Monthly Metals Mining Rundown and Peer Table - Premium Edition for Month Ending 2 May 2025 - Uranium Prices and Producer Stocks Rise And Lithium Clay Stocks Surprise

This past month’s metal price and top & bottom mining company peer group movers include:

This past month’s top & bottom 40 performing metals mining stocks (out of Peer Table’s 458) include (share price rounding errors apply, as sourced from Google Finance):

Coverage of metals mining announcements incorporated into this month’s Peer Table (resource updates, economic studies, changes in attributable project ownership) include:

• 29 April 2025 - Uranium developer District Metals (TSXV:DMX) announced a compliant resource update for its flagship, 100%-owned Viken project in central Sweden, which compared to the prior historic estimate grew the deposit by 74% to (a huge) 3.2 Blbs U3O8 (equivalent), which is 53% from Uranium resources and rest from Cu, Ni, Zn, Mo, all of which of relatively low grade. DMX traded up 23% intraday on (29 Apr) following this news (vs. U developer peer median +3.5%), for a monthly drop (ending 2 May) of -14% (vs. our uranium developer median monthly gain of flat +0%) to a month ending (2 May) market cap/lb resource of US$0.01/lb U3O8 ($0.42/oz AuEq) - at the bottom of our Uranium developer peer group and a wide 99% below its median $1.02/lb U3O8 ($47/oz AuEq). On P/NAV (price-to-net-asset-value) based on DMX’s old 2010 PEA for Viken, DMX trades at 0.031x (at our reference uranium price of US$65/lb U3O8) - 95% below its uranium developer peer group median of 0.50x (at same uranium price).

• 29 April 2025 - Gold and nickel developer Horizon Minerals  (ASX:HRZ) announced an updated group mineral resources statement, following the recent completion of its acquisition of Poseidon Nickel (formerly ASX:POS). Overall resources from its gold and nickel projects in Australia remained relatively unchanged from our previously retrieved combined resource inventory (immediately following merger) at 4.55 Moz AuEq (now 52% from Ni, 40% from Au, rest Ag-Co-Zn). HRZ stock traded flat on day of announcement 29 April (vs. gold and nickel developer median performance that were also flat +0%), closed the month (ending 2 May) down -17% (vs. peer median gain of +4.6%) to a market cap/lb resource of US$0.040/lb NiEq ($17/oz AuEq) at our estimated 3-month trailing average metal prices - just below our 14-company nickel developer peer group median $0.044/lb and a wider 43% below our 64-company gold developer peer group median of $30/oz.

• 29 April 2025 - Copper and nickel explorer Pivotal Metals (ASX:PVT) announced a significant resource update for its flagship high-grade & shallow Horden Lake project in Quebec. Overall resources increased by 38% to 1.06 Blbs CuEq or 670 Mlbs NiEq or 1.7 Moz AuEq (now 49% from Cu, 24% from Ni, rest Co-Ag-Au-Pd-Pt) at our estimated 3-month trailing average metal prices. PVT stock traded up 14% on day of announcement (vs. Cu and Ni explorer peer group median performances that were flat +0%) and closed the month flat +0% (vs. Ni explorer peer group median’s monthly performance of flat +0% and Cu explorer median’s drop of -8.6%) at a market cap/lb resource of US$0.004/lb CuEq or $0.006/lb NiEq or $2.53/oz AuEq - which was 80% below our month-ending copper explorer median of $0.021/lb CuEq ($13/oz AuEq) and 55% below our nickel explorer median of $0.013/lb NiEq ($5.6/oz AuEq).

• 29 April 2025 - Lithium hard rock explorer Delta Lithium (ASX:DLI) announced a resource update for its secondary Mt Ida Gold project in Australia, that the company aims to spin out as a separate ASX entity to be called Ballard Mining Ltd. The update grew project gold resources by 46%, and our retrieved overall resources by 8% to 1.3 Mt LCE (4.6 Moz AuEq). DLI stock traded up +3% on day of announcement (vs. Li hard rock explorer peer group flat +0%), before closing the month down -5.6% (vs. group median down -6.3%) to a market cap/t resource of $58/t LCE ($17/oz AuEq), which is in between our Li hard rock explorer median and means of $40 and $74/t LCE - and 23% below the gold explorer median of $22/oz AuEq.

