Opportunities In Gold Explorers and Developers – Part 2
Excelsior Prosperity w/ Shad Marquitz – 09-14-2024
My plane home landed last night at 11:35pm, and I left the Seattle airport right at the stroke of midnight; after having made the journey there and back again to the 2024 Precious Metals Summit in Beaver Creek, Colorado. It was a very full week, jam-packed with about 28 official company meetings in conference rooms, 4 other lunch presentations from companies, 3 more additional lunch meetings with peers (yes, some days I did back-to-back lunches just to fit in more networking – expanding my mind and my waistline simultaneously), 3 very nice dinner meetings with companies, and about 7 other “unofficial” meetings with companies outside of the conference meeting system.
It’s a rare event when one can fit in 45 meetings, and then of course that doesn’t include the dozens of bump-into conversations with company executives, newsletter writers, institutional analysts, influencers, capital markets guys, and high-net-worth investors. This event’s layout is conducive to meetings both inside and outside of the meeting halls, and at the various food & drink mixers on patios outside the hotel, or various restaurants peppered throughout the Beaver Creek village or in nearby Avon. Pound for pound, there is more networking at the Precious Metals Summit in Beaver Creek than almost any other conference I’ve attended. I talked to some companies that had literally pitched their stories over 50 and even 60 times in meetings both in and out of the event, when things had wrapped up on Friday afternoon.
Out of all of those conversations it really is way too much information to recap or relay to readers here, or even begin to encapsulate into a single piece, which were my initial thoughts for this article. Let’s just say there were lots of conversations that reinforced the reasons I’m in many of my current portfolio positions, plus I learned about a lot of new companies (some of which will be getting shared here over the fullness of time). Additionally, I revisited a number of companies already on my closer watchlist but not currently in my portfolio. Again, way too many to list or get into in any meaningful way, and so I’ll bring them out in the months to come, along with updates on companies that have already been discussed in prior articles.
The balance of this article is actually going to be about a gold and copper exploration company in my portfolio that I was not able to meet up with at this conference, but that did have some key news out this last week. It really is time to update readers here on this company. So, let’s get into it…
The company we’ll look into with this article is Goliath Resources Limited (TSX-V: GOT) (OTCQB: GOTRF). I just had a great conversation over at the KE Report with Roger Rosmus, Founder, CEO, and Director of Goliath Resources, the prior week, where he updated investors on their recently expanded 36,000 meter drill program with 8 drill rigs currently turning, on their 2 new discoveries, an ultra-high grade rock sample, and so much more. [I’ll share this interview for readers here a little further down in this article, but want to build up a bit more understanding of the prior exploration work and sequence of events leading to their recent news].
As a result of having just chatted the prior week, we had agreed it didn’t seem necessary to schedule an official meeting at the B.C. event, and both our schedules were already crammed full. However, my intention was to still connect with Roger at the event briefly for a catchup conversation, which he had offered to me, but it just didn’t work out due to my scheduling; (which I was bummed about as there was some more really interesting news out just this week).
On the flight home, I was thinking about how Goliath Resources was my most unique and impactful meeting at last year’s conference in Beaver Creek. We had a snafu at the official meeting during the course of the Beaver Creek conference, but I drove down afterwards to meet Roger in Golden, Colorado (a fitting name for a city to discuss gold exploration). They were preparing to make a presentation at the event that the Colorado School of Mines was hosting, but Roger took some time in their hotel lobby to catch me up with all their exploration results over the last 2 years, and why their exploration team was encouraged at the large gold system that was starting to get pieced together with all these results.
Going into that meeting, I was already familiar with their Golddigger Project, with us having interviewed Goliath Resources on the KE Report the last couple years to discuss the prior exploration work but digesting all the news really got my wheels turning. Additionally, I had gone to a lunch meeting featuring Goliath Resources at Brien Lundin’s conference in New Orleans in late 2022 that left a big impression on me with the company, their exploration results, and the prospectivity of the land package including the potential in the Cambria Ice Fields to the north. (more on that area later)
The company had dropped key news the week before the 2023 Beaver Creek PM Summit, and then again during the week of the event. Both releases demonstrated even more high-grade gold equivalent results over wide widths. These continued high-grade results really piqued my interest even further, because they were consistently hitting paydirt with most of their drill holes.
Goliath Intercepts 14.68 g/t AuEq Over 26.89 Meters (~true width) Within Golden Gate Feeder Zone, Golddigger Property, Golden Triangle, B.C. - September 14, 2023
I was so impressed with the drill core they were showing off to attendees around the conference, in concert with their prior drill results on this project over the last couple years that I left that meeting with Roger and bought shares in Goliath Resources the very next day upon returning home in mid-September of 2023.
