Gold Standard 2.0 Developing In Real Time
It is well underway, more are noticing it in gold, but not gold stocks, yet. The gold stocks have a lot of catching up to do, looks like only a matter of when not if.
Not only are the BRICS nations putting themselves on the Gold Standard, they also want to have alternatives to the US dollar dominating world trade. On a daily basis they are creating agreements to use their domestic currencies for trade, but the problem is that some countries won’t want their domestic currencies for their goods. They will still want US dollars. Gold is the perfect solution as it can not be printed by countries that also issue too much debt.
The Death Spiral of Debt isn’t an America only problem, many countries have used debt to grow their economies for much too long. And printed their currencies like they are going out of style. They are in fact going out of style which makes it challenging to use them for trade. Not only is gold a perfect alternative, it won’t be long before it is used much more for international trade. It was in the past and will be in the immediate future.
More countries will have to keep increasing their gold reserves, like the BRICS nations, and then need to create a central clearing house to store the gold and move it around for trade. It is coming, a lot sooner than many think.
The BRICS nations are leading the trend. Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), they have been increasing their gold reserves. With 2022 and 2023 by far being the biggest buying in this trend.
I don’t think it will be long before the central bankers of the West follow the lead of the BRICS nations central bankers. The solution to the GFC was to issue alarmingly more debt which has caused a Death Spiral of Debt. America now owes $34 trillion in debt and servicing that debt is over $1 trillion with both growing at an unsustainable pace.
As the world moves towards the new Gold Standard the gold stocks remain at record low valuations. Investors have a great opportunity to put themselves on a Gold Standard to protect their wealth and purchasing power. Those that want to grow their wealth and enjoy buying things at depressed valuations are seeing a terrific opportunity that reminds me of the sentiment toward gold stocks in the years prior to the 2001 to 2011 gold bull market.
Some Gold Stocks Picks And Sponsors At Rocks And Stocks News
i-80 Gold
My top pick for a junior gold miner with an exceptional growth path is i-80 Gold. They had news out this week and their CEO Ewan Downie came on the show for an interview to dig deeper into the news. They are a regular guest on the show and a sponsor, the reason they are on so many shows is because the company is very active with their drilling and consistently puts out fantastic news.
The headline from their recent news was a thick intersection of high-grade from their Ruby Hill project. This project is unique in the mining sector, to the west of an old pit they found a Carlin style deposit, to the south of the pit is a series of CRD deposits with high-grade base and precious metals, to the east of the pit is a high-grade skarn deposit. All of them are in close proximity and can be reached from the same network of underground workings they have designed.
What also stood out from their latest news release is that copper is also showing up now in their drilling. The geological model for these types of deposits is that the CRD and skarn deposits come off a porphyry source. The CRDs have an overprint of high-grade gold and now copper in the system as well. Which is an exciting indicator of the potential to have a high-grade gold and copper porphyry source.
Where the source is remains to be seen, considering all of the various deposits are so close together, the source is likely not far away. My guess is their ongoing drilling and geophysical work will lead them to the source.
Ewan and I discussed the news and what it could mean in our interview, as well as pending news. You can find it here:
Goliath Resources
This is my highest conviction gold discovery story. They have started 2024 with three important news releases.
On January 9, 2024 they announced a slew of drill results with impressive gold grades. Something that stood out to me was they dramatically increased the modeled size and grades from their Surebet and Bonanza zones. They now stand at nearly 22 million cubic metres with an average grade of 8.59 g/t AuEq. This is based on 222 holes drilled to date, they both remain open in all directions. The increases are only based on drilling inside the known models, several intersections hit gold outside the model so they are working on new models to update them to represent all the intersections inside and outside the models.
On January 16, 2024 they announced results from their regional sampling program near Surebet and Bonanza zones. This new discovery is called Jackpot. What stood out to me was that their sampling returned bonanza-grade gold numbers. Equally as important, the gold is in the volcanics. Surebet is in the sediments, while Bonanza is in the contact between the sediments and volcanics. The newest drilled discovery is the Golden Gate Zone which is in the volcanics approximately 20 metres below the Bonanza Zone. Surebet, Bonanza and Golden Gate show through drilling that the system continues from the top of the mountain in the sediments, down the mountain to the contact of the sediments and into the volcanics. Jackpot is around 250 metres from the modeled Bonanza Zone in the volcanics. Once I saw the dramatic increase in the modeled size and grade of Bonanza, I immediately started to wonder where the source or feeder for the Bonanza Zone? The Jackpot discovery could be the answer as it is in close proximity, along strike and below, in the volcanics.
On January 18, 2024 they announced a new discovery of a series of zones around 35 km from the Surebet Zone in the northwest corner of the Golddigger project. This one is called Treasure Island, I think they named it that because it is an outcrop of rock, with glaciers around it sort of sitting there like an island. If you look at the series of zones in that outcrop and the high-grade gold as well as high-grade copper grades, it certainly looks like it could be an island with buried treasures. Initially, when I looked at the outcropping rock being 550 metres by 450 metres, I thought that is impressive considering the grades. Then I looked at the image of the zone and realized the zone dimensions are only what is in the outcrop, with ice all around it, the chances that the zone is confined to the outcrop is highly unlikely and that it likely continues under the ice. No wonder the geological team has already designed a drilling plan for this year.
If all they had was Surebet, Bonanza and Golden Gate zones, I would be impressed. The fact that every time their geological team spots an outcrop and samples it, they find a new discovery is very exciting.
