The broad range of commodities is in for a very exciting 2021 as an extensive global stimulus coupled with support from central banks monetizing government debt should spur price increases.
Commodities haven’t been this hot since the mid-2000s when China was stockpiling everything from copper to cotton, while crop failures and export bans around the world boosted food prices.
The backdrop is now starting to look similar, with many different commodities trading near six-year highs.
In 2020, gold, silver, and copper had a significant year.
Gold had nearly its best yearly gain in about a decade, up over 25% for the year. Silver was extremely volatile at times but finished the year up 47% and led all commodities. Finally, copper showcased major strength increasing by 26%. Many banks are drawing similar comparisons to the copper run to the spike in the early 2000s when a jump in Chinese orders ushered in the last supercycle for commodities.
Another interesting fact that only strengthens the inflationary theme is that global food prices reached a six-year high in December.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s food price index has risen for the past seven months, with annual prices capping the highest average in three years. Commodity price inflation is very real right now, and it could be only just beginning.
Cornerstone Capital Resources: (TSX-V:CGP)
As many of my subscribers know, I am very bullish on Cornerstone Capital Resources. They have a fantastic team at the helm with proven track records of success and a robust portfolio of copper-gold assets.
For my new subscribers and readers, I encourage you to check out the last interview I did with the company’s CEO, Brooke Macdonald, in December 2020, in the link below:
Cornerstone Capital Resources Closes Financing, Well Positioned for Elevated Commodity Prices
The key driver of Cornerstone’s value proposition is its effective 21.4% interest in Cascabel, which is the only available tier 1 copper-gold asset in the world not owned by a global, multi-national mining company.
Just for a quick refresh, the Alpala deposit at Cascabel hosts a world-class resource of:
With 43% of the world’s best copper-gold drilling intercepts have happened at the Cascabel asset.
On December 17th, Cornerstone reported that the first drill hole at Tandayama-America copper molybdenum gold anomaly, discovered a new highly mineralized Alpala-Style porphyry system 3km North of Alpala.
The drilling at the Tandayama-America Porphyry Copper-Gold Target at Cascabel is currently intersecting intense visible chalcopyrite copper sulphide mineralization within a quartz-diorite intrusion.
The mineralization intersected at Tandayama-America is very similar to the “QD10” quartz-diorite source intrusion at the Alpala deposit on Cascabel 3km to the south. At Alpala, the QD10 source intrusion is almost wholly responsible for the presence of the high-grade core of the deposit which boasts 442 Mt at 1.40% CuEq.
The upcoming assay results of this new system should be watched very closely. It is very clear that resources at Cascabel could still grow dramatically.
However, with many of my readers familiar with Cascabel, I thought I would highlight the company’s 100% owned Bella Maria property which is set to be drilled for the first time in the coming months. I am extremely excited about this asset as it has the earmarks to have major exploration success, and the market does not seem to be pricing in Bella Maria’s potential for discovery.
The Bella Maria Project:
The Bella Maria property is 10.4 km2 (1,040 hectares) and is located approximately 50 km southeast of the city of Machala in El Oro Province, southwestern Ecuador.
Bella Maria is underlain by a series of granodiorites and quartz porphyries that intrude metamorphic rocks. Previous workers identified two zones of significant gold mineralization, approximately 2 km apart.
The company has already identified 7 mineralized prospects.
Cornerstone has also stated that soil geochemistry surveys have outlined a large (3 km x 2 km) coincident gold – copper +/- molybdenum in-soil anomaly associated to porphyry-style mineralization in the central portion of property.
The preliminary results to date on the property indicate excellent potential to host significant porphyry and structurally controlled breccias and veins.
A key component for the project is its neighbour. The Bella Maria project borders the NE corner of Lumina Gold’s Greater Cangrejos gold property which hosts a resource of 10.4 m oz Au in the indicated category and 6.3 m oz. Au in the inferred category; truly a world-class gold resource.
In 1994 Lumina (formerly Odin Mining) identified the Cangrejos area as the source of the Biron alluvial gold deposit which yielded 69,000 ounces of gold.
A joint venture was formed with Newmont and during the period 1994 to 2001 geophysical and geochemical surveys were completed and anomalies were tested by diamond drilling. The Cangrejos zone was discovered by hole CC-99-14 which intersected 1.57 g/t Au over 192m.
At Cangrejos, porphyry style Au-Cu mineralization is associated with a sequence of intercalated porphyritic dioritic intrusions and hydrothermal breccias. Better Au grades correlate with potassic alteration and chalcopyrite-bornite occurring as fine disseminations and in quartz veins.
