Greetings Contrarian,

This is The Next Big Rush, your daily drop of mining/energy investing news. Where we come together to pretend we know what we're talking about. 

🥸 Ontario Pushing For Mining Changes

The Ontario government in Canada has introduced new legislation to amend the Mining Act, which aims to attract more investment in the province's mining sector and strengthen the critical minerals supply chains for batteries and electric vehicles.

The proposed Building More Mines Act, 2023 aims to address regulatory challenges to help advance critical minerals projects by simplifying the permit process, improving closure planning, and allowing greater flexibility in rehabilitation techniques.

The amendments aim to increase certainty for business planning and generate investment in Northern Ontario, offering significant economic development opportunities for Indigenous communities while maintaining environmental protection standards. 

“It shouldn’t take 15 years to open a mine. This process is too time consuming and costly, leading to project delays and lost opportunities for Ontario’s mineral exploration and mining sector,” George Pirie, Minister of Mines. 

Yes, Minister. A whole lotta yes.

The proposed changes are open for public comment until April 16th.

🎯 Metals Investor Forum Picks

The dozens of companies presenting at MIF have one thing in common - they want to get your attention as an investor. The minerals and stages do vary, although this is typically a junior-focussed show. We’d like to present you some up and coming companies that we’ve found intriguing and haven’t been mentioned in this fine newsletter before, as far as we can remember.

(clears throat)

Empress Royalty

A newer royalty and streaming company that’s been founded by former Endeavour Financial folk and already have producing assets spitting cash. Interesting numbers as they have already secured some USD $50m+ coming in for the next 5 years just from current producing deals. Empress targets smaller tickets that are less interesting to the Franco-Nevada’s of this world. Market cap $USD $30m ish.  Rick Rule likes it and so do we.  

Website: https://empressroyalty.com/

Bravo Mining

What happens when you a group of guys that have built a mine in northern Brazil, have them take over a previous Vale project with historic drills and give them some funding? They find a whole lotta PGM and nickel, that’s what they do. The area of known mineralization is a gorgeous 8km long corridor and the goodies begin at surface. The next stage is to drill deeper. We asked the CEO how they could possibly be considered cheap at a CAD $300m+ valuation and the answer was swift: Look at Chalice Mining and what they’ve got, and how much they’re worth. Hmmmm (scratches chin).

Website: https://bravomining.com/

GFG  Resources

GFG’s main man is former Presdient and CEO of Claude Resources Inc. which was acquired by SSR Mining for $337 million. They have a few projects with decent hits  about 50km east of Timmins, which is probably one of the most prolific gold areas on the planet and all the majors are there. They’ve just closed a 4.2m placement and I can’t remember the last time I saw this many institutions invested in a CAD $25m cap junior.  The unusual thing is they own an interest in a tech company trying to figure out ISR mining in a gold deposit in….drum roll…. Wyoming. 

Website: https://gfgresources.com/

Montage Gold

Team previously has a successful sale of Red Back Mining for (spits coffee out) $7b. They currently have a DFS on their Ivory Coast project at CAD $746 NPV. Current resource of 3.42Moz at 0.66g/t, but now they’re finding satellite deposits and other zones at higher grades. They’re so well connected that raising of millions is often accompanied by no warrants (sorry Rick). Market cap a paltry CAD $105m.

Website: https://montagegoldcorp.com/

Hurray for the weekend!

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.