want to go with as big of a number as possible, when to do a PEA the resource needs to be constrained for what can realistically have economics wrapped around it. When I look at an MRE, I mainly focus on the margin between the cutoff grade and the average grade. As this is an early indication of what the internal rate of return (IRR) will look like in a PEA. Whereas most retail investors focus on the size of the resource in gold ounces. If those ounces can’t pass through a PEA, then they are inflated for promotion purposes. Amex’s Perron project has a healthy margin between the cutoff grade and the average grade. It is in Quebec, near a mining town, with road access, and it is so close to the town that there is cell phone coverage. I’ve been impressed with the Perron project since its discovery hole as it is a high-grade orogenic gold project. Their High Grade Zone has excellent continuity and they have found a series of zones all in close proximity. I’m looking forward to seeing their pending PEA that should be out within 6 weeks or so. I will be watching for the IRR, specifically the estimated capital costs (Capex) and how fast the capital costs can be paid back. What I have noticed is companies with high IRRs, low Capex and fast payback of the Capex are most appreciated by investors. I like their chances to deliver that kind of a PEA.

Borealis Mining (sponsor, see disclosure below)

Even though Borealis Mining only became a publicly listed company in August, 2024, they are one of my favourite juniors. They did a remarkable job of putting together a tremendous story as a private company that has positioned them to hit the ground running as a newly minted public gold junior. It all started for them when they were able to make a timely deal to acquire the Borealis Mine in Nevada, at the depths of the gold stock bear market, from Waterton. This enabled them to attract a who’s who of mining executives to their board when they were private. In addition to putting together a board of directors that much larger companies would love to have, they also have a terrific management team. Due to the quality of the project, they also got two marque mining investors to invest when they were private. Eric Sprott is one and Rob McEwen is the other. When Rob McEwen was presented the story of Borealis Mining, he quickly decided that he wanted to buy Waterton’s entire shareholdings in Borealis Mining that they received for vending in the Borealis Mine. A deal was consummated and now Rob McEwen is the largest shareholder of Borealis Mining. The Borealis Mine is a past producer, fully permitted, with an ADR processing facility, with power and water, plus road access, a loaded heap leach with a stockpile right beside it, and a huge alteration zone that is underexplored with minimal drilling. They have been able to create revenue from residual leaching to pour gold, and more material on the leach pad has never been leached. Plus, the stockpile is ready to load material onto the leach pad. In addition, the project is wide open for exploration to drill for new oxide deposits, and expand the known oxide deposits. Minimal drilling below the oxides intersected thick hits of high-grade gold in the sulphides. They have two methods for growth at the Borealis Mine, one is from mining and the other is through exploration. Not many juniors realistically can say that as they have many years before they could ever start mining. Borealis Mining was built for success as a private company and is ready to deliver as a new publicly listed junior.

Coppernico Metals

Coppernico has only been publicly trading for a few months and they are the newest edition to the picks at Rocks And Stocks News. They are led by Ivan Bebek, who is a highly respected serial mining entrepreneur that has surrounded himself with a very strong team to focus on their Sombrero project in Peru. I recently did an interview with Ivan that is a great introduction to the company and their project. What immediately stood out to me is the geological similarities Sombrero has to the Las Bambas mine which is the 11th largest copper mine in production worldwide. They are definitely looking for a big prize. I was also impressed with one of their key people that recently left BHP to work with Coppernico. While at BHP he did important geological work on the Las Bambas mine, so he has relevant experience on exactly the kind of target they are focused on. From their early drilling, they have indications that their model is holding up and I’m looking forward to seeing assays from their ongoing drilling campaign. They are cashed up to keep drilling aggressively throughout 2025. So far there is smoke in the earliest drill holes, if it turns into fire, the company will get tons of attention because Ivan Bebek has found important discoveries in the past. I have a feeling Sombrero is going to evolve into an impressive copper discovery.

Dryden Gold

Dryden Gold has amassed a large land package near the town of Dryden, Ontario that is not far from Red Lake, Ontario. There are many geological similarities between Red Lake and Dryden, as they both have very old rocks that host orogenic gold deposits. Historical drilling on Dryden Gold’s project has found spectacular high-grade gold. The next step is to understand the controls on the high-grade gold system to find more zones and follow them to depth. That is where orogenic gold systems can get very exciting as they have deep roots and in the important orogenic gold mines, like at the Red Lake Mine, they get higher grade as they go deeper into the system. Their President, Maura Kolb, is an ideal person to figure out the system because she had a long career leading a big exploration team at the Red Lake Mine. Recent drilling suggests that Maura and her team are putting the pieces of the orogenic gold puzzle together and where to focus their drilling to hit more high-grade gold.

