ALMADEN MINERALS LTD

Closed the bought deal at $17,251,150 for 9,857,800 units - the underwriters took their full option, so the raise came in above the $15.0 million announced in May. Underwriters were paid $1,035,069 and 295,734 warrants. This is the largest financing in the cached record and leaves the company funded through permitting.

capital raising announcement

Agreed a $15.0 million bought-deal placement with Sprott Capital Partners and Cormark Securities as co-leads: 8,572,000 units at $1.75 with half-warrants at $2.45 for three years, plus an option for 1,285,800 more units. The first underwritten financing in the record, and at a price above every raise since 2013.

capital raising announcement

Pre-feasibility study turns resources into reserves for the first time: 65 million tonnes proven and probable at 0.62 g/t gold and 37.8 g/t silver, supporting after-tax net present value of US$310 million and a 41% return on US$117 million of initial capital, with payback in 2.2 years and all-in sustaining costs of US$862 an ounce of gold-equivalent. Life-of-mine output of 1.04 million ounces of gold and 70.9 million ounces of silver, and the company sets a production target of 2019 - which now depends on permits rather than on drilling.

resource reserve update

TU-16-487 returned 41.45 metres at 1.52 g/t gold and 117.3 g/t silver including 4.60 metres at 6.68 g/t gold and 565.4 g/t silver, and TU-16-489 cut half a metre grading 16.85 g/t gold and 3120 g/t silver. The last drill results before the pre-feasibility study is published.

drilling result

The highest gold grade in the company's cached record: TU-16-470 cut 5.50 metres at 27.31 g/t gold and 66.3 g/t silver up-dip of the main zone, including one metre at 143.00 g/t gold. TU-16-474 gave 15.80 metres at 4.31 g/t gold and 98.0 g/t silver in the new vein zone. Seven holes, all inside or just outside the pit outline.

drilling result

Three holes from one pad on section 10+625E found a new vein zone inside the pit outline - 24.20 metres at 2.37 g/t gold and 98.1 g/t silver, including 14.40 metres at 3.57 g/t gold and 146.9 g/t silver - plus very narrow, very silver-rich veins to the north, one of 0.50 metres at 1335.0 g/t silver.

drilling result

Rebuilt the project around the second-hand Rock Creek mill: initial capital falls to US$100 million from the US$399 million base case of September 2014, for after-tax net present value of US$166 million and a 30% return at a lowered price deck of $1150 gold and $16 silver. The trade-off is scale - 36 million tonnes of feed at 0.76 g/t gold and 47 g/t silver producing 724,000 ounces of gold and 48.8 million ounces of silver over 13 years, against 129 million tonnes in the original plan. 97% of the feed is now in the confident resource categories.

resource reserve update

Raised $3.38 million placing 4,506,666 units at $0.75 - a 40% cut from February's $1.25 and less than half the price of the 2013 raise - with warrants at $1.00 to November 2017; Chairman Duane Poliquin took 100,000 units. Part of the money covers near-term payments on an option over the Rock Creek mill, a second-hand plant the company had secured in October.

capital raising announcement

Board approved splitting the company in two: everything except Ixtaca - the El Cobre and Willow porphyry projects, 20 other exploration properties, a 2% royalty over Tuligtic itself, a 1.5% royalty on Goldgroup's Caballo Blanco, a 2% royalty on Gold Mountain's Elk deposit and 21 further royalties - goes to a new listed company whose shares go to Almaden holders pro rata. Almaden becomes a single-asset developer.

asset acquisition disposition

Reworked economics on the same resource model cut initial capital 19% to US$399 million and lifted the after-tax net present value to US$515 million with a 28% return and 2.5-year payback, mostly by remodelling the waste rock and conveying ore to the mill. A smaller alternative starts at 7,000 tonnes a day for US$244 million and expands to 30,000 by year six out of cash flow - the first sign the company is designing around what it can actually finance.

resource reserve update

TU-14-438, drilled just outside the study's pit outline, returned 32.00 metres at 2.22 g/t gold and 5.4 g/t silver including 15.00 metres at 4.43 g/t - high-grade volcanic-hosted gold immediately beside the deposit. A second hole southeast of the deposit gave 27.00 metres at 0.45 g/t gold, also outside the pit.

drilling result

First economic study for Ixtaca: after-tax net present value of US$437 million at a 5% discount and a 22% return, on pre-production capital of US$496 million, a 12.1-year life at 30,000 tonnes a day and average output of 130,000 ounces of gold and 7.8 million ounces of silver a year. Payback is four years and 16% of the mine plan is still inferred material, so the capital number is the number to watch.

resource reserve update

Updated resource, published a day after the last infill assays: 30.44 million tonnes measured at 1.38 g/t gold-equivalent (1,351,000 ounces), 62.61 million tonnes indicated at 1.08 g/t (2,182,000 ounces) and 22.70 million tonnes inferred (717,000 ounces). Against the January 2013 estimate the confident categories went from 2.02 to 3.53 million ounces while inferred fell from 1.55 to 0.72 million - the year of infill drilling did what it was meant to do.

resource reserve update

The infill programme finished in December 2013; these are its results. TU-13-386 returned 81.07 metres at 1.38 g/t gold and 90.6 g/t silver including 12.60 metres at 3.76 g/t gold and 300.6 g/t silver, and TU-13-383 gave 100.89 metres at 1.53 g/t gold.

