BB,
Earlier in March you wrote in detail of the due diligence that Hochschild performed in good faith before entering the option agreement for the LDM. I agree, but that was in 2017 before several other opportunities arose for Hochschild which I think sidetracked their efforts on the LDM. Earlier I posted that it was in October 2019, Hochschild purchased Aclara, a Chilean rare earth deposit. Aclara remained as an independent business unit within the Hochschild group until December of last year when it was completed as a spinout for Hochschild shareholders. "Recall that Bustamante over at Hochschild commented that “there’s some pretty interesting geology over at the LDM” that they spent much time on before signing the option. The need for follow-up is evident with preliminary drills from Howe’s report showing between 68 and 70 metres yielded 61.77 and 122.2 grams gold/tonne , and sample 347182 returned a spectacular 455.02 grams gold/tonne. Dr. Sillitoe’s report is certainly supportive of further work being performed.
There was another Hochschild project that I was unaware of until yesterday while watching a webinar on Skeena Resources (mentioned on our other threads) and the SNIP property it acquired from Barrick Gold in 2017. In the 1990s SNIP produced approximately 1M OZ of AU at an average grade of 27.5 g/t. October of last year Hochschild entered into an agreement as operator of SNIP. A 3 year option term when completed will earn a 60% interest by expending approximately C$100 million. I point this out because I still don’t think it’s important for now whether Hochschild does much of anything further with the LDM. Hochschild has until December 2023 to make good on it’s LDM option and may wait to see if results on the Fortuna are impressive enough that they negotiate to continue their option before the option expires.
It may be a blessing if the DL1 bonanza grades are located and profitably producing before then to self-finance much more of the ADL. AUMC will still have the Caren/ Merlin 1 Vein areas to complete exploring through to production. The Larrisa adit is certainly worth pursuing. The LDM may remain a head scratcher for a while longer without HOC, but it is still there and waiting to be developed. I commented on the Other Mining Stocks 2022 thread there are so many good mining companies to choose from it’s hard to choose just one or two to highlight. If AUMC holds true to previous releases we expect to see the annual report in two days at the end of the month on Thursday. Progress will show we are getting very near to our goal of cash flow production. It is my wish that the Fortuna will be producing and gain a place worthy of being widely highlighted and promoted in the group of very exciting new mining ventures.
EZ