Resources Top 5: Sun Silver rises on ASX debut, and silver is ‘so high grade’ right now for AGC

Sun Silver arrives on the local bourse sporting a double bag of gains
Australian Gold and Copper is also rising on silver-related news
Meanwhile, Castillo Copper is sticking to its namesake game plan

Here are some of the biggest resources winners in early trade, Wednesday May 15.

Australian Gold and Copper (ASX:AGC)

Explorer Australian Gold and Copper is bursting up more than 70% so far today on… that’s right, you guessed it… silver.

The company has announced it’s drilled its way into some thick, super high grade metal at its Achilles target, which is part of the gold and polymetallic project dubbed Cargelligo, located in the Cobar mineral basin of NSW.

The high grade silver action includes a highlight of 5m at 16.9g/t gold, 1,473g/t silver and 15% lead+zinc.

“Achilles is producing some exceptional grades in the drill bit,” AGC boss Glen Diemar says.

“The first six holes have produced grades including combined lead and zinc to 38%, gold to 45g/t and silver above 3,000g/t.

“This silver result is so high grade the laboratory is sending the sample to Canada for further analysis, which is a rare occurrence.”

AGC share price

Sun Silver (ASX:SS1)

AGC is not the Lone Ranger riding high on silver today. (SFX: crickets…)

Explorer Sun Silver has made quite the entrance on the ASX, with an eye-catching +100% gain.

The company owns the ‘globally significant’ Maverick Springs silver project in Elko County, Nevada, which has an inferred mineral resource of 292,000,000 oz silver equivalent at 72.4gt silver.

Sun Silver SS1: a 292,000,000 silver equivalent resource commences trading on the ASX this Wednesday 15th at 9am AWST/ 11am AEST.https://t.co/qw4RsL8IeS #SS1 #silver #exploration #IPO #Nevada #USA pic.twitter.com/pRRoWaSIw4

— Sun Silver (@SunSilver_SS1) May 14, 2024

This listing comes after a successful, oversubscribed $13 million IPO for the company that saw investment from Australian and international institutional and retail investors.

The Maverick Springs project is located in the geologically prospective Carlin Trend in the heart of Nevada’s Tier-1, minerals-rich jurisdiction.

The company notes the project has exceptional potential growth with ~200 holes for ~60,000m drilled to date covering an area of only ~20% of the property. The deposit is open along strike and at depth.

Who’s involved in this? Some fairly heavy-hitting experienced players, with the board and management including exec director Gerard O’Donovan (ex-Pilbara Minerals) and Dean Ercegovic (ex-Primero Group), among others.

O’Donovan said, among other things, this, about its big silver operation and the current state of the silver market:

“Maverick Springs comes to market at a very exciting time for the global silver industry, which is in the middle of a supply squeeze driven by surging industrial demand for the metal and particularly because of its pivotal role in the production of solar panels.

“According to the IEA, solar is on track to become the dominant form of renewable energy by 2027 – just three years away – surpassing energy derived from coal and gas. That should see significant demand for silver, exacerbating the deficits we have seen over the past four years.”

SS1 share price

Castillo Copper (ASX:CCZ)

Queensland and Zambian-focused copper hunter Castillo posted a big gain on the ASX yesterday off the back of announcing its plans to develop the Big One deposit, part of Castillo’s NWQ project in Queensland.

That’s a deposit with a JORC 2012 compliant Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 2.1Mt at 1.1% Cu for 21,886t contained metal.

It’s still up, with a 28%+ intraday rise while its execs spruik the company over in ye olde Blighty via the 121 Mining Investment event being held in London over the next couple of days.

Slide 1 pretty much summarises the important bits:

Source: Castillo Copper

Copper is “a stable commodity with traditional and emerging applications”, notes the company.

In fact, that feels something of an understatement given the tear the critical red metal has been on so far this year and the global attention it’s been attracting.

CCZ share price

Cohiba Minerals (ASX:CHK) (Altair Minerals)

Speaking of things on a tear… “CHK, CHK, boom”. (Remember that? No? Never mind.)

Cohiba Minerals is back on the rise again to the tune of 70% or thereabouts and is now up more than 150% YTD.

The diverse minerals explorer announced yesterday that it’s all set to change its name and ticker – to Altair Minerals (ASX:ALR), which will take effect from Friday.

“The olllld company and ticker name-change pump, eh, Chief?”

(That one’s from Get Smart, right? Somebody? Somebody?)

It has actually had some other news of reasonable note in the past week, announcing a strategic review of the Olympic Domain project, which the company says “adjoins one of the biggest IOCG discoveries”, and where it has “confirmed strong prospectivity for IOCG mineralisation, which warrants further investigation”.

The big IOCG discoveries Cohiba refers to in particular, include the Oak Dam West site, belonging to BHP – see below.

Source: Cohiba Minerals

CHK share price

Golden Deeps (ASX:GED)

This emerging copper-gold explorer/developer is focused on the copper-rich district of Otavi Mountain Land in Namibia, but also the world-class Lachlan Fold Belt of NSW, Australia.

It’s the latter focus that’s pushed GED double digits up today, with drilling set to commence at the company’s 100%-owned Havilah Project to test a series of priority porphyry/volcanics hosted copper-gold targets.

The company notes that an initial 6-10 reverse circulation and diamond holes (up to 2,500m) will be drilled to test large copper-gold sulphide targets associated with strong sub-surface Induced Polarisation (IP) geophysical anomalies.

The drilling will also test two zones of outcropping copper mineralisation (malachite and the copper sulphide, chalcopyrite) associated with extensive soil anomalies and up to 1% Cu rock-chips, which GED says “may represent copper ‘leakage’ from the sub-surface IP sulphide targets”.

Drilling to commence at $GEDs 100%-owned Havilah Project to test a series of priority porphyry/volcanics hosted #Cu–#Au targets in world-class Lachlan Fold Belt, NSW
Read more: https://t.co/dxCgO5vQUs #exploration #drilling #ASXNews #ASX #copper #gold pic.twitter.com/M6Jo0aPWu7

— GoldenDeepsLtd (@GoldenDeepsLtd) May 14, 2024

Golden Deeps CEO Jon Dugdale noted that the Havilah project’s setting is similar to other major deposits in the Lachlan Fold Belt, such as Cadia-Ridgeway and North Parkes.

“Having completed our site clearances and engaged with drilling contractors, we look forward to kicking off our drilling program as soon as our drilling permit applications are approved by the NSW Government,” clarified Dugdale.