drilling result

TU-13-349 gave 97.00 metres at 1.60 g/t gold and 115.4 g/t silver, including 43.50 metres at 3.16 g/t gold and 235.4 g/t silver.

drilling result

TU-13-354 returned 101.00 metres at 1.92 g/t gold and 113.2 g/t silver in the main zone - a wide intercept at grades usually seen only in narrow cores.

drilling result

Started converting inferred ounces into measured and indicated: two of three rigs switched to infill drilling, with the third still stepping out. The first infill holes returned 18.25 metres at 5.68 g/t gold and 923.8 g/t silver in the northern branch of the main high-grade zone.

drilling result

Traced the high-grade volcanic-hosted zone found in November 2012 about 20 metres further east, hitting 82.00 metres at 2.62 g/t gold and 12.3 g/t silver. Modest step-outs, but the zone the maiden resource excluded keeps holding grade.

drilling result

Raised $5.47 million by placing 4,376,000 units at $1.25 with a small group of Mexico-focused strategic investors, each unit carrying a warrant exercisable at $1.50 to January 2015 and $1.80 thereafter; finders took $232,500 and 186,000 warrants. The first equity raise in the cached record, six months after the maiden resource.

capital raising announcement

First resource estimate for Ixtaca, two and a half years after the discovery: 56.99 million tonnes indicated at 1.10 g/t gold-equivalent for 2,019,000 ounces, plus 41.53 million tonnes inferred at 1.16 g/t for 1,552,000 ounces, at a 0.5 g/t cut-off. Scoping metallurgy recovered 88% of the gold and 82% of the silver overall, but only 54% of the gold from the volcanic rocks that host about a tenth of the ounces.

resource reserve update

Four holes from one pad on section 11+000E, fifty metres beyond the edge of the resource being estimated, found a new high-grade volcanic-hosted area: 134.20 metres at 3.76 g/t gold and 18.1 g/t silver, with visible gold logged for the first time at Ixtaca. The maiden resource will therefore understate the deposit from the day it is published.

drilling result

Drilling for the first resource estimate is finished: 225 holes and 81,971.03 metres since the 2010 discovery will feed it. The final batch included 18.00 metres at 6.36 g/t gold and 14.0 g/t silver on the northeast extension, and TU-12-196 at 152.41 metres of 0.46 g/t gold.

drilling result

A 100-metre step-out along the northeast extension, now called Chemalaco, held up: TU-12-174 returned 99.80 metres at 1.10 g/t gold and 33.2 g/t silver. The zone that looked marginal in March is now the one growing fastest.

drilling result

Stepped out to the extreme southwest end of the known mineralisation and found grade in the overlying volcanic rocks rather than the limestone basement: 30.90 metres at 1.65 g/t gold and 145.4 g/t silver. A different host rock matters because the volcanics later prove much harder to recover metal from.

drilling result

The widest intercept reported at Ixtaca so far: 188.70 metres at 1.32 g/t gold and 97.8 g/t silver in the main zone. Three holes on one section also showed the northeast extension to be continuously mineralised over 400 metres down dip.

drilling result

A single hole, TU-12-145, extended Ixtaca North and returned unusually silver-rich intervals: 11.00 metres at 1.09 g/t gold and 580.7 g/t silver, and 6.80 metres at 1.13 g/t gold and 860.7 g/t silver. Silver, not gold, is carrying the value in this part of the system.

drilling result

Twenty-two holes, including the first infill sections tightened from 50-metre to 25-metre spacing: TU-12-96 gave 97.9 metres at 0.92 g/t gold and 65.2 g/t silver, including 7.79 metres at 4.76 g/t gold and 277.3 g/t silver. The tighter grid is the first sign the company is drilling towards a resource estimate rather than just chasing extensions.

drilling result

The northeast extension improved sharply, with TU-12-103 returning 17.00 metres at 3.74 g/t gold and 67.4 g/t silver - the company says the best grades yet from that zone, two weeks after a hole there ran 0.14 g/t. Ten holes reported in all across the main, southeast and northeast zones.

drilling result

The last of the 2011 Ixtaca holes, headlined by 163.45 metres at 1.27 g/t gold and 61.6 g/t silver including 8.00 metres at 9.82 g/t gold and 492.8 g/t silver. A separate hole south of the main zone, TU-11-92, hit 5.57 metres at 1.05 g/t gold before being lost, and that partial intercept is what the company is calling a new Ixtaca South zone.

drilling result

Seven more Ixtaca holes, led by TU-11-72 at 224.00 metres of 0.95 g/t gold and 57.5 g/t silver, including 28.96 metres at 2.44 g/t gold and 103.1 g/t silver. TU-11-74 stepped southwest and stayed in mineralisation, so the zone is still open in that direction.

drilling result

Five holes into the main Ixtaca zone at Tuligtic, Mexico, with four rigs turning: TU-11-67 returned 120.70 metres at 1.02 g/t gold and 72.6 g/t silver, including 21.95 metres at 2.75 g/t gold and 210.1 g/t silver. Wide, continuous vein mineralisation with high-grade cores rather than a narrow one-hole hit.

drilling result