- Arizona Metals is focused on its high-grade copper-gold Kay Mine Project in Arizona
- The company has budgeted $32 million for a Phase 3 exploration program at Kay Mine Project and had an aggregate of $58 million in cash at the end of Q3 2022
- The company has recently commenced its latest drill program as it seeks to better understand the mineralization at the 97% of its project that has yet to be drilled
Right now, metals across the periodic table are arguably in their best position of the memorable past for future upside. The energy transition is bullish for base, ferrous, non-ferrous, and metals critical to green technologies and the entire supporting cast, such as infrastructure for electric vehicles and alternative energy systems. Economic upheaval is churning on the sidelines globally, which is positive for gold and other precious metals known historically as stores of value and inflation hedges. Against this backdrop, the timing looks ideal for exploration companies like Arizona Metals (TSX: AMC) (OTCQX: AZMCF) to be positioned for a prosperous 2023 and beyond with its high-grade Kay Mine Project.
Fully funded for a $32 million Phase 3 exploration program at the Kay Mine Project, Arizona Metals stands out from others at a time when metals are being called “the new oil” in light of surging demand across the board. This is particularly important to U.S. focused explorers as the country is in desperate need to reduce reliance on metal imports and develop new projects as a matter of national security.
The Toronto Stock Exchange is a bellwether for sentiment towards mineral explorers. A look at the chart shows a potential momentum shift with a groundswell of interest in 2023. After finishing 2022 at 108, the index has gained 10 percent so far in 2023 and earlier this month tested its highest point since September.
Threats of rising inflation, an energy crisis, and rising interest rates hearken memories of the early 1980’s when gold soared as recession worries mounted. So far, Wall Street is banking on the Federal Reserve taming inflation with all tools at its disposal, but if there is even a hint of concern that the main bank loses control, gold will almost certainly rally hard.
Base and metals part-and-parcel to shifting away from fossil fuels are going to experience a large rise in demand. It’s inevitable if governments worldwide are going to meet their aggressive carbon reduction goals in the next decade. Silver is particularly interesting as it is generally identified as a precious metal, while many also recognize it as a base metal for its litany of uses in industry.
Arizona is a hotbed of mining activity and the largest producer of copper in the U.S. Known to be familiar to base metal exploration, the Fraser Institute in 2020 named Arizona the second most attractive jurisdiction for mining investment.
Add it up and Arizona Metals is pushing at the right time to advance the Kay Mine Deposit, its flagship copper-gold-zinc-silver asset located in Yavapai County. The world-class VMS (volcanogenic massive sulfide) high-grade deposit has a history going back over a century in a prolific region that includes 60 past-producing underground Cu Au-Zn VMS mines within a 150-kilometer radius.
An historic resource estimate at Kay shows 5.8Mt at 2.20% copper, 3.03% zinc, 55 grams/tonne (g/t) silver, and 2.81 g/t gold.(1) Exploration by Arizona Metals has continued to prove and expand the resource with repeated intercepts of high-grade metals. Cuts such as 98.3 meters at 8.3g/t AuEq (gold equivalent) in drill hole KM-22-60 and 125 meters grading 3.2% CuEq (copper equivalent) in KM-22-57B distinguish the project for grade and width.
In February 2023, the company completed construction of the road to the first of two drill pads which will be used to test the Western Target at Kay Mine. These new pads will also allow for drilling of additional coincident anomalies located between the Central and Western Targets. The Central and Western Targets were previously defined based on coincident structural, stratigraphic, geochemical, and geophysical anomalies (through extensive geologic mapping, sampling, and electromagnetic and gravity surveys). The Phase 3 drill program to test the Central and Western Targets is currently underway.
With $58 million as of September 30, 2022 (the latest reported quarter), Arizona Metals is flush with cash to meet its $32 million budget for a Phase 3 drill program.
Arizona Metals CEO Marc Pais said, “the first hole to test this large coincident EM-geochemical-gravity anomaly is now underway. While this target is located only 1,200m west of our Kay Mine Deposit, the drilling started in February will be the first to test this area in the history of the property.”
While drilling at the discovery zone is looking like it could produce “company maker”-type metals on its own, the new exploration is reason for investors to be excited for results. To date, only 3 percent of prospectively mineralized horizon has been drill tested at the Kay Mine Project, leaving a lot of headroom for expansion amid an extremely favorable mining environment. On Feb. 28, 2023, the company presented its latest findings at the 32nd Global Metals, Mining & Critical Minerals Conference.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ArizonaMetalsCorp.com.
Full Disclosure: Arizona Metals Corp. is an InvestorBrandNetwork marketing client.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to AZMCF are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/AZMCF
(1) The historic estimate at the Kay Mine Deposit was reported by Exxon Minerals in 1982. The historic estimate has not been verified as a current mineral resource. None of the key assumptions, parameters, and methods used to prepare the historic estimate were reported, and no resource categories were used. Significant data compilation, re-drilling and data verification may be required by a “qualified person” (as defined in National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects) before the historic estimate can be verified and upgraded to be a current mineral resource. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify it as a current mineral resource, and Arizona Metals is not treating the historic estimate as a current mineral resource.
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