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| Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
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| Zeus North America Mining Corp. (ZEUS.CN; ZUUZF.OTC) locked up three silver projects in Idaho in 2021, with its flagship project being the Cuddy Mountain project in the western part of the state.
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| Then, in 2023, Hercules Silver (BIG:TSXV, BADEF:OTC), chasing silver mineralization on its eponymously named Hercules project, made a major blind discovery of a copper porphyry at depth. For those not familiar with Hercules, earlier investors were greatly rewarded.
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| That discovery attracted the interest and investment of major Barrick Gold and set off a frenzied staking boom in the area, as companies scrambled to lock up claims on what could be a major new copper porphyry district.
But those companies quickly discovered that one company — Zeus — had already captured key ground along trend years before!
Now, Zeus is stepping forward with surface work of its own at Cuddy Mountain, just as Hercules and Barrick embark on an ambitious drill program that will certainly have the markets attention.
With silver taking off in sympathy with gold — and with copper riding the electrification trend higher — now it’s a great time to take a closer look at Zeus.
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| Pursuing Two In-Demand Metals
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| Silver tends to move along with gold, but in addition to its valuable monetary heritage, it’s also a crucial industrial metal in its own right.
The electrification trend has important applications for silver — in EVs and the automotive sector, in solar energy and in 5G broadband cellular networks. These three verticals alone are forecast to account for 125 million ounces of silver in 10 years.
But silver demand is already soaring: 2022 saw record demand for silver of 1.24 billion ounces, a demand which generated a 237.7-million-ounce deficit. Demand is expected to grow by 38% by 2033.
Meanwhile, copper is seeing its own demand explosion due to the push to decarbonize the economy. Even before accounting for tremendous demand from EVs, solar, wind and the electrical grid, a global supply deficit is already emerging thanks to the current base case usage alone.
And in the face of this soaring demand is a razor-thin pipeline of copper projects set to come online in the years ahead.
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| Simply put, the world’s isn’t greenlighting enough copper projects to come anywhere close to meeting the soaring demand.
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| That puts a company like Zeus, with the potential for both silver and copper mineralization in mining-friendly Idaho, in extremely good position going forward.
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| Major Discovery Next Door
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| That position is made more valuable by Barrick Gold’s recent C$23.3 million investment in neighboring Hercules Silver.
Barrick’s investment was made after Hercules drilled below known high-grade silver showings on its project and hit 185 meters of 0.84% copper, 111 ppm moly and 2.6 g/t silver in May 2023 (announced Oct. 10, 2023). That interval included a full 45 meters of 1.84% copper.
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| All of a sudden a region that had a long history of near-surface silver production became home to a potentially new copper porphyry system capable of hosting a world-class resource of the red metal. Some are saying it’s the discovery of the year, or maybe even the decade.
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| Subsequent holes drilled into the system showed grades increasing to the north and west. Drilling to the northwest on the Hercules Adit zone produced the best silver grades on the property.
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| Directly On Trend With Hercules
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| Why does this discovery matter to Zeus?
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| Because of this: A number of historical high-grade silver prospects also exist on the Cuddy Mountain Property and the blind copper porphyry mineralization could well continue on beneath Zeus’ Cuddy Mountain Property.
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| As the map below makes clear, the major thrust that runs through the Hercules project (outlined in blue) continues onto Cuddy Mountain (outlined in black).
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| Click image to enlarge
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| Also of note is the fact that Zeus already had control of Cuddy Mountain before Hercules’ 2023 discovery sparked a staking frenzy in the area.
And then there’s this new development: A recent deep-seeking 3D induced polarization (“IP”) study by Hercules on its property shows the prospectivity of the project increasing to the north... trending precisely to where Zeus’ Cuddy Mountain lies.
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| Lots Of Work In Area In 2024
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| It’s clear from the early work on Hercules’ discovery (named “Leviathan”) that it is open in multiple directions.
Also, the potassic center of the discovery, which often contains the richest copper grades, remains to be discovered.
Thanks to the investment by Barrick, Hercules Silver has the funds to support an extensive, 20,000-meter drill program on the Leviathan target in 2024.
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| That aggressive program, if successful, promises to lift all property holders in the area — and particularly Zeus North America Mining, with Cuddy Mountain lying directly on trend.
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| Zeus plans to conduct its own 3D IP survey at Cuddy Mountain in May, followed by mapping, ground magnetics, and rock and soil sampling. While the drills are turning at Hercules, Zeus will be identifying drill targets for its own project.
Again, Idaho is a great mining destination, with supportive government at all levels, an easily-understood permitting process and a populace in favor of mining.
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| With the drills soon to turn on Hercules, the chance for Zeus to experience a significant share-price bump due to its neighbor’s drilling program is real.
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| Longer term, Zeus has an excellent chance to make its own discovery along trend at Cuddy Mountain.
Bottom line: This is the perfect time to start doing your research on Zeus North America Mining.
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