Despite doom and gloom in geopolitics, silver (“Ag“) and gold (“Au“) are holding up well. Down moderately from 52-week highs, but up +124% and +36% from a year ago.
Some precious metal bulls are disappointed that Ag/Au have sold off during the Middle East crisis. However, the majority of financial institutions and precious metal pundits remain bullish.
One should never invest based on the expectation of rising prices. However, with regard to Au where there are more data points than for Ag, look at the following table of top quartile targets.
Importantly, the factors that launched Au/Ag higher remain in place. Central bank buying — especially by China as it slowly but surely exits U.S. treasuries — paused briefly in some countries, but is picking up once again.
Other key points include the related factors of extremely high debt levels (globally), currency debasement and rising inflation rates.
Switching to Ag, it should remain strong. We are in year six of a mined Ag supply deficit, with demand exceeding mined supply by ~160–200 million ounces.
An early-stage junior worth a closer look is ICG Silver & Gold Ltd. (CSE:ICG). It offers a compelling risk/reward proposition as typical junior miner risk is offset somewhat by a strong team, one of the world’s best jurisdictions (Nevada), a sizable land package, and a significant historical database.
The value of the technical database, plus exploration work done, exceeds the Company’s enterprise value. American Pacific Mining Corp., who ICG purchased the Tuscarora District Project from, alone invested over C$6M on soil/rock chip sampling, RC and core drilling, and CSAMT geophysics since 2018..
On May 4th, management announced a 60% increase historical drilling data to 40,000+ meters from a new, comprehensive database compilation and district-scale geological modeling exercise.
A portion of the expanded database will be combined with infill and step-out drilling for a maiden resource estimate (“MRE”) expected in 1q/27.
From the press release,
“This milestone consolidates decades of fragmented historical and modern exploration data into a fully integrated platform, providing the Company with a cohesive understanding of the Project at a larger scale. The model highlights a structurally-controlled system with multiple target corridors and significant upside potential beyond explored areas.”
CEO Steven Sirbovan commented: “I am extremely pleased with the progress of our geological modeling. Elevating and organizing historical data across the Tuscarora District is an important milestone as we continue to engage with stakeholders and potential partners.”
Korbon McCall, VP Exploration, “Our focus has been on understanding the structural framework and controls on mineralization across the Tuscarora District, not just individual occurrences… we now have the ability to systematically prioritize and refine targets as new data comes in.”
Integration of the expanded database into VRIFY visualization software is well underway and will available in the coming weeks.
ICG has~C$5.5M in cash, just 43M shares outstanding, zero debt and ~10M warrants/options struck at C$0.50. The share price is C$0.49, making the fully-diluted enterprise value ~C$15M, quite low for an open pit + underground prospect in Nevada.
Management, led by CEO/Pres./Dir. Steven Sirbovan, has ample cash to complete a 3,000 meter RC program starting next month. The all-in cost should be under C$1M.
By leveraging modern structural understanding, new geophysical interpretation, and a refined geological model to improve targeting, we aim to understand how the higher-grade zones relate to lower bulk-tonnage targets and thereby demonstrate district-scale silver-gold opportunities.
If drilling goes well, the team would probably expand the campaign and/or add core drilling. In addition to infill, the 3,000 meters will include step-outs into the East Pediment, Grand Prize, and Battle Mountain targets.
To reiterate, there are multiple promising, untested new Ag/Au targets, and considerable cash in the bank.
High grades –> South Navajo, East Pediment, Grand Prize, Modoc…
Mr. Sirbovan is a capital markets professional with 13+ years’ experience in Investment Banking, Private Equity & Investor Relations, focused on sub-$100M companies. He has led public and private financings, M&A, and corp. advisory work on 100+ transactions.
Earlier, he worked as an analyst at Waterton Global Resource Management, evaluating metals and mining projects across Nevada and Arizona. Steven is surrounded by a strong team including Exec. Chair Jeff Swinoga.
Mr. Swinoga is a CPA & MBA with 25+ years’ experience in capital markets, project development and mine construction. He held senior roles at Barrick(7 years), First Mining, Torex Gold and Hudbay Minerals, most recently as Pres./CEO/Dir. of Exploits Discovery Corp.
Prior, he was National Mining and Metals Co-Leader at Ernst and Young Canada. He sits on the boards of Radisson Mining and Mountain Province Diamonds.
The 10,000-acre, district-scale, Tuscarora District land package in NE Nevada sits at the intersection of the Carlin and Independence Trends — two of Nevada’s most significant Au corridors.
Notably, the district is near substantial past-producing mines including; Jerritt Canyon (10 miles) and Midas (25 miles), and current producer Goldstrike (55 miles). Combined, Jerritt Canyon and Midas produced ~12M ounces Au + 27M ounces Ag.
Jerritt Canyon is an important topic as First Majestic Silver Corp. is bringing it back online next year after what will be a 4.5 year period in Care and Maintenance. This is great news as it will attract regional infrastructure, workers and services and renewed investor interest to NE Nevada.
ICG’s thesis proposes two overlapping epithermal systems — one Au-dominant, the other Ag-dominant — converging in a layered configuration that previous operators left mostly untested.
The Ag angle is an important opportunity as Ag has tripled since 3Q/2024. Historical sampling and drill results showed pockets of strong Ag, but as mentioned, the focus was always on Au.
Notice the top surface grab sample grades –> 1,460 to 2,380 g/t Ag in 2021 from Modoc, or 10,000 to 38,820 g/t Ag from Grand Prize. How about drill results?
Drilling returned attractive Au grades, but there is comparatively little data on Ag. For instance, 4.6 m of 127.1 g/t Au at South Navajo in 2016 by Novo Resources, and 9.1 m of 5.9 g/t also at South Navajo by American Pacific in 2018.
I believe ICG Silver & Gold Ltd. (CSE :ICG) is undervalued vs. the following Nevada-focused juniors. Assuming the Company can deliver 500,000 Au Eq. ounces in an MRE, (with a longer-term goal of 1M+ ounces), ICG trades at a prospective C$31/oz. vs. peers at C$104/oz.
Comparing a pre-MRE company to these more advanced, (but still early-stage), peers would be aggressive if not for ICG’s C$5.5M in the treasury, enough to take it a long way towards a MRE in 1q/27.
The best places to develop projects in 2026 are the U.S. and Canada. Ag has been deemed a critical material in the U.S. and much of the world.
If one could pick a single place in the U.S. (or in N. America) to operate, Nevada would be at the top of the list. It’s routinely ranked the #1, or #2 global mining jurisdiction in the Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies.
Nevada is known as the “Silver State”, and is the largest Au producing State. Large players in Nevada include; Newmont, Barrick, AngloGold Ashanti, and Kinross, as well as royalty/streaming giants like Franco-Nevada, Wheaton Precious Metals and Royal Gold.
Mid-tiers include; Coeur Mining, Equinox Gold, Hecla Mining, SSR Mining, I-80 Gold, McEwen Inc., Orla Mining,Torex Gold. Integra Resources. Hycroft Mining and First Majestic have meaningful precious metal assets in Nevada as well.
I believe a tsunami of global M&A — especially of U.S. projects — will lift valuations across the board. Recent acquisitions of G2 Goldfields (PEA-stage) by G Mining Ventures, and Rupert Resources (PFS) by Newmont, were done at eye-popping levels above C$500/oz.
Therefore, the timing is ideal for ICG Silver & Gold Ltd (CSE:ICG) to deliver a MRE in 1Q/27, when precious metal prices and junior miner valuations *could be* stronger.
Today’s C$15M enterprise value could be a distant memory if drilling goes well, leading to a robust MRE.
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