The KE Report KE Report

Welcome to another KE Report Weekend Show. This weekend we focus on the economic drivers for commodities. This all ties into economic trends, recent data and central banks policy now shifting slowly toward rate cuts.
 
Segment 1 and 2 - Peter Boockvar, Chief Investment Officer Bleakley Financial Group and Editor of The Boock Report on Substack kicks off the show by sharing insights on the market's current state, the rise of AI stocks, the bond market's behavior, and commodity trends. We then shift focus to the energy sector, exploring opportunities in oil and natural gas
Click here to read over The Boock Report.
Segment 3 and 4 - Dan Steffens, President of the Energy Prospectus Group wraps up the show with a focus on the recent surge in natural gas prices, which have risen over 50% since April, and its implications on the market. We discuss the upcoming LNG export facilities, pipeline capacity issues, and potential future price trends. Dan also shares his insights on oil prices, key companies in the natural gas sector, and investment opportunities in mineral royalty companies like Blackstone Minerals and large gas producers like Ovintiv.
Click here to visit the Energy Prospectus Group website.
 

James Anderson, CEO of Guanajuato Silver (TSX.V:GSVR – OTCQX:GSVRF), joins me to provide a review of the key metrics from their Q1 financials and a comprehensive operational and exploration update from their 4 producing silver-gold mines and 3 processing facilities in central Mexico.
 
The Company produces silver and gold concentrates from the El Cubo Mine Complex, Valenciana Mines Complex, and the San Ignacio mine; all three mines are located within the state of Guanajuato, which has an established 480-year mining history. In addition, the Company produces silver, gold, lead, and zinc concentrates from the Topia mine in northwestern Durango.
 
 Q1 2024 Highlights
 
Record metals production during the quarter of 987,312 AgEq (silver equivalent) was up 16% over the previous quarter; AgEq ounces derived from 428,279 ounces of silver; 5,384 ounces of gold; 879,242 pounds of lead; and 922,297 pounds of zinc.
Tonnes milled increased 20% over the previous quarter; a total of 165,079 tonnes were processed among GSilver's three production facilities.
Both all-in sustaining cost ("AISC") of $20.19 per AgEq ounce, and cash costs of $16.55 per AgEq ounce were 6% lower than the previous quarter 
Record revenue of $17.8M was 7% higher than the previous quarter; net loss decreased by 3% in Q1 to $7.3M compared to $7.6M in Q4, 2024.
Realized average metal prices for the quarter of $23.37 per silver ounce, and $2,068 per gold ounce sold.
 
James highlighted the consistent quarter over quarter growth in the Company since beginning operations in 2021, discussed how they calculate their AISC more inclusively than many companies, and the different initiatives the company has at each mine to keep bringing costs down in the quarters to come.  We also discuss the capex investment into new flash flotation cells, ore sorting equipment, and a new filter press to continue to optimize their mining operations and improve efficiencies and costs.
 
Next we review the augmenting of material at the El Cubo mill from 3rd party sources, as well as surface stockpiles from their El Horcon mine, with the potential of looking at starting to develop their Pinguico Project to ship more mineralized material to El Cubo down the road.  We wrap up with the exploration upside still present across their properties and a quick review of the key strategic shareholders.
 
If you have any follow up questions for James or want more information on any of the assets please email me at Shad@kereport.com and we’ll get those addressed by management or in future interviews.
 
* In full disclosure, Shad has a position in Guanajuato Silver at the time of this recording.
 
Click here to visit the Guanajuato Silver website to read over the recent news releases we discussed.

Joel Elconin, Co-host of the Benzinga PreMarket Prep Show and Editor of the PreMarket Prep website, joins me to recap this week in the markets, noting another all-time high tagged in the S&P 500 and a continued surge higher in mega-cap tech stocks. 
 
We discuss that not all tech stocks are participating though, and that cloud companies like Snowflake are getting left behind as investors continue piling in to the artificial intelligence names.  We review investors change in sentiment towards Apple after unveiling their new A.I. platform “Apple Intelligence.” Next we get Joel’s technical outlook and thoughts on valuation in the popular high-flying chip maker, Nvidia. 
 