As previously mentioned, Cornerstone has identified seven mineralized prospects/areas which seem to have some similar geological traits to Cangrejos:
- Las Pavas Breccia (LPB):400m by 700m area. Series of N-S oriented, fault controlled, metric size wide hydrothermal breccias with silicified and tourmaline rich matrix. Small scale miners sporadically exploit higher-grade gold mineralization. Medium priority target.
- Vega Rivera Porphyry (VRP): 800m by 800m area. Located in the central part of the property along the Q. Cardenas stream. At this location, gold and copper mineralization is associated with stockworks of B type quartz veinlets developed within silicified and potassic altered granodiorite and quartz-feldspar porphyry units. Pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and occasionally some molybdenite and bornite are present within quartz veinlets and as coatings along fractures. High priority target.
- Vega Rivera Breccia (VRB):200m by 350m area. This breccia is located at the northern contact of the VRP with metamorphic rocks and possibly at the intersection of NW-SE and NNE-SSW structures. It shows sub-angular to sub-rounded fragments of metamorphic rocks and quartz within a silicified and pyritic matrix. High priority target.
- Tourmaline Breccia (TB):200m by 500m area. Located to the SE contact of the VRP and developed along a NE-contact between the VRP intrusive and metamorphic rocks. This breccia is composed of metamorphic rock fragments within a tourmaline-pyrite matrix. High priority target.
- Central Breccia (CB):200m by 900m area. Hydrothermal breccia located in the south central part of the property along an NE-SW oriented fault. The breccia is composed of angular fragments of metamorphic, intrusive and breccia rocks within a silicified matrix containing 1-5% pyrite and traces of chalcopyrite, bornite, covellite and chalcocite. Sulphides are disseminated and associated with late quartz and quartz-tourmaline veinlets. The breccia is approximately 60m wide. Assay results from rock chip sampling is highly variable but channel sampling returned an intercept of 30m at 1.2 g/t Au. High priority target.
- Eastern sector (ES):1000m by 1200m area. Presence of several sub-metric width, NNE-SSW oriented, mesothermal(?) quartz veins and veinlets. Low priority target.
- Southeast Breccia (SEB):150m by 1300m area. This target area is located in the southeastern part of the property at the contact between a N-S oriented, 40m thick, quartz-diorite dyke and schist units. The intrusive rock shows quartz-pyrite-pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite-molybdenite veinlets stockworks. The prospect is being exploited worked by small scale minors. Medium priority target.
Before drilling is commenced the company plans to complete a detailed exploration program which will include:
- 192 line-kilometre ground magnetic survey
- 3D magnetic data processing
- Extensive 50m by 50m soil sampling program
- Detailed geology and rock sampling at the 7 identified mineralized targets
- Trenching and channel sampling
- Data integration and modeling.
This program is designed to give the company high priority drill targets to test the most prospective zones.
The program should be completed in 3 to 5 months. The company is fully financed to conduct this program as it recently closed a $7.7 million financing.
As the majority of my subscribers know, the team behind Cornerstone has made major discoveries before. With the team being the founding partner of Cascabel, the team has a wealth of exploration experience and, most importantly, exploration success.
This will be an exciting program to follow as with any significant discovery; it could be transformational for the company’s value proposition. I will be doing another Q&A interview with Brooke Macdonald in early February for a general update alongside some details of this program.
Legal Notice / Disclaimer
The Gold Telegraph, goldtelegraph.com, hereafter known as Gold Telegraph.
Please read the entire Disclaimer carefully before you use this website or read the newsletter. If you do not agree to all the Gold Telegraph Disclaimer, do not access/read this website/newsletter/article, or any of its pages. By reading/using this Gold Telegraph website/newsletter/article, and whether or not you actually read this Disclaimer, you are deemed to have accepted it.
Any Gold Telegraph document is not, and should not be, construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment.
Gold Telegraph has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified. Gold Telegraph makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Gold Telegraph/Author only and are subject to change without notice.
The Gold Telegraph/Author assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, The Gold Telegraph/Author assumes no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this The Gold Telegraph/Author report.
The Gold Telegraph/Author is not a registered broker/financial advisor and does not hold any licenses. These are solely personal thoughts and opinions about finance and/or investments – no information posted on this site is to be considered investment advice or a recommendation to do anything involving finance or money aside from performing your own due diligence and consulting with your personal registered broker/financial advisor. You agree that by reading The Gold Telegraph/Author articles, you are acting at your OWN RISK. In no event should The Gold Telegraph/Author be liable for any direct or indirect trading losses caused by any information contained in The Gold Telegraph articles. Information in Gold Telegraph/Author articles is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. The Gold Telegraph/Author is not suggesting the transacting of any financial instruments but does suggest consulting your own registered broker/financial advisor with regards to any such transactions
The author does own shares of Cornerstone Capital Resources (TSX-V:CGP). Cornerstone is a paid advertiser on the Gold Telegraph.