Goliath Resources

Goliath recently completed a 38k metre drilling campaign at their Golddigger project. They have one of the most important discoveries in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia in many years at their Surebet discovery of high-grade gold. That is why they are my highest conviction gold discovery pick. What is most impressive about the Surebet discovery is the widespread distribution of visible gold. This year they are using the photon assaying method which uses all the core and an x-ray method to assess the gold content which is more representative than traditional assaying when there is lots of visible gold. They will have plenty of results from drilling that should come out over the next few months starting soon. Based on the early results from this year’s drilling things are shaping up for this to be their best year of drilling on their Golden Triangle project. With gold in a powerful bull market and not a lot of explorers with important discoveries, Goliath is well positioned to get a lot of investor attention.

i-80 Gold (sponsor, see disclosure below)

i-80 Gold is my top turnaround pick for gold mine developers. In addition to a series of impressive deposits for gold, silver and base metals, they also have two processing facilities that will enable them to fast track their projects into production. When it comes to developers, the sector needs plenty more, especially with high-quality assets like i-80 Gold has in Nevada. Recently, they brought in Richard Young, as the new CEO, who is a mine builder that had remarkable success at Teranga Gold where he was the founder and CEO. He built it into a low-cost, mid-tier gold producer that was bought out for C$2.5 billion. With the quality of assets that i-80 Gold has, Richard Young certainly has the opportunity to repeat his success at Teranga Gold. Plus, i-80 Gold is focused solely in Nevada and is one of a small number of gold focused developers with a NYSE listing. As more American based generalist investors gain confidence in gold stocks, they have few developers to choose from that are listed on the NYSE and i-80 Gold has a fantastic turnaround story.

McEwen Mining

Back in the third quarter of 2022, I made McEwen Mining my top mining turnaround pick and they have come a long way since then. But, I still see them as a turnaround pick in the process of turning around. In addition to being a gold miner, they also have one of the top 10 undeveloped copper projects anywhere in the world. Plenty of major mining companies want more copper in the portfolio and Los Azules is exactly what Dr. Copper has ordered. When Goldcorp was under Rob McEwen’s leadership, they had a transformation with their drilling and I believe McEwen Mining has that potential at their Fox Complex in Ontario. I’ve described the Fox Complex as an explorer’s dream project. The Los Azules project is a remarkable copper project that looks to be exactly the kind of project the copper mining space needs more of to help meet future demand as the copper supply chain is very weak compared to the demand. The company looks undervalued for its copper project alone, and the gold mining projects are very underappreciated. This combination makes for a turnaround in motion that looks to have plenty of blue skies ahead.

NevGold Corp. 

NevGold is currently drilling at their Nutmeg Mountain project in Idaho. It currently has a resource estimate of 1.2 million ounces of oxide gold and the drilling is focused on expanding on the resource. I’m most optimistic about this project's potential for a cluster of gold-rich epithermal veins below the oxides. I will be following closely for results from drilling to expand the oxide zones and also for drilling below the oxides.

Vizsla Silver (sponsor, see disclosure below)

Vizsla Silver has an amazing silver-gold project with a base case IRR in their PEA of over 80% and if you use current silver and gold prices it is well over triple digits. Plus, it has a low capex that is what Vizsla Silver can handle as it is much less than their market valuation. Even better, it would be paid back in a well under a year. Those kinds of metrics are unheard of in the precious metals space these days. In addition to a spectacular PEA, their exploration potential is equally as impressive. They have a cluster of epithermal veins that is of a similar size as some of the great epithermal vein clusters of Mexico. While Mexico is the leading silver mining country in the world. Recently, they completed resource expansion drilling and next up is regional exploration on their target-rich project. When it comes to their regional exploration, they have a great model of where the boiling zone (also called the bonanza zone) is in the epithermal vein cluster, so as they drill other targets, they know the depth to target. Sometimes in epithermal vein clusters, the blind veins that don’t come to the surface are the best ones, which they have seen with the Copala vein. So, the epithermal vein cluster has plenty of potential for additional blind veins. Recently, I did an interview with their CEO, Michael Konnert, to introduce Vizsla Silver as my newest sponsor. I’m very happy to have Vizsla Silver as a sponsor as I am very bullish on silver but struggle to find a lot of great silver stories. In Vizsla Silver, they are a prime silver-gold development company, with exceptional exploration potential, and I believe they will evolve into a much bigger company. As they are a sponsor my audience will have a front row seat through interviews and reports as they advance toward becoming a low-cost, high-grade silver-gold miner.

