Gold Prices Climb as Investors Remain Fearful of What's to Come

NEW YORK, May 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The price of gold futures climbed on Wednesday to once again cross the USD 1,700-an-ounce mark. Gold prices are influenced by current economic concerns, a result of protective measures taken to help fight the pandemic. Currently, traders take into consideration the outlook for economic growth and the expected possibility for negative U.S. interest rates, which will also have an impact on the precious metal's price. However, the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, indicated that negative interest rates is not something the agency is looking at. "This is of special interest to precious metals traders as the knock on investing in gold has been that it offers investors no dividend," explained Jim Wyckoff, Senior Analyst at Kitco.com, in a daily note according to MarketWatch. "Interest rates at or below zero would work to eliminate the 'opportunity cost' associated with owning precious metals." Vizsla Resources Corp. (OTC: VIZSF) (TSX-V: VZLA), Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX), Golden Star Resources Ltd. (NYSE: GSS) (TSX: GSC), K92 Mining Inc. (OTC: KNTNF) (TSX-V: KNT), Gold Fields Limited (NYSE: GFI) 

The value of gold is difficult to predict, as it depends on many economic variables as well as on decisions made by the federal reserve. In addition, gold prices are often viewed as safe haven in a time of economic and political uncertainties. According to Kitco News, the investment research firm CFRA is bullish on gold, saying the macroeconomic backdrop may be the strongest ever amid the global pandemic. "In our view, gold is the best hedge against economic uncertainty in general and, more specifically, against fiscal deficit, negative-yielding bonds, fiat currency debasement and potential inflation," the report said. "Although equity markets are attempting a strong bounce-back from the steep declines in the first quarter, there is a disconnect between the current recovery and the economic reality and the recent strength in equities could be underestimating the risk of a subsequent outbreak."

Vizsla Resources Corp. (OTCQB: VIZSF) (TSX-V: VZLA) announced breaking news yesterday that, "it has renegotiated the terms of the Rio Panuco option agreement. Under the terms of the revised agreement, the option will be extended by one year. Additionally, the Silverstone option period has been extended into 2022 and the total Panuco mining district option payments between now and the beginning of 2022 will be reduced by over USD$4,100,000 from USD$5,634,500 to USD$1,480,000. 

The Rio Panuco option forms half of the consolidated Panuco mining district and includes the 500 tonne per day El Coco Mill. The Rio Panuco concessions contain the northern Animas, northern Cordon del Oro and Napoleon veins that are the current focus of exploration and also contains significant underground mine development. Additional infrastructure includes tailings facilities, roads, power, ejido agreements and permits.

At the onset of the quarantine restrictions in Mexico due to COVID-19, the Company began to review its options pertaining to force majeure clauses in the two option agreements to pause the payment anniversaries.  The Company ended the force majeure period on the Rio Panuco option by mutual agreement with the amendments announced in this release while force majeure remains in place on the Silverstone option until government agencies in Mexico return to a normal course of business. The later registering of the Silverstone option agreement against the claim titles and the force majeure period to date extends the anniversary dates of the Silverstone option by a projected timeframe of four months from the original agreements and provides added time for exploration ahead of the infrastructure purchase phase of the agreement in 2022, subject to the enforced lockdown by Mexican authorities.

CEO Michael Konnert stated, "Vizsla is now in the strongest position yet to execute the option and become a near-term silver and gold producer at the Panuco district. Restructuring the Rio Panuco agreement to extend the option period by one year and the extra runway on the Silverstone agreements is a major success for the Company and shareholders. We now have more time to undertake exploration at the Panuco project ahead of the infrastructure purchase component of the option in 2022. These extensions fortify Vizsla's business plan of delineating an initial resource to justify the execution of one or both options and enter into production.  Building on the recent excellent drilling and sampling results and the lifting of restrictions allowing drilling later this month, the Company is making excellent progress towards its vision at the Panuco silver-gold district."

