Source: Ron Struthers 07/09/2024
Ron Struthers of Struthers Resource Stock Report believes that the vast majority of investors would have no clue that Zonte Metals Inc. (OTC: EREPF), B2Gold Corp. (AMEX:BTG), and Victoria Gold Corp. (OTC: VITFF) have so much in common. He compares them and explains why he believes two are Buys.
A lot of news on Zonte Metals Inc. and on numerous fronts.
B2Gold Corp. released a pre-feasibility on Gramalote.
Victoria Gold Corp. is exploring the area adjacent to Zonte, which will probably go under, and Zonte started drilling at Cross Hills.
Let's start with. . .
B2Gold Corp.
Recent Price - $3.75
Entry Price - $4.45
Opinion - Buy
B2Gold Corp. has pulled back in the last couple of months, like most gold stocks. On June 19, they released a very strong pre-feasibility report on the Gramalote Project in Colombia.
As most readers of this newsletter are aware, Zonte Metals holds disputed claims right over the middle of the Gramalote proposed open pit. This has been stuck in the Colombia courts for many years, First, previous Gramalote partner and operator, AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) tried to get Zonte's claims dismissed and with no success they recently dealt their 51% interest in Gramalote to B2Gold. This does give B2Gold potentially better economics with 100%.
Anglo Gold promised a full feasibility study, and now B2Gold is promising a full feasibility study by mid-2025. The problem is that full feasibility cannot be completed if they do not have a clear title to all the claims, or perhaps they could put a disclaimer in the report that it relies on a settlement with Zonte.
B2Gold will probably drag this out, but judging by how good this pre-feasibility study is, they will want to push this towards production.
Highlights:
- Significant gold production profile with low-cost structure and favorable metallurgical characteristics:
• Open-pit gold mine with an initial life of mine of 10 years, with mill processing over 12.5 years;
• Average grade processed of 1.26 grams per tonne gold over the first five years, benefiting from the processing of the higher-grade core at the Gramalote project; life-of-project average grade processed of 1.00 grams per tonne (g/t) gold;
• Life-of-project gold production of approximately 2.3 million ounces with an average gold recovery of 95.9% from conventional milling, flotation, and cyanide leach of the flotation concentrate; • Average annual gold production of approximately 234,000 ounces per year for the first five years of production;
• Average annual gold production of approximately 185,000 ounces per year over the life of the project;
• Projected lowest-quartile all-in sustaining costs of $886 per gold ounce over the life of the project;
• Annual processing rate of 6.0 million tonnes per year;
- Strong project economics:
• Life-of-project after-tax free cash flow of $1.38-billion;
• Assuming a discount rate of 5.0%, net present value after tax of $778 million, generating an after-tax internal rate of return of 20.6%, with a project payback on preproduction capital of 3.1 years;
• Estimated preproduction capital cost of $807 million (includes approximately $93 million for mining equipment and $63 million for contingency);
Gramalote has a long history of studies and technical reports that support the existing mining permit that is currently in place. The existing mining permit is currently in place for a larger-scale project, so this permit will require ...