In Closing

Gold is going through a renaissance as there is a worldwide Death Spiral of Debt that will result in one of two outcomes. Either there are defaults on debt in many countries, including America, or they will return to the Gold Standard. Both of those outcomes are tremendously bullish for gold.

The central bankers in the BRICS nations are already loading up their currency reserves with gold and moving themselves back toward the Gold Standard. This has caused gold to move past the Euro to become the second largest central bank reserve currency. Next it has the US dollar in its crosshairs. Gold is at record levels against every fiat currency, because it is the soundest money.

American debt is so severe now that the interest on the debt is consuming a big and growing portion of the revenue from taxes. Many of the G7 countries are in a similar situation because they foolishly followed America in building their economies on debt and destroying the purchasing power of their fia currencies due to excessive money printing.

It makes no sense to own American debt as there is so much supply and the yield is paid in a currency that is constantly destroying purchasing power. The same can be said for all the G7 countries. You can make that up with liquidity, just like a business can’t make up for losses with volume. 

The next American president will be a massive spender and the costs of servicing the debt and growth in the national debt will continue its unsustainable path higher. These problems are on autopilot.

Meanwhile, the BRICS nations are selling their US dollars and US debt, to buy gold. They are becoming an economic force to be reckoned with and many of the countries in the association are major players in commodity production. 

In a few days, the BRICS nations are meeting in Russia and I don’t think it is a coincidence that gold is very strong prior to the meeting. They want an alternative to the US dollar as a reserve currency and for world trade, gold fits the bill.

I have a feeling there will be bearish commentary coming out of the BRICS meeting for the US dollar and alarm bells about the debt crisis in America. 

I suspect that we are starting to see generalist investors buying gold stocks with a fear of missing out (FOMO) and owners of gold stock holding on for dear life (HODL) to protect their wealth and purchasing power.

That sounds like a very smart money move that will not only be bullish for gold, it will also be bullish for silver and copper, especially for the stocks in those metals.

It’s A Golden New World, With A Beautiful Silver Lining And Dr. Copper Is Preparing For The Party.

All the best,

Allan Barry Laboucan

Disclosure

Amex Exploration is a sponsor of Rocks And Stocks News, content creation about them is for the benefit of the company. Sponsors also benefit readers and viewers of the reports as it makes content creation possible for no charge to the Rocks And Stocks News audience. Borealis Mining is a sponsor of Rocks And Stocks News, content creation about them is for the benefit of the company. Sponsors also benefit readers and viewers of the reports as it makes content creation possible for no charge to the Rocks And Stocks News audience. Allan Barry Laboucan is a shareholder of Borealis Mining and is a consultant to the company. Allan Barry Laboucan is a shareholder of Goliath Resources and also owns warrants to purchase additional shares. i-80 Gold is a sponsor of Rocks And Stocks News, content creation about them is for the benefit of the company. Sponsors also benefit readers and viewers of the reports as it makes content creation possible for no charge to the Rocks And Stocks News audience. Vizsla Silver is a sponsor of Rocks And Stocks News, content creation about them is for the benefit of the company. Sponsors also benefit readers and viewers of the reports as it makes content creation possible for no charge to the Rocks And Stocks News audience.

Rocks And Stocks News does not make buying or selling recommendations. The reports are for information purposes only. Sponsors pay a fee to Rocks And Stocks News for content creation. The business model of Rocks And Stocks News is to fund research and reporting on the sector, picks and sponsors through corporate sponsorship. We are thankful to sponsors for enabling commentary free of charge to readers and viewers of the reports. When reporting on sponsors it is on behalf of the sponsors discussed in the portion of the report mentioning the sponsor. Before making any investment decision it is important for you to speak with your financial advisors to consider your risk profile. It is also important to do your homework. To help in that process, Rocks And Stocks News means to be a gateway by doing reports and interviews of management of sponsors and picks. The reports and interviews should not be considered investment advice. Allan Barry Laboucan is the founder and owner of Rocks And Stocks News, he has worked in the mining sector since 1993 and has been reporting on the sector since 2005. He has worked with and been mentored by very talented geoscientists in geology, geochemistry and geophysics. He uses the skills he has picked up during his career to assess sponsors and picks in the reports. Whether a company is a pick or a sponsor they go through the same filter and are reported on when important news is made that Allan Barry Laboucan wants to discuss on the Rocks And Stocks News platform. He may own shares in sponsors and picks for investment purposes which he discloses when discussing them in the reports.