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Alien Metals Limited (LON:UFO) has said finalisation of the geophysical review for the Donovan 2 copper-gold project in Mexico is “essentially complete”.
The company is hoping to finalise the upcoming drill programme at Donovan 2 at the end of next week. The independent review confirms the company’s internal work, providing a number of priority targets that have the potential to delineate hidden copper-gold mineralisation.
The company said it will “push ahead with drill planning” in the third quarter of this year.
Meanwhile, sampling of the historic mines of the San Celso Silver project in Mexico is ongoing, although progress has been slower than it would have been prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as the company is putting extra emphasis on the safety of the team members.
Following the completion of the sampling, the team will move to the Los Campos Silver project to enter and sample a section of the historic underground mine.
“We are confident that some potentially excellent samples will be collected to add to our knowledge of the mineralisation and help finalise the planned drilling,” Bill Brodie, the technical director of Alien Metals said in a statement.
“We expect a busy couple of months ahead, adding significant geological knowledge, and hence value, to the Mexican portfolio while also continually reviewing prospective projects to add to the current portfolio. We are also very encouraged by the continuing rise in the silver price which has moved to nearly US$20 an ounce in the past few days and seems closely tied to the positive rise in gold as well,” he added.
Alien Metals said it remains in discussions with a range of parties regarding potential joint venture and funding opportunities on the existing portfolio of assets while continuing to review new projects that would fit with the company’s strategy. No binding agreements have been reached to date.
First Equity repeats ‘buy’
In a note to clients, analysts at First Equity commented: “It is interesting to note silver prices have now fully rebounded to pre Covid-19 crisis levels at around $19 per ounce, after reaching a low of $12 in late March, as investors seek gold substitutes such as silver for safe-haven exposure.
“It is therefore surprising that the share price of Alien Metals (0.125p) with silver prospective projects has not rebounded to its calendar year highs reached in Jan/Feb 2020 of around 0.17p-0.22p.”
“Moreover, along with exploration result success, investor sentiment towards Alien Metals is also linked to iron-ore commodity prices, given its iron-ore prospective projects in Western Australia. Iron-ore prices it should be reminded hit 12-month highs last week, in response to improved Chinese demand and economic recovery.
They concluded: “Against this favourable commodities backdrop and prospect of multiple exploration news flow events in the coming months from both Mexico and Western Australia, a modest market cap of around £3m and share price rebound potential, we continue to rate Alien Metals as a ‘Buy’.”
Shares in Alien Metals were trading at 0.12p on Monday morning, down 4%.
– Adds analyst comment, updates share price —