• 16 April 2025 - Gold and nickel explorer WIN Metals (ASX:WIN) announced an updated mineral resource estimate for its Butchers Creek project in Western Australia, which grew the deposit slightly to 5.23Mt @ 1.91 g/t Au for 321 koz Au. Most importantly, much of the inferred resources were converted to indicated for a higher-grade indicated component of 3.58 Mt @2.24 g/t Au for 258koz Au, which helps de-risk future development. And growth is set to continue, with 2025 drilling focused on high-priority, high-grade targets, including at Golden Crown where recent drilling returned 10.85 g/t Au over 6m. While currently focused on gold, WIN also has a nickel project (and a small lithium project). Altogether, WIN’s resource inventory totals 577 Mlbs NiEq or 1.45 Moz AuEq (now 25% from Au, 72% from Ni, rest Li). WIN stock traded up a whopping 29% Wednesday (16 April) following this news, before closing the month (ending 2 May) flat +0% (in line with peer group median’s +0%) at a market cap/unit resource of US$0.013/lb NiEq ($5.3/oz AuEq), which is in-line with our 17-company nickel explorer peer group median market cap/lb of $0.013/lb NiEq ($5.6/oz AuEq). And in terms of gold explorers, WIN (still) trades at a 75% discount to our 80-company gold explorer peer group median’s $22/oz.

• 15 Apr 2025 - Copper explorer Peel Mining (ASX:PEX) announced a resource upgrade for its 100%-owned Wagga Tank deposit - part of its flagship South Cobar project in Australia - following recent drilling success. The update grew Wagga Tank’s indicated + inferred resource tonnage by 46% to 9.99 Mt (also 46% in indicated category), which increased total South Cobar project resources to 22.9 Mt @ 1.03% Cu, 0.37 g/t Au, 35 g/t Ag, 0.72% Pb, 1.45% Zn, containing 1.15 Blbs CuEq or 1.84 Moz AuEq (45% from Cu, 16% from Ag, 15% from Au, rest from Zn-Pb) at our estimated 3-month trailing average metal prices, resulting in a 12% increase in contained metal. The company says this update is important because the new larger open pit component offers lower development capital cost than prior plans contemplated. PEX stock traded up slightly (~1%, roughly in-line with copper explorer peer median share performance) on 15 April following this news, before closing the month ending 2 May down -12.5% (vs. monthly peer group median down -8.5%) to a market cap/lb resource of US$0.021/lb CuEq ($14/oz AuEq) - which is in-line with (just above) our 36-company copper explorer peer group median of $0.021/lb CuEq ($13/oz AuEq), and below the group mean of $0.032/lb CuEq ($21/oz AuEq).

• 11 April 2025 - Nickel and cobalt explorer Nordic Resources (ASX:NNL) announced the transformational acquisition of 3 advanced stage gold projects in Finland (where the company’s base metals projects are also located) from gold explorer Northgold AB (STO:NG) in exchange for 70 million newly issued NNL shares and SEK 2 million in cash. The deal is subject to approval by NG and NNL shareholders around end of May 2025. The new NNL shares and any excess cash net of transaction costs etc. will then be distributed to the shareholders of NG in a liquidation process, and NG will be de-listed in Sweden. The acquired assets include:

  • Kopsa gold-copper project - hosts JORC compliant 2025 resource estimate of 23.2 Mt grading 0.85 g/t Au and 0.17% Cu (1.09 g/t AuEq) containing 631,100 oz Au and 38,360t Cu (84.57 Mlbs) for a combined 814,800 oz AuEq (69% in measured and indicated categories)

  • Kiimala Trend gold project - hosts historic resources (which had been historically compliant with Canada’s NI 43-101) at Angesneva deposit stated by NG to be 3.85 Mt grading 1.19 g/t Au containing 147,300 oz Au.

    • Excluding historic non-compliant resources at Vesipera prospect of 0.29 MT grading 2.52 g/t Au.

  • Hirsikangas gold project - hosts historic resources (which had also historically been compliant with NI 43-101) stated by NG and by Rupert Resources (TSX:RUP) before them to be 2.27 Mt grading 1.2 g/t Au containing 89,000 oz Au.

