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It’s a niche that major gold miners have left for the taking. |
Mid-tier gold production — in the range of 200,000-500,000 ounces per year — is a rarity in the industry right now. |
But with two producing mines and three growth assets in Mexico (plus a growth asset in Alaska), Heliostar Metals (HSTR.V; HSTXF.OTC) is gunning to be a mid-tier gold producer by 2030. |
And considering the gold resources and production it’s been able to acquire in lightning fashion for pennies on the dollar, smart investors aren’t betting against the company. In fact, more and more are betting with it. |
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Click image to enlarge Heliostar Metals assets include two producing mines, four growth assets and 3.2 million ounces of measured and indicated gold. |
The key components of its portfolio host 3.2 million ounces of measured and indicated gold — a hoard Heliostar was able to acquire for less than $1.80 per ounce! |
As you’re about to see, the company has a plan to phase up production from those assets in the next five years in a way that could multiply production many-fold...and potentially in a completely non-dilutive fashion. |
Obviously, executing its strategy to become a mid-tier gold producer will deliver Heliostar Metals a market re-rating of an extraordinary magnitude. |
La Colorada & San Agustin Provide Near-Term Production |
Last summer, Heliostar purchased the Mexican assets that used to belong to Argonaut Gold before it was acquired by Alamos Gold. Two of those assets were operating mines: La Colorada and San Agustin. Between short-term production from both mines, and a restart of heap leaching operations planned for this year at San Agustin, the mines are slated to produce between 31,000 and 41,000 gold-equivalent ounces in 2025. |
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Click image to enlarge Heliostar expects its La Colorada and San Augustin Mines to produce between 31,000 and 41,000 gold equivalent ounces in 2025. |
They would do so for all-in sustaining costs (“AISC”) of between $1,950-$2,100 per gold equivalent ounce. At current gold prices north of $2,900, these mines’ combined production should generate significant cash flow for Heliostar this year. |
Ana Paula To Deliver High-Grade Gold By 2027 |
The company can use that money to advance the feasibility study on its high-grade Ana Paula project in Guerrero State, Mexico. Ana Paula was originally conceived as an open-pit operation, but Heliostar defined a large, high-grade core at the project that is amenable to underground mining. |
The High Grade and Parallel Panels at Ana Paula have produced some eye-popping hits, including 242.0 meters of 9.1 g/t gold, 87.8 meters of 16.0 g/t, 129.2 meters of 6.0 g/t and 90.5 meters of 7.5 g/t. |
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Click image to enlarge Ana Paula promises to be a high-grade, underground mine that Heliostar expects to produce at the 100,000-ounce-per-year level by mid-2027. |
Those are phenomenal grades over astonishingly long widths, and they help explain the deposit’s robust gold resource: 3.35 million tonnes of 6.60 g/t gold measured and indicated (710,920 ounces) and 3.28 million tonnes of 4.24 g/t inferred (447,512 ounces). As the current drill program at Ana Paula makes clear, that resource has continued to grow with even more extraordinary intersections. |
Consider that results from the project just this week included 161 meters of 4.29 g/t gold and 15.7 meters of 10.4 g/t gold. |
Results like these will boost the economics of the feasibility study Heliostar is preparing on Ana Paula this year, and bolster plans to have the deposit producing at a 100,000 ounce-per-year level by mid-2027. |
Longer-Term Upside From San Antonio And Cerro Del Gallo |
To that production from Ana Paula (and 73,000 ounces from La Colorada), the company hopes to add production of between 80,000 and 100,000 ounces per year from its San Antonio project in Baja California Sur, Mexico by 2030. This deposit is on hold because it requires an environmental permit for development. That permit is looking a little more likely as the new government in Mexico has already issued a few permits in the new year to miners in the country. San Antonio has compelling economics. At $1,900/oz. gold, the project has an after-tax NPV, discounted at 5.0%, of $398.7 million and an after-tax IRR of 40.7%. |
But at $2,600/oz. gold — still considerably lower than current prices — those figures spike to $715.1 million and 58.8%, respectively. |
Longer-term, the Cerro del Gallo project in Guanajuato State, Mexico has a vast historical resource of 2.86 million ounces gold and 79.1 million ounces silver measured and indicated and another 71,000 ounces gold and 1.9 million ounces silver inferred. In short, Heliostar Metals has a clear and credible path to mid-tier gold production in Mexico...over just a few years...and with projects that it purchased for a mere C$15 million. |
Targeting A Mid-Tier Market Cap |
Heliostar is in good fiscal shape, with C$8 million in cash on hand and roughly C$9 million of in-the-money warrants. And like few other companies in the sector today, Heliostar has an opportunity to advance its many projects with only minimal dilution. |
And its target is clear: Mid-tier gold production and the likely C$1 billion market cap or higher that would come with it. |
This promises to be a busy year for Heliostar Metals, with lots of potentially market-moving catalysts as it revamps production at La Colorada and San Augustin and continues to deliver high-grade results from Ana Paula. In this red-hot gold market, Heliostar Metals promises to deliver strong leverage on rising prices, making this the perfect time to take a closer look at the company and its powerful fundamentals. |
CLICK HERE To Learn More about Heliostar Metals Ltd. |