Gold prices have historically risen in response to macroeconomic trends such as inflationary pressure and market uncertainty. As we head into another period of unprecedented economic upheaval, gold is once again emerging as a shining star in the investment universe.

One Canadian company focused on exploring and leveraging the largely unexplored region of Newfoundland, Canada, is Leocor Gold Inc. (CSE: LECR | OTCQB: LECRF). Newfoundland has a long history of mining operations, and has attracted considerable recent interest and exploration capital by a large number of gold and mineral companies.

Under CEO and Director Alex Klenman, Leocor has put together a team with the experience and expertise to explore and capitalize upon this opportunity. Leocor’s Technical Advisor Shawn Ryan is a renowned prospector who has been able to utilize his prospector skills to find valuable gold deposits. A New York Times profile went so far as to describe Ryan as “the king of a new Yukon Gold rush” before he turned his attention to the prolific Newfoundland region.

Leocor is focused on a handful of projects in the Newfoundland region, including the Western Exploit District. The company’s three contiguous projects represent a 144,000 hectare land package in the heart of Newfoundland. Ryan introduced Leocor to this project, and his data and analysis suggest this project has the potential for new gold discoveries at scale.

Property location map. Source: company website

On July 27, 2022, Leocor announced the results of a 2021 exploration program in the Western Exploit District project known as the Hodges Hill property. Their team performed soil sampling, LiDAR surveys, and airborne magnetic-VLF surveys. The results of this exploration program identified 12 potential gold targets at the Hodges Hill property. The exploration program reported soil samples that ranged from trace to 1018.5 ppb Au, with 25 samples containing more than 50 ppb Au.

Additionally, the program also suggested the likelihood of a large body of pyroxene gabbro. This material has been associated with gold mineralization in the area. Research from the Geological Survey of Canada found that pyroxene gabbro was key to the development of the Marathon Gold’s Valentine Lake deposits. The next step at this site is to perform follow-up work, such as geologic mapping, to identify high-priority targets for drill testing.

In addition to the Hodges Hill property, Leocor also announced in June that it had mobilized drilling at their Baie Verte project located in northwest Newfoundland. The company had previously announced the results of 2021 exploration activities, which identified a 7-kilometer northeast trending zone of anomalous gold in the soil and a 4-kilometer subparallel trend of anomalous copper in the soil.

Along this zone, the company identified multiple targets. These results were better than what was anticipated with this project. In particular, there is structurally controlled gold mineralization that bears similarities to the nearby Pine Cover Mine. This news led to the start of a rotary air blast (RAB) drilling program.

This program will test at least six target areas for gold and/or copper mineralization. The company plans to drill between 25 to 30 RAB holes. If the results of the program are promising, then Leocor plans to follow up with additional diamond drilling. No results have been reported yet.

The past few years have seen a new Newfoundland gold rush, with many new discoveries and companies now on the way to production. Leocor’s Technical Advisor Shawn Ryan has shown a nose for discoveries. While it is early days for Leocor, Newfoundland is definitely the place to be, and with inflation or other market forces exerting upward pressure on long-term gold, discoveries can help bring explorers to the attention of investors.

Today I want to look at a small, but intriguing exploration play. But first let’s address the price of gold, as in, what’s going on?

In recent weeks, gold has traded in a range, more or less around the high (USD) $1,700s per ounce. The metal has had a tough time even breaking $1,800 lately.

Many things contribute to gold currently being stuck in neutral. The U.S. dollar has been remarkably strong against other currencies, so that alone helps keep a lid on the gold price. And the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates, which makes bonds more attractive and adds opportunity cost to holding a stash of gold metal.

Meanwhile, modern economic and academic culture holds gold in disdain, based on several generations of people learning in school that gold is an outdated form of wealth protection, let alone a way to grow wealth over time.

The point is, some things are out of our control. The price of gold is what it is. Markets do what they do. The culture is fixed and it’s not as if you or I can change things.

Meanwhile, many gold mining junior companies – explorers and early stage developers – are badly beaten down in the markets. They are way oversold and there’s opportunity to be had in this situation.

Right now, across the gold and mining investment space, there’s no particular excitement for the gold juniors, especially the explorers and early-stage developers, outside of an occasional hot press release about drilling results, and even then we usually see a slight uptick followed by a sell-side downdraft.

In essence, gold is in a holding pattern in terms of price, while the junior sector is just treading water in the case of most companies. There’s little new money moving in, that’s for sure.