We parse out the narrow market breadth, and the lack of participation from the value stocks, and also contemplate the strange response by the Rusell 2000 small cap stocks to the FOMC and Powell press conference the middle of this week. Joel weighs in on the volatility in Tesla this week, around Elon Musk’s pricey pay package, and then round things out with some technical thoughts on the S&P 500 making another new all-time high on Thursday’s trading session.
 
Click here to visit the PreMarket Prep website to follow along with Joel.

Shawn Khunkhun, President and CEO of Dolly Varden Silver (TSX.V:DV – OTCQX:DOLLF), joins me review the big picture exploration results from the 2023 field season, the overall strategy for this year’s 25,000 meter drill program, and the key differentiators and value proposition across the Kitsault Valley Project, located in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia, Canada.
 
We start off reviewing the work done to date at the combined Kitsault Valley Project, that now contains 64 million ounces of silver and also around 1 million ounces of gold in all categories.   There was a major gold discovery made at the Homestake area last year, as well as the expansion of silver mineralization at both the Wolf and Tobrit deposits.  This year the program is going to focus on true exploration and discovery drilling at new targets at Moose, Chance, Ace Galena, North Star, and Red Point, as well as continued expansion at Wolf and Homestake with the goal to update the resource estimate.
 
Shawn then speaks to the pedigree and combined knowledge of the geological and technical team at Dolly Varden, that has been guiding all this exploration success.   We touch upon the advantages of their understanding of the geological model, leading to a thesis that many of these separate deposits may end up being connected at depth into a larger system.  In addition to the quality of the project, and the high-grade nature of the silver and gold mineralization, Shawn outlines that this precious metals focus, distinguishes the company from many other silver companies that actually have far more exposure to base metals like lead and zinc.  We wrap up discussing the jurisdiction, tight capital structure, and key strategic shareholders with Dolly Varden Silver.
 
 
If you have any follow up questions for Shawn about Dolly Varden Silver, then please email me at  Shad@kereport.com and we’ll get those questions addressed by management, or covered in future interviews.
 
In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Dolly Varden Silver at the time of this recording.
 
Click here to visit the Dolly Varden Silver website and read over the recent news.

Akiba Leisman, President and CEO of Mako Mining (TSX.V:MKO – OTCQX:MAKOF), joins me to unpack a few recent news releases on various market disclosures, the key takeaways from the Q1 2024 financials and San Albino Mine operations, and a review of the exploration strategy this year in Nicaragua.
 
We start off with Akiba unpacking the restatement of prior news releases with a second qualified person and the nuances around their filing of an updated technical report for San Albino.  Next we shifted over to the key takeaways from the financial and operational metrics from Q1 of 2024, where the operations team in Nicaragua demonstrated another quarter of consistent operational performance and execution at the San Albino Mine.  Then we wrap up with getting an update on this year’s ongoing exploration strategy at San Albino, Las Conchitas, and other regional targets.
 
If you have any further questions for Akiba regarding Mako Mining, then please email me at  Shad@kereport.com.
 
In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Mako Mining at the time of this recording.
 
Click here for a summary of the recent news out of Mako Mining.

Chris Temple, Editor and Publisher of the National Investor, joins us to share his main takeaways from the FOMC meeting this week, how any limited rate cuts may just end up being mid-cycle course corrections, the true reality as it relates to consumer pricing inflation, The Great Stagflation, and how this all ties into the general US equity markets and the commodities sector.   This is a wide-ranging discussion that gets into the divergence between the return to a more sane backdrop of interest rates and a more normal business cycle, versus what the markets are anticipating with a binary switch to cutting rates back down to pre-covid levels.  Chris outlines that Fed cannot possibly take us back to that kind of environment again, and that economic and market expectations will need to adapt to the changing multi-polar global economy.
 
He outlines some of the takeaways he had after attending and speaking at the recent SME "Current Trends In Mining Finance" conference in NY.  One of the recurring themes centered around the challenges in policy, permitting, and personnel bottlenecks standing in the way of getting more mines into production to feed the growing demand for critical minerals in North America.  Chris also points out that the western nations now need to rapidly play catchup and overhaul many policies to stimulate more domestic supplies or supplies from friendly nations of raw materials like lithium, copper, nickel, and silver, that prices will keep rising due to the supply-demand mismatches.
 
Click here to follow along with Chris at the National Investor website.