Then that following week, on September 19th, 2023, they announced more visuals including “visible gold” down into their new discovery of the Golden Gate Zone down into the volcanic mineralized layer below the Bonanza Zone, and things were looking more and more interesting the deeper they drilled.
There was growing retail speculation on internet chat forums, but of course, the only thing that ultimately matters is what the assays come back with. Still, all indications were they were hitting significant mineralized intercepts over long widths, which should have been a bell ringing for anyone paying attention.
As an aside: I often hear companies get criticized for mentioning they see visible gold in core or in providing drill core photos. Many folks I otherwise respect have taken ill-informed swipes at Goliath for doing that, proclaiming that “it’s all just marketing B.S…” Well, on that note, maybe other companies should spend a bit more time on marketing and communicating their discoveries better to the markets (because many management and IR teams are atrocious at communicating news and don’t know how to effectively tell their story). However, that is a topic for another day.
What is more important for readers here to pick up on is that when the company releases these photos of the drill core, it IS actual news; and isn’t just to be splashy or just for marketing sizzle. Sure, that is part of their marketing approach, but they legitimately are clearly communicating to anyone with the vision to see it that there is mineralization present that consists of galena, sphalerite, pyrrhotite and minor chalcopyrite. Those are the types of minerals that contain the metals of interest in the project, so it is very germane to investors. Essentially that news is signaling that they have hit the right type of mineralization, and so “the holes are running.”
Then news broke a day later that Rob McEwen had taken an initial strategic position in the company, and that Crescat Capital continued to ramp up their participation to an 18% stake in the company. This news sparked even more upside movement in the share price. Obviously those guys are pros and they were seeing the picture starting to come into focus with the Golddigger Project, through the continued success with the drill bit.
About a month later the mineral-rich drill core assays finally came in and they did not disappoint. Again, this lends credence to their news release approach of showing photos of their drill core and mineralization in advance of assay results. Since 2021 there has been a consistent look to the drill core that runs and the assays that come back in… it is a clue to what is happening before it becomes obvious to the masses.
At this point more folks started discussing what could be going on here, including Quinton Hennigh over at Crescat Capital. He felt they were starting to get down into more feeder type material at depth in the volcanics. However, this also left last year’s drill program on a real “cliff-hanger,” because now everybody wanted to know what was further down at depth under that new Golden Gate Zone. Normally I would not have bought into a Golden Triangle exploration stock at the tail end of the season if there is going to be a half-year news vacuum, but I felt like what the exploration team was working on at Goliath was really significant; especially compared to many of the drill programs I get pitched or was following along with. In this case I was willing to wait for the 2024 drill program, and just wanted a seat at the table.
Fast forward to this year’s drill program, and it was initially planned to be a 15,000 meter drill program to start, but Roger had signaled that they were open to upsizing the program if they kept hitting results that warranted more follow up.
Well, coming out of the gate the very first drill hole of the season hit the kind of mineralization they wanted to see in the Bonanza Zone, but then also intersected a new deeper “Mothership Feeder Zone.” Roger was so excited about it that we decided to do a video call to review the visualization of the area. There are some good cross-sections that Roger shares in this video of this new intrusive system that they have it at depth showing a different kind of mineralization than the prior mineralized gold lens.
Goliath Resources – 1st Drill Hole Of 2024 Intersects New Deep Mothership Feeder Zone At Surebet - Jul 16, 2024
Well, that is one heck of a way to kick of a drill program, and they’ve continued to hit in drill hole after drill hole so far this exploration season. There has been a lot of newsflow showing the visualization of drill core out of the Surebet Discovery, along with the minerals present. Again, this should be a bell-ringing for anyone paying attention, as it is very similar to what we saw in the core from 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Drill hole GD-24-260 has the highest concentration of Visible Gold drilled to date at the Surebet Discovery. This intercept suggests this structure is a principal conduit for gold-depositing fluids and is likely close to the heat engine driving this system that remains open (see image below).
However, now there have also been 2 more new discoveries made into yet another New Deep Zone at the Surebet Discovery, and then a new nearby zone showing reduced intrusion mineralization that has been called Blue Origin.