So it can all seem pretty grim. But it also sets up opportunities for immense profit downstream if you are in a position and mindset to buy, hold and wait for the wheels of fate to turn.

I like to focus on a few investment basics. That is, I look for companies with solid assets, great technical teams and superb management. These companies hold mineral claims in safe jurisdictions. They don’t do “vaporware,” meaning that they hold real minerals in the rocks. You can see a current resource, or anticipate a worthy and solid report coming down the line. And people running the show know what they’re doing.

Sooner or later, the upside will arrive and some of these plays have the opportunity to become attractive to far more than just the current crowd of gold and mining die-hards.

One company like this, which I’ve watched for a while, is Romios Gold Resources Inc. (TSXV: RG | OTCQB: RMIOF). Currently trading at around US 3 cents per share (about 4 cents Canadian) Romios Gold’s market cap is about $7 million (U.S.). It’s small, but despite this, Romios holds a collection of assets that ought to prompt gold investors to take a serious look.

Romios holds claims in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia, in much the same geology and along many of the same trends as such names as Brucejack, Eskay and Galore. Field work reveals excellent gold potential, along with copper mineralization in likely porphyry structures.

Romios also holds claims in Ontario, near the massive Musselwhite gold project. Romios has much the same geology underfoot as the past and presently working mines, again with excellent gold upside potential.

In addition, Romios holds mining claims in Nevada, in hard-rock areas in the west of the state. That is, it’s not Carlin-style gold, with all the problematic issues that come with exploration and production of that kind of rock. Instead, Romios works in classic mining country, and has already identified mineralized zones with visible gold within extensive vein systems.

Each of these locales – B.C., Ontario and Nevada – have their own geological story to tell. And at this stage I won’t belabor the points or write extensive geological descriptions. Those details can be found on the company’s website, along with recent press releases.

Meanwhile, from public documents and discussions with management I know that Romios has been gathering field data over the past year, and especially over this summer. Some press releases to date from Nevada have been remarkable in terms of gold and copper.

Like many junior miners, Romios holds a larger inventory of mineralized claims than its bank accounts can afford to explore, let alone develop. Then again, that’s what joint ventures and similar kinds of deals are made for. There’s no reason to think that Romios will continue to work alone, and solely on its own account. More likely, we’ll see some dealmaking. And those deals will begin to shine light on what the company has in the barn, so to speak.

Indeed, the old term “barn find” is apropos for Romios. To use an analogy, I’m reminded of the stories you occasionally hear about someone who discovers a collection of classic old cars sitting under canvas tarps in some old barn out in the middle of the countryside. There’s definite potential for a Wow-factor here as you pull back the tarps.

With Romios that wow-factor pertains. The company holds an impressive inventory of assets with strong potential upside. At this point the real question is how long, and what level of investment will it require to bring one or more of these assets to the attention of a marketplace that’s currently bored, if not downright demoralized.

As the summer field season finishes up, and we move into the fall, I suspect it will be worth watching for more news from Romios.

In this InvestorIntel PDAC 2022 Panel on “In Search of Gold – The Gold Market”, host Stephen Lautens discusses the increasingly positive market sentiment towards junior gold explorers and gold as an investment with a panel of gold experts including MAS Gold Corp.‘s (TSXV: MAS) CEO and Director Jim Engdahl, TRU Precious Metals Corp.‘s (TSXV: TRU | OTCQB: TRUIF) Co-Founder, CEO and Director Joel Freudman, Volcanic Gold Mines Inc.’s (TSXV: VG) Founder, Director, President and CEO Simon Ridgway, and West Red Lake Gold Mines Inc.‘s (CSE: RLG | OTCQB: RLGMF) President and Director John Kontak.

In the video, which can also be viewed in full on the InvestorIntel YouTube channel (click here), the panel discusses the continuing investor interest in gold in turbulent markets. Simon Ridgway of Volcanic Gold says that “I do think that there’s a pretty good upside over the next five months for gold. When the big markets fail as they are right now then people usually turn to gold as a safe haven.” TRU Precious Metals CEO Joel Freudman agrees: “If you look at March 2020, gold got liquidated along with everything else but subsequently gold and precious metals like silver really took off following the crash, so to your point, I think a similar pattern wouldn’t be unexpected.”

The panel also discusses a new, younger generation of investors who are returning to gold following the rise and fast fall of investments like cannabis and crypto.

