Explorer Reports Premium Mineralization in Golden Triangle

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Seabridge Gold Inc. (SEA:TSX; SA:NYSE.MKT) announced the results from six remaining drill holes from its 2024 campaign on its Iskut Project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.

The results from Snip North continue to define copper and gold mineralization "over extensive widths," the company said in a release.

Continuous mineralization is now recognized across a strike length of approximately 2,000 meters and a dip projection of at least 600 meters, the company said.

"We have defined a large, intense and extensive hydrothermal system that remains open down dip to the west and northwest," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rudi Fronk said. "This discovery will be our key exploration focus in 2025, working to delineate a mineral resource as quickly as practical. Our excitement for this discovery is enhanced by the fact that we have not yet found the intrusive source of the mineral system discovered last year."

Fronk said the company expects to build resources on Snip North in 2025 and provide critical knowledge "transferable elsewhere on the Iskut Property where we see multiple centers with potential for additional discoveries of Cu-Au (copper-gold) porphyry systems."

And "copper is at the heart of EVs (electric vehicles)/energy storage systems, renewable power, AI/data centers, high-tech electronics/drones, aerospace/defense and 5G/6G telecom," newsletter author Peter Epstein noted in a post on Seabridge on January 20. "Six of the top seven copper-producing countries are Chile, Peru, the DRC, China, Russia and Indonesia."

"This article concerns one of the most exciting gold/copper development stories," he continued. "No, it's not in Africa, China, or Russia, it's in B.C. Canada."

To get "BIG" exposure to gold and copper in a safe and prolific jurisdiction, "Seabridge Gold is one of my favorite ideas," he wrote. "Its shares are down 43% from a high of CA$20.55 on October 22, while Au is essentially unchanged since then."

Challenges to Flagship's Status

Last year, Seabridge announced two challenges in British Columbia Supreme Court seeking review of its flagship KSM Project's "Substantially Started" (SS) designation.

Seabridge said that in the hearing on both petitions, the petitioners have to establish that the minister's decision to grant SS status was "unreasonable, not simply incorrect," Seabridge said. "The legislation leaves the Minister with a lot of discretion in making a 'substantially started' determination, making the threshold of 'unreasonable' even harder to meet."

During the application process for the designation, Seabridge said it submitted letters from "representatives of the three largest indigenous peoples in the area of the KSM project, the Nisga'a Lisims government, the Tahltan central government and the Gitxsan hereditary chiefs office, as well as the village of Hazelton, the district of New Hazelton, the town of Smithers, the district of Stewart, the city of Terrace, (and) the regional district of Kitimat-Stikine, all expressing strong support for a positive SS determination for the KSM project."

"It is clear that the new petitioners do not represent the interests of northwest British Columbia or Canada," Fronk said at the time. "We are very confident there is ample evidence that the (SS) determination was reasonable and appropriate."

The SS determination is unaffected and will remain in place if it is successfully defended, the company said.

SS Designation Is Major Milestone for Co.

In his piece on January 20, Epstein wrote that "management, lawyers and consultants are confident the objections have little chance of meaningfully slowing" the KSM project.

"In my view, the major risk for Seabridge is funding a very large project," he wrote. "Upfront capital could be 6x the current enterprise value . . .  That cap-ex burden sounds daunting, but hundreds of juniors have cap-ex vs. market cap hurdles well above 6x."

He said "a dozen Western-friendly companies could comfortably afford to fund a substantial portion of Seabridge's cap-ex for KSM" including Newmont, Agnico, and Barrick. The company has been actively searching for a partner to develop the project.

A major milestone for the company, Seabridge announced this summer that it had received the SS designation from the British Columbia government for its massive KSM project, a project newsletter author Jay Taylor of J Taylor's Gold, Energy & Tech Stocks has called "the largest undeveloped gold and copper project in the world!"

Analyst Michael Siperco of RBC Capital Markets, in an updated research note on November 25, wrote that the initial challenge of the SS status was "not, in our view, a significant risk to