Goliath Intercepts The Highest Concentration Of Visible Gold To Date At Surebet Where 66% Of 2024 Drill Holes Contain Visible Gold, Discovers New Deep Mineralized Zone 1.2 Km Below Surface, Remains Open, And Significantly Expands Drilling To 36,000 Meters With 8 Rigs Turning
September 3, 2024
All of this exploration success led to raising more capital to biggie-size this year’s drill program by 140% up to 36,000 meters. You don’t do that (and can’t do that in these tight capital markets) if you aren’t hitting something special with the drill bits. I had Roger on the first week of this month to summarize all this recent newsflow over at the KE Report:
Goliath Resources – 8 Drill Rigs Turning At Expanded 36,000 Meter Exploration Program At Surebet Reveals 66% Of 2024 Drill Holes Contain Visible Gold, Discoveries Of New Deep Zone And Blue Origin Zone, 7mm Gold Leaf Found At Jackpot - September 6, 2024
Then this last week, while the Precious Metals Summit was in full throttle, Goliath announced on September 12, 2024 that it had upped it’s private placement as Rob McEwen wanted to up his stake in the company to 3.8%.
The very next day, on September 13th, news broke that the private placement had been increased again, because now activist resource investor, Larry Childress, wanted to get a strategic position in place in his portfolio. (These are called clues).
While many companies still struggle to raise capital, they had sour grapes about Goliath continuing to raise a larger and larger amount to expand the exploration program not just in 2024 but expanding the capital into 2025’s program. Some investors are grumbling about dilution, but look they are hitting amazing mineralization, and so they are pressing on the gas pedal. As a current investor in Goliath Resources, I’m all for this strategy of accelerating and growing the program. Let’s see where this goes!
Here is what I know from all of this recent newsflow on the financings:
1) The company clearly has access to capital (and likely will moving forward)
2) The company has now raised plenty of money to expand the remaining drill program, and fund the early part of 2025 drilling.
3) With only 2 drill assays out thus far, there is going to be a steady stream of newsflow over the next few months, full of assay catalysts, and no more need to raise. That is an environment where good news of more high-grade results can really move the shares higher, unimpeded by further raises. (not investment advice, just sharing my personal thesis and perspectives)
At this point, we’ve not even covered the potential further value drivers over at the Jackpot discovery that is still yet to be drilled this season, (where a 7mm gold leaf was just found on a rock sample) or all the solid drilling done into the Treasure Island target this year up in the Cambria Ice Fields. For reference of where Jackpot, and Treasure Island are situated, relative to the Surebet Discovery and the new Blue Origin discovery, see the map below:
The Jackpot discovery really has me jacked! Last year there were some insanely high-grade gold/silver/copper results that came back from rock chip samples and channel samples with 636 g/t gold, 1,690 g/t silver, and 7.96% copper. Those are beyond bonanza grades, but usually the juiciest samples are featured from at surface. Of course we want to see what comes of the actual drilling assays this year, but if even if they are a fraction of these samples, it could be an area of extreme focus, that very few are even keyed into yet.
The drills are going to be putting some holes in this area in the 2024 drill season, and this Jackpot target is a little over 1km away from the Surebet Discovery. Some theories are that it could be the heat engine for the nearby Surebet, or others are that it could be another whole system. Either way, those drill results are going to be keenly awaited from this year’s exploration program.
Jackpot Zone – New Surface Sample With Large 7mm Gold Leaf
Then as we venture up north to the Cambria Ice Fields, there have been a number of holes drilled into the Treasure Island target, following up on solid rock chip and channel samples from the 2023 field season. This is a whole other area of interest on the project where in addition to high-grade gold, there is also some interesting copper values in the samples collected last year.
Nobody knows exactly what will come from all the drilling into the Surebet Discovery, now encompassing 10 stacked mineralized zones, including the new Mothership Feeder Zone intrusive mineralization, and the New Deep Zone more like the Golden Gate and Bonanza Zones. Then there is this new Blue Origin Zone, the Jackpot Discovery, and the Treasure Island discovery that are all other potential areas of focus for next year’s drill program, depending on how all these drill assays come back from the lab.
There is going to be a huge amount of newsflow from Goliath Resources over the next few months as all these results come back in to the company. As a result, I see Goliath Resources as having a big opportunity for exploration catalysts to move the share price substantially higher, providing the results are as good as the drill core looks. Now, in full disclosure, I’m biased as a personal investor, and Goliath Resources is also a sponsor over at the KE Report (but they did not commission me to write this article — I’m just sharing my own personal investing thesis here).
Having said that, I challenge people to show me another gold exploration company that has made this many new discoveries over the last year, with such a large ongoing 36,000 meter drill program, and that just raised $14Million dollars with the help of key activist shareholders.
I’ve actually just averaged up in Goliath Resources earlier this month, in anticipation of one of the most exciting gold exploration programs on my radar. Averaging up is something I rarely do… especially in exploration-stage stocks. Whether or not this will have been a wise decision remains to be seen, but based on the newsflow so far in 2024, it is a risk/reward setup that I was willing to make in my own portfolio.
Thanks for reading and may you have prosperity in your trading and in life!
- Shad