Greetings Contrarian,

This is The Next Big Rush, your daily drop of mining/energy investing news. Where we come together and hope nothing in our portfolio falls apart as CEOS are all downing pints at PDAC.

Here are the sober points:

🫡 Cabaçal Juicylicious PEA

🫡 More Gold in Burkina Faso

🫡 Japan Nuclear Breakthrough

🧃 Cabaçal's Juicylicious PEA

Meridian (TSX:MNO )(Frankfurt:2MM) (OTCQB:MRRDF) has just come out with their PEA from their Copper-Gold Cabaçal project in Brazil.

Highlights:

• Base case after-tax NPV5 of $573M (CAD1 $778M) and 58.4% IRR using $1,650/oz gold, $3.59/lb copper, and $21.35/oz silver (Table 1);

• Spot case after-tax NPV5 of $745M (CAD1 $1.01B) and 69.7% IRR using3 $1,841/oz gold, $4.13/lb copper, and $21.35/oz silver;

Even though we are always doubtful of discount rates at 5% at PEA for mining projects (everything that can go wrong…), their base case uses decent assumptions AND most importantly, even if you discount some of the NPV, the discrepancy of market cap to NPV is nothing short of stupid good.

The stock went up 18.3% on the announcement and still sits at $98m CAD.

(Pulls out calculator) that’s almost 8x.

Not bad….not bad at all.

Here's a comparison we shamelessly stole from our friend Tommy Humphreys as the stock was soaring today:

😇 More Gold Found In Burkina Faso

Today we sat two seats over from a board member of Orezone Gold (TSX: ORE) (OTCQX: ORZCF) for lunch. He had a twinkle in his eyes and we thought it was due to the fact he’s a happy rich dude with some wins under his belt, but when we read the news, it all made sense: Bomboré, Orezone’s mine in Burkina Faso, has just found more gold.

Highlights:

1.72 g/t Gold Over 40.40m

5.59 g/t Gold Over 15.00m

Orezone is focusing on mining and processing the Phase I near surface free-dig oxides at a planned annual throughput of 5.2 million tonnes.

The Company thinks that Bomboré possesses a considerable sulphide resource that can sustain a considerably larger Phase II expansion.

A resource definition drilling program has recently been finished by the Company, and as a component of this Phase II expansion, an updated mineral resource, reserve, and life of mine plan will be issued. The pending study is projected to be concluded in Q3-2023, followed by a production decision.

💥 Japan Nuclear Breakthrough

Following a report by Japan's nuclear regulator that brought a regional utility closer to restarting one of its nuclear reactors, shares of Hokuriku Electric Power Co. surged the most in a decade, rising by as much as 16%.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority found that the company's Shika No. 2 nuclear reactor in Ishikawa prefecture is not situated on an active fault line, a critical breakthrough in the utility's efforts to restart the unit that has been offline since 2011.

This development is also a positive for the proponents of nuclear power in Japan, where the government has been providing subsidies to mitigate the impact of rising power prices on consumers and inflation caused by soaring coal and liquefied natural gas import costs.

However, Hokuriku Electric still has a long way to go before the reactor can produce power, as it must navigate a stringent restart procedure overseen by the NRA, gain approval from the prefecture's governor, win the backing of the local community, and complete any necessary safety upgrades.

Japan comes running back to nuclear like a lover who’s messed around, found out, and came back. Not that we know what that’s like.

Meme Of The Day

Happy speculating!

The Editor

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.