Paramount Gold & Silver
Late last year, the company scored a discovery of paramount importance at its San Miguel project in Mexico, creating strategic value by positing geological continuity with a portion of Coeur d'Alene Mines'
Paramount paid a piddly sum of just C$32 million for X-Cal Resources last year, acquiring a 30-square-mile land package around a former open-pit mine that had yielded 1.7 million ounces of historical gold production. X-Cal had already established an indicated resource of 750,000 ounces of gold and 5 million ounces of silver, but it was Paramount's discussion of "outstanding exploration targets" identified on the site that really piqued this Fool's interest at the time.
I ask Fools to take very special note of what Paramount has achieved at Sleeper since the company closed that painless acquisition just over 12 months ago. With its updated resource estimate released earlier this week, Paramount has grown the gold resource at Sleeper from 750,000 ounces to a whopping 2.6 million ounces (measured and indicated). Expansion of the silver resource has been even more astonishing, with a rapid quintupling to 25.3 million ounces!
The valuation equation
Here's where it gets exciting for investors: I believe the market has clearly failed to properly value Paramount's latest achievement. I recall feeling uneasy when the stock surged over $4 on the momentum generated by that San Miguel discovery, but this time around I see a surprisingly muted response creating an exciting opportunity for investors to participate in Paramount's ongoing value creation.
Even if we were to ignore for a moment Paramount's inferred resource at San Miguel of 74.6 million ounces of silver and one million ounces of gold -- and there is absolutely no valid reason to ignore it -- Paramount's recent market capitalization of $324 million represents an unmistakable bargain. That's less than 7% of the current market value of measured and indicated gold at Sleeper; or a mere $125 per ounce of gold estimated thus far at this one project. Add in the 25 million ounces of silver, and the value equation grows sweeter still. For reference, consider that Newmont Mining's
Delivering on a promise
Paramount Gold & Silver seeks to occupy the "sweet spot" of shareholder value creation -- which it defines as the stages of development between discovery and production -- by "expanding and upgrading known, large-scale precious metal occurrences in established mining camps, defining their economic potential and then partnering them with nearby producers." I believe that Coeur d'Alene Mines cannot ignore the adjacent resources that Paramount is busily amassing at San Miguel, just as Nevada bigwigs Barrick Gold
Paramount is not done generating shareholder value at either of its principle projects. Not by a long shot. Discussing the enormous value still waiting to be unlocked by the likes of Primero Mining
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