Table 1: Updated Rio Panuco and Silverstone Deal Terms.  *Current Force Majeure extension. Vizsla has the right to accelerate all payments

About the Panuco project: Vizsla has an option to acquire 100% of the newly consolidated 9,386.5 Ha Panuco district in southern Sinaloa, Mexico, near the city of Mazatlán. The option allows for the acquisition of over 75 km of total vein extent, a 500 tpd mill, 35 kms of underground mines, tailings facilities, roads, power and permits.

The district contains intermediate to low sulfidation epithermal silver and gold deposits related to siliceous volcanism and crustal extension in the Oligocene and Miocene. Host rocks are mainly continental volcanic rocks correlated to the Tarahumara Formation."

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Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) announced back in April its first-quarter 2020 financial results and revised operating plans in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic and resulting negative impact on the global economy. Richard C. Adkerson, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our global team is demonstrating an effective response to protect the health of our workforce, provide for business continuity, and support our communities during this unprecedented challenge. The prudent steps we are taking to safeguard our business, address costs and capital spending, and preserve our strong liquidity position are necessary to protect long-term asset values in the current weak and uncertain economic environment and to position us to ramp up and resume normal operations safely and quickly as health and economic conditions improve. Our team has substantial experience in successfully executing under volatile market conditions. I am confident that we will overcome the current challenges and 'prove our mettle' as we have effectively done in previous periods of economic weakness. We continue to achieve important progress in establishing large-scale, low-cost copper and gold production from our underground ore bodies at Grasberg and advance initiatives in the Americas to position FCX for significant increases in cash flows in 2021 and beyond."

Golden Star Resources Ltd. (NYSE: GSS) (TSX: GSC) announced earlier this year that it has extended the discretionary gold price protection program (the "Hedging Program") previously announced in August 2019 . While the Hedging Program was initially established to provide gold price protection for the projected production from the Prestea Mine over a 12 month period commencing in August 2019 , the Company has extended the Hedging Program to cover the projected production from the Prestea Mine through to the end of 2020. "Extension of the gold price protection program to the end of 2020 has secured an attractive floor and ceiling price for the period. These hedges cover the estimated production for Prestea to the end of 2020, a period during which we expect to continue to execute on our plans to improve the operational performance of the asset."

K92 Mining Inc. (OTCQX: KNTNF) (TSX-V: KNT) is engaged in the production of gold, copper and silver from the Kora and Kora North deposits of the Kainantu Gold Mine in the Eastern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea, as well as exploration and development of mineral deposits in the immediate vicinity of the mine. The Company announced earlier this year the continuing diamond drilling of the Kora North Extension of the Kainantu gold mine in Papua New Guinea. Step-out drilling to the south has extended the known mineralized southern extents by ~225m, recording multiple high-grade intersections. KMDD0175, drilled ~150m south of the Oct/2018 resource, recorded 8.08 m at 20.01 g/t Au, 13 g/t Ag and 0.87% Cu (21.50 g/t gold equivalent ("AuEq"), 2.86 m true width) and 8.50 m at 10.83 g/t Au, 52 g/t Ag and 3.81% Cu (17.33 g/t AuEq, 2.63 m true width). 

Gold Fields Limited (NYSE: GFI) announced last year that the Atacama Environmental Assessment Commission today approved the environmental impact study for its Salares Norte project in Chile. The environmental approval for the project is a crucial step for Gold Fields as it evaluates a construction decision. "The company will now formulate a funding plan, update the feasibility study completed earlier this year and proceed to a construction decision during H1 2020," says Nick Holland, CEO of Gold Fields. The potential mine would present a boost for the regional economy with respect to job creation, procurement of goods and services as well as payments of taxes and royalties. It is estimated that about 2,700 jobs would be created during construction of the mine, which – if given the go-ahead by Gold Fields – would be completed by end-2022. About 900 workers would be employed once the mine is operational.

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