Metallic Minerals (MMG.V)

Bonanza Silver at Keno Hill, Yukon

A few years ago, pre-COVID, I was lucky enough to be included in the Yukon Mining Property Tour and Conference. I love the Yukon and I’ve been paying attention to Yukon exploration and development stories for years.

One of the key things about the Yukon is that parts of it have been producing silver and gold for well over 100 years. The silver mines at Keno Hill produced millions of ounces of silver.

One of the maxims of smart geologists is that you often find mines in site of the headframes of old mines. At Keno Hill, you can’t walk a hundred yards without coming across old workings.

Metallic Minerals (MMG.V), led by Greg Johnson, has been exploring in the Keno Silver district for several years. At Keno, it is not really a question of finding silver, rather it is a question of finding silver which can be mined economically. That requires grade and tonnage.

Today, MMG put out a press release outlining the last results from its 2021 drill program. Reporting the results from the Formo target area, MMG states:

• FOR21-05 returned three intervals at over 1,000 g/t silver equivalent (“Ag Eq”) from 92.7 m to 115.5 m for a total of 22.8 m grading 219.5 g/t Ag Eq including 0.5 m of 1,657.8 g/t Ag Eq with up to 17 g/t Au, 0.7 m of 1,408.8 g/t Ag Eq and 0.5 m of 1,649.9 g/t Ag Eq.

From the release:

“Metallic Minerals President, Scott Petsel, stated, “These exciting results from this most recent follow-up drilling program at the Formo target area in the western Keno Hill District, combined with the exceptional 2020 drill results, demonstrate the potential to delineate significant, high-grade resources at the Keno Silver project. Our team has done remarkable work to build on our understanding of the geology and the important controls to mineralization in the highly productive Keno Hill silver district.”

These are outstanding results.

Critically, they are intervals which are not all that deep. 150 meters down. They are also results from an area which has roads, power, the Alexco (AXU.T) (I will be writing about Alexco itself in an upcoming post…It has huge potential at its current, beaten down share price of around $1.00) fully completed mill a few kilometers down the road and a mining friendly jurisdiction. The entire Keno Hill area is, essentially, a brownfields exploration situation which makes permitting a good deal easier.

(Normally, this is where one inserts a discussion of First Nations issues. One of the best things about the Yukon is that there are not FN “issues”, there is the need to work with the relevant FN because they are a level of government, have a right to be heard and a right to negotiate community benefits. This is settled. Which makes the whole process much less uncertain.)

I don’t own MMG. But it is a company which I am seriously looking at taking a position in.

Like many precious metals explorers, the last couple of years have been rough for MMG shareholders. The silver price has been range bound between $20 and $28 an ounce. Good results, and MMG has had plenty, have not moved the shares much.

The general idea is that if silver pops upwards, and analysts have been saying it will for about a decade now, the rising tide will float all boats and the companies with the best prospects will shoot upwards. MMG has brilliant prospects, but where is that damned tide?

[Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. I am not an investment professional. I am down about 30% at the moment. I will write about companies that I hold. I will disclose any holdings. Do your own due diligence. Do it hard. Call the CEO.

I currently do not own shares in $MMG.V .]