  Together, these historic and compliant NG resources amount to 29.56 Mt with average grade 0.94 g/t Au and 0.13% Cu, which at our Peer Table’s estimated 3-month trailing average amounts to 1.026 Moz AuEq grading 1.08 g/t AuEq (87% from Au), which NNL is acquiring for (A$5.6M in shares at 14 Apr NNL share price of A$0.08 plus A$0.33M in cash for a combined A$5.93M or US$3.6/oz AuEq. Together with NNL’s existing (lower-grade) JORC resources of 2.08 Blbs NiEq (which were 92% from Ni, 7% from Co, 1% from Cu) or 5.2 Moz AuEq in gold-equivalent terms, for an new combined NNL resource inventory (including small share historic resources) of 2.48 Blbs NiEq (6.3 Moz AuEq) - now 77% from Ni, 14% from Au, 6% from Co, rest Cu), resulting in a 19% increase to contained resource metal value from this deal (and now at a higher overall grade). Following this pending acquisition (+70M shares NNL) and pending NNL cap raise announced 14 April 2025 (+47.5M shares), NNL’s shares outstanding will grow from current 147.38M (Google Finance) to 264.88M shares, for a proforma (2 May 2025) market cap/unit resource of US$1.43/oz AuEq or $0.003/lb NiEq or $0.008/lb CoEq (after NNL share price fell -27.5% over last month vs. Ni explorer median flat +0%, Au explorer median flat +0% and Co explorer median of negative -2.6%), which is a 74% discount to our month ending (2 May) 17-company nickel explorer peer group median $0.013/lb NiEq ($5.6/oz AuEq), a 93% discount to our month ending (2 May) 79-company gold explorer peer group median $22/oz AuEq, and a 77% discount to our month ending (2 May) 9-company cobalt explorer peer group median $0.0265/lb CoEq ($6.2/oz AuEq).

  

  Location of the three gold projects shown over a geological map of Finland (Source: Nordic Resources)

• 8 April 2025 - Intermediate gold producer Genesis Minerals (ASX:GMD) announced its annual reserves and resources update. Reserves were more than replaced and grew by 12% after depletion of 170 koz Au, to 54Mt @ 2.1 g/t Au for 3.7 Moz. Growth included a maiden reserve for Westralia open pit of 370 koz, which is 15 km from the company’s Laverton mill and was acquired by the company in a takeover in 2022. Mineral resources remained largely unchanged (down slightly on optimized/tighter pit shell and slopes) at 210 Mt @2.2g/t for 14.7Moz. GMD stock closed the month (ending 2 May) up 5% (vs. peer group median flat +0%) following this news month ending (2 May) market cap / oz resource of US$193/oz Au, which is well below our below Peer Table’s 55-company intermediate gold producer peer group mean market cap/oz of $224/oz, and above median $132/oz.

• 7 April 2025 - Gold explorer Renforth Resources (CSE:RFR) announced an updated resource estimate for its flagship Parbec project in Quebec next door to Agnico Eagle’s (NYSE:AEM) producing Malarctic Mine (and other nearby satellite development project Marban that AEM picked up in O3 Mining acquisition). RFR grew its resources by 29% in this update to 0.36 Moz @ 0.93 g/t Au (M&I&I, mostly open pit with some underground) - with 12% of the new resource ounces in the Measured category within the resource pit shell, helping to define higher-confidence, slightly higher-grade starter-pit material to help bolster economics in future possible economic studies, possibly in conjunction with Malarctic and/or Marban (after more resource growth, as RFR states in the release that this resource update and associated drilling also presented them with new drill targets within deposit to target gaps in drill spacing and to upgrade remaining inferred ounces). RFR traded flat today intraday TSX (April 7) following this news on strong volume before closing the month (ending 2 May) down -33% (below peer group median +0%) to a (2 May) market cap/oz resource of US$7/oz Au - a wide ~70% discount to our below Peer Table’s 78-company gold explorer peer group median market cap/oz AuEq of $22/oz.

• 3 Apr 2025 - Lithium hard rock developer Green Technology Metals (ASX:GT1) announced a resource update for its 100% owned Root Project in Ontario, located 200km west of its flagship Seymour project. The update grew Root project resources by 38% from recent drilling to 20.1 Mt grading 1.24% Li2O, and overall company resources (incl. Seymour) by 26% to a combined Ontario mineral resource inventory of 30.4Mt @ 1.17% Li2O for 0.88 Mt lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), which on 3 April closed flat +0% in Australia on light volume (vs. our global 14-company Li hard rock developer peer group median down -2.7%) before closing the month (ending 2 May) down -25% (in-line with peer median -10%) at a GT1 market cap/t resource of US$10/t LCE ($3.0/oz AuEq) - 86% below the group’s median valuation of $71/t LCE ($21/oz AuEq), as shown in below except from our Peer Table.

• 3 Apr 2025 - Uranium explorer Cauldron Energy (ASX:CXU) announced a maiden resource for its Manyingee South deposit at its Yanrey project in Western Australia, which added 11.1 Mlbs uranium oxide (U3O8) grading 325 ppm U3O8 to the project’s existing 30.9 Mlbs at Bennet Wells deposit. This equates to resource growth of 36% to 42 Mlbs U3O8. CXU closed flat +0% on 3 April following this news (vs. peer group median down -1.9%), before closing the month (ending 2 May) flat +0% (in-line with peer group median flat +0% for the month) at a CXU market cap/lb resource of US$0.20/lb U3O8 ($9.2/oz AuEq), which is still a significant 74% discount to our 15-company uranium explorer peer group (2 May) median market cap/lb of $0.78/lb ($36/oz AuEq).