To access the full InvestorIntel interview, click here

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About MAS Gold Corp. 

MAS Gold Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on exploration projects in the prospective La Ronge Greenstone Belt of Saskatchewan.  In the belt, MAS Gold Corp. operates the Greywacke, North Lake and Point advanced gold projects, each hosting drill-intercepted zones of gold mineralization. MAS Gold’s NI 43-101 Technical Report of June 1, 2016 concerning the Greywacke deposit is available on SEDAR and on MAS Gold’s website: www.masgoldcorp.com.

To learn more about MAS Gold Corp., click here

About TRU Precious Metals Corp.

TRU (TSXV:TRU) (OTCQB: TRUIF) (FSE: 706) is on a mission to build long-term shareholder value, through prudent natural resource property development and transactions. Currently, TRU is exploring for gold and copper in the highly prospective Central Newfoundland Gold Belt and has an option with TSX-listed Altius Minerals to purchase 100% of the Golden Rose Project. Golden Rose is a regional-scale 236 km² land package, including a newly discovered 20 km district-scale structure and an additional 45 km of strike length along the deposit-bearing Cape Ray – Valentine Lake Shear Zone, directly between Marathon Gold’s Valentine Gold Project and Matador Mining’s Cape Ray Gold Project.

To know more about TRU Precious Metals Corp., click here

About Volcanic Gold Mines Inc.

Volcanic brings together an experienced and successful mining, exploration and capital markets team focused on building multi-million-ounce gold and silver resources in underexplored countries.  Through the strategic acquisition of mineral properties with demonstrated potential for hosting gold and silver resources, and by undertaking effective exploration and drill programs, Volcanic intends to become a leading gold-silver company.

To learn more about Volcanic Gold Mines Inc., click here

About West Red Lake Gold Mines Inc.

West Red Lake Gold Mines is a Toronto-based minerals exploration company focused on gold exploration and development in the prolific Red Lake Gold District of Northwest Ontario, Canada. The Red Lake Gold District is host to some of the richest gold deposits in the world and has produced 30 million ounces of gold from high grade zones. The Company has assembled a significant property position totalling 3,100 hectares in west Red Lake (the “West Red Lake Project”) which contains three former gold mines located 15 km west of the Red Lake mine complex. The Mount Jamie Mine and Red Summit Mine properties are 100% owned by the Company and the Rowan Mine property is held in a 69% – 31% joint venture with Evolution Mining Limited. The West Red Lake Project property covers a 12 km strike length along the Pipestone Bay St Paul Deformation Zone and the Company is continuing to explore the property both along strike and to depth.

To learn more about West Red Lake Gold Mines Inc., click here

Disclaimer: MAS Gold Corp., TRU Precious Metals Corp., Volcanic Gold Mines Inc., and West Red Lake Gold Mines Inc. are advertorial members of InvestorIntel Corp.

This interview, which was produced by InvestorIntel Corp., (IIC), does not contain, nor does it purport to contain, a summary of all the material information concerning the “Company” being interviewed. IIC offers no representations or warranties that any of the information contained in this interview is accurate or complete.

This presentation may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and assumptions of the management of the Company as of the date made. They are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and other factors that could cause actual events/results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties, including those that the Company does not know about now or that it currently deems immaterial, may also adversely affect the Company’s business or any investment therein.

Any projections given are principally intended for use as objectives and are not intended, and should not be taken, as assurances that the projected results will be obtained by the Company. The assumptions used may not prove to be accurate and a potential decline in the Company’s financial condition or results of operations may negatively impact the value of its securities. Prospective investors are urged to review the Company’s profile on Sedar.com and to carry out independent investigations in order to determine their interest in investing in the Company.

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In this InvestorIntel interview with host Tracy Weslosky, MAS Gold Corp.’s (TSXV: MAS) CEO and Director Jim Engdahl talks about the competitive advantages of Saskatchewan for gold exploration.

In the interview, which can also be viewed on the InvestorIntel YouTube channel (click here to subscribe), Jim talks about MAS Gold’s significant land position in Saskatchewan’s highly prospective La Ronge Gold Belt. Ranked as one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world, Jim says that Saskatchewan has well-developed infrastructure and still remains underexplored for gold. Touching upon the prevailing market uncertainties and higher gold prices, Jim explains why junior gold miners have become “exceptionally attractive,” especially those in good jurisdictions.