This is how the Surebet Zone was discovered; they saw an outcrop with extensive mineralization from the top of a mountain going down both sides. They drilled it and found a big zone with excellent grades in the sediments. They drilled through Surebet which is how they made the Bonanza Zone discovery right below the sediments, in the contact of the sediments and volcanics. They drilled through the Bonanza Zone and made a game changer discovery in the 2023 drill program of the Golden Gate Zone in the volcanics below the Bonanza Zone.
The Surebet Zone discovery clearly shows that great things can be found below the outcropping mineralized zones. Surebet is modeled to be big and high-grade, Bonanza Zone is even bigger with similar grades. I can’t wait to see what drilling in 2024 does to grow the Golden Gate Zone with the high-grade to bonanza-grade gold in the volcanics. As well as drilling at Jackpot, also in the volcanics, in close proximity to the Bonanza Zone. My guess is that Bonanza and Jackpot zones are part of the same mineralizing system with Jackpot having the potential to be the feeder zone for the Bonanza Zone.
The potential that all the high in the system zones have multiple feeder zones with a big heat engine below them is a very reasonable assumption. Then they have regional targets like Treasure Island to drill into to figure out its potential for high-grade gold and high-grade copper.
Grassroots gold discoveries are rare in exploration. The reason they have made such an impressive discovery here, with the potential to find more is that Golddigger was covered by glaciers that have receded and exposed the rocks, causing the Goliath geological team to be the first humans to set eyes on them.
Exploits Discovery
I’ve been watching the Newfoundland gold discoveries made by New Found Gold with great interest. To be honest, they flew to a high valuation very rapidly off their initial high-grade to bonanza-grade gold discoveries that I missed the boat. It’s not the first time and will likely not be the last either. But when I see discoveries like this, I try to understand the geology and those that could make discoveries around them. Exploits has a lot of claims in this region. Ultimately, I think it will grow into being one of the most important mining camps in Canada.
Some of the important gold mining camps were found well over a hundred years ago. Followed by many more discoveries throughout the years since and even over the past few years. In the case of the camp near Gander, Newfoundland it is a recent new discovery region that burst onto the scene when New Found Gold made their discoveries and kept making new ones.
Exploits were quick on the draw when they saw what New Found Gold made their initial discovery and secured a large land package in the camp. Around a year ago, they were able to get through staking the Bullseye project to the immediate north of New Found Gold’s ground.
It caught my attention because it was right beside New Found Gold and in the same kind of rocks. In this camp they are making orogenic gold discoveries. I love these kinds of deposits because the important ones, like at Red Lake and Fosterville, are extremely high-grade and have low costs of mining so they generate high levels of free cash flow. They truly are cash machines of mines.
Some important geological factors are important for this style of gold deposits. They are found in very old rocks, with crustal faults that go very deep. You can think of them as big cracks in the earth going through old rocks. Those cracks work as the path of least resistance for the fluids carrying gold from very deep in the earth’s crust to make their way closer to the surface. As they get close to the surface secondary faults are equally as important as are the folds in the old rocks. The secondary faults and folding allows the gold fluids to pool up if you will into important deposits that have the potential to be mines.
In this emerging discovery camp the main fault is called Appleton, and with all the discoveries New Found Gold has found, they have consistently shown that the secondary faults are very important as well. Some of their key discoveries are coming off the Appleton fault where there are secondary faults coming off them.
Three of New Found Gold’s new discoveries are in the northern end of their main claim block right on the other side of the claim boundary they share with Exploits. Those discoveries are Everest, Honeypot and Jackpot.
Everest is the northernmost and is right beside the Appleton Fault, that fault keeps going to the north right through Exploits ground. Exploits drilled to the north of Everest and hit high-grade to bonanza-grade intersections. More drilling will be needed there to better understand what they have found.
The other two discoveries New Found Gold made in close proximity to Exploits ground are Honeypot and Jackpot. What stands out to me about these discoveries is that they are so close to the Exploits claims. Even more important, is that the secondary structures they were found in go onto Exploits ground.
The immediate importance for Exploits are those secondary faults associated with Honeypot and Jackpot going onto their ground. Additionally, there is a network of secondary faulting going up the east side of their claims. This network of secondary faults has west to east faults and cross cutting north to south faults. The location of where the cross cutting is can be a perfect location for drilling as well because it is often at those cross cutting locations in these orogenic systems that have excellent rock preparation for gold mineralization. You can think of these intersections as places where the rock gets broken up and forms a nice conduit for the gold bearing fluids from much deeper to make its way up.
Exploits knew that New Found Gold was drilling right beside them. When they saw the results from Honeypot and Jackpot, they immediately moved the drill rig in and are drilling right now. This is all happening on the fly, they moved the drill rig on the project right after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. I think they have a heck of a chance to make new discoveries because of what has been discovered on the other side of their claims and the structural story.
I’m planning to do an interview next week with their VP of Exploration Ken Tylee. This will give us a chance to learn more about what has been found right beside them and the plans for their drilling. Stay tuned.
All the best,
Allan Barry Laboucan
Disclosure
i-80 Gold is a sponsor of Rocks And Stocks News. Goliath Resources is a sponsor of Rocks And Stocks News, and Allan Barry Laboucan is a shareholder and holds warrants to purchase additional shares.
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. This funding helps cover the costs of research and reporting on the sponsors and picks that aren’t sponsors. 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.