• 1 Apr 2025 - Intermediate gold producer and silver producer First Majestic (TSX:AG) announced its annual reserves and resources update for its mines and projects in Mexico, resulting in large increases to both reserves and resources, bring resources to the highest level in the company’s history. Reserves grew by 45%, while M&I resources (inclusive of reserves) grew 25% and inferred resources 23%, resulting in big gains across the board. Overall resources (M&I&I) grew some ~20% to 791 Moz AgEq (8.9 Moz AuEq), according to our Peer Table’s estimated 3-month trailing average metal prices, which our Peer Table shows below is 66% from Au and 27% from Ag (rest Zn-Pb-Cu) by metal value, according to our Peer Table. AG stock opened roughly flat in NY and Toronto following this news, before dipping intraday (alongside the silver price), and closing the month down -15% (vs. intermediate gold producer peer group median flat +0%) to a month ending (2 May) AG market cap/oz resource of US$3.52/oz AgEq ($328/oz AuEq) - at a premium to our intermediate gold producer mean of $224/oz AuEq and silver producer mean of $139/oz AuEq ($1.49/oz AgEq), which appears justified due to AG’s relatively high gold share of resources over silver, strong cash flow (assets generating record quarterly free cash flow of $68M in Q4/24) with solid grades (resource grade of 386 g/t AgEq or 4.3 g/t AuEq at our estimated 3-month trailing average metal prices), low production costs (2025 AISC guidance in the $18-19/oz AgEq range), and its potential to be taken out by a major gold producer looking to add free cash flow and perhaps some silver share of production, by adding AG’s primary gold & silver mining assets that appear to rank near the top of their class.

• 1 Apr 2025 - Intermediate gold producer Jaguar Mining (TSX:JAG) announced its annual reserves and resources update for its mines and projects in Brazil, which grew reserves by a solid 63% net of depletion (to 0.764 Moz Au grading 4.03%) after adding a first ever mineral reserve at the Onças de Pitangui project. Total mineral resources (inclusive of reserves) grew by a few % to 3.38 Moz (leaving lots of future reserves conversion upside). JAG closed the month ending 2 May up +1.0% (vs. int. gold producer peer group median flat +0%), resulting in a JAG’s month ending market cap/oz resource to US$36/oz Au - a significant 73% discount to our month ending (2 May) 55-company peer group median of $132/oz AuEq, as shown in the above excerpt from our Peer Table.

• 1 Apr 2025 - Silver explorer Andean Silver (ASX:ASL) announced a resource update for its flagship, high-grade Cerro Bay silver-gold project in Chile, which near doubled tonnage and grew contained precious metal by 22% to a reported 111Moz AgEq at 353g/t AgEq, following the addition of two new initial resources (Pegaso 7 and Cristal). At our estimated 3-month trailing average metal prices, resources grew to 118 Moz AgEq (1.3 Moz AuEq) grading 375 g/t AgEq (4.2 g/t AuEq) and have Ag/Au metal value split of 40% Ag/60% Au. Resources have grown steadily since this project was acquired in 2024, which appears to be rising commensurate with drilling (and now has a solid chunk in the indicated category paving the way for a future reserve). And the company says the potential for growth beyond this is “enormous” (across the company’s large land package containing many historic mines)….So although this relatively high-grade, >100Moz AuEq (>1Moz AuEq) should already be large enough to be demonstrated economic in a PEA or Scoping Study, it probably makes sense to grow these deposit complexes further (given the apparent easy, low-hanging fruit here) before making a first pass at evaluating economics and pivoting towards development. ASL stock sold off gradually following this news (alongside slight downticks in the gold and silver prices intraday ASX), before closing the month (ending 2 May) down -24% (to share price A$0.97) to a market cap / oz resource of US$0.82/oz AgEq ($76/oz AuEq), at a premium to silver explorer peer group mean of $0.44/oz AgEq ($41/oz AuEq) which appears justified due to its high-grade, growth-potential, and solid (higher-priced) gold share of resources (altogether also helping make it an ideal takeout target for larger silver and gold companies).

Disclaimer: Provided for informational and educational purposes, and is not intended as investment advice. For full disclosures, visit www.hostrockcapital.com/disclosures.