Southern Silver Site Visit and Valuation Update
On January 28th, 2017 I traveled to Durango state Mexico to tour Southern Silver’s (SSV/SSVFF) Cerro Las Minitas property (CLM). Lesley Stokes from the Northern Miner was with us and she wrote up an informative article last week.I initially published a public report on SSV in May 2016 at 14 cents per share which you can read here.
[Our editor on site at drill #92]
Interestingly, if you look at the long term 10 year chart I posted back in May, I circled two target areas at that time. The first circle was around 50 cents. The share price broke above 50 back in August last year hitting a high of 66 cents but fell back and has been consolidating below 50 cents for 5 months. Guess where we have been seeing resistance recently? 47-50 cents. What is encouraging though is that on the weekly chart below, we are seeing bullish confirmations in a very recently rising MACD (bottom right) and reverse head and shoulders pattern. Technically, it is highly likely that the next move resolves itself upwards not only besting 50 cents per share but also the previous high at 66 cents.I want to note the second target area I circled almost 9 months ago when the share price was just 14 cents, which is at $3. It won’t go there overnight as the next major resistance area after besting last year’s high will be at $1. Once $1 is broken, $3 per share should actually happen a lot faster than it took for the price to get back to $1 from bear market lows. What could be the catalysts for such a surge besides rising silver/zinc prices? It could very well be the potential doubling of the resource this coming summer. The current resource at CLM is 36.5 million indicated silver equivalent ounces and 77.3 million inferred equivalent ounces containing primarily silver, zinc, and lead. The current in situ value of the resource exceeds $2.3 Billion and has grown several hundred million dollars due to zinc’s huge rise in 2016. The company is now in the midst of a 10,000 meter drill program with an ambitious goal to double the current resource. The $2MM program is being funded by the Electrum Group who is earning into 60% ownership at CLM and SSV will own 40% once the money has been spent (Electrum will have spent a total of $5MM at CLM by this June).
[Core shack]
“We already have a great deposit as it is, but once we hit the Blind Shoulder zone we just started following the high-grade, and we think we can double what we have right now,” Macdonald says during the drive to the property.The quote above is referenced from the Northern Miner article via SSV geologist Rob Macdonald. Obviously, there is no guarantee that they will double the resource but I will say that the SSV team certainly feels confident in the plan to do so. Right now at 48 cents CDN, the market cap of $40MM is valuing each silver equivalent ounce at 30 cents. I believe that is too cheap and I see many examples with silver equivalent ounces valued at $2 (Defiance Silver) or even $4 (Alexco). What is a fair value? Once SSV is in the PEA or pre-feasibility stage (we’ll see what’s next….probably a PEA but they will have to review the plan with Electrum this summer once results are known), $1.00 per equivalent ounce is very reasonable. In fact, $1 per OZ right now is reasonable.At $1 per ounce of silver equivalent resource the stock would be trading at $1.50 right now. Wonder how they get to $3? Double the resource and walla! Keep in mind that these comps are fair with a $17-$20 an ounce silver price. $25 silver and the valuation could easily double to $2 per equivalent ounce or triple at $28-30 silver, which I believe is coming. For now, I’m only looking for $1 per silver equivalent ounce of resource on what they have today which forecasts a $1.50 share price. I’ve been saying $1-2 in 2017 so I’m very comfortable with this price target.
[Cerro Las Minitas--The Hill of Many Mines]*Note the modern highway just meters from the property
One thing that should bolster investor’s confidence is the direct involvement of Tom Kaplan’s Electrum Group. This group is the smart money, make no mistake about that. Kaplan has literally made a fortune by building up plays just like Cerro Las Minitas and they will do it again….and again…and again. In this particular case I’m betting on both the horse (CLM) and the jockey’s. Larry Page via Western Silver has been involved in some monstrous successes as well such as discovering Penasquito in Mexico though Western Silver Corp. This mine now produces almost 1 million ounces of gold annually.I’m confident that in the next sustained move higher in precious metals, the gold/silver ratio will begin to tighten in silver’s favor. At 70 to 1, it is on the very high end historically and should make its way into the 30-40 to 1 area within 2-3 years, maybe even much sooner as silver can make up ground fast when it decides to! I don’t see Southern Silver taking CLM into production as they will be acquired well before then. This is an asset the majors will want and the company could be in play as early as this coming fall after the new resource estimates are on the table. The longer an acquirer waits, the higher price tag they will need to pay so I would rather see an offer in 2018 or once silver is $25 or higher, minimum.More details on mineralization and the various target zones can be read in SSV’s corporate presentation and/or in the Northern Miner article. SSV remains a buy under 50-60 cents and on pull backs. It remains my top junior silver holding. SSV was a sector leader during the huge gold/silver stock rally in 2016 and I expect it to remain an out performer in the next run.For updates on Southern Silver and unique ideas on individual mining stocks, please sign up for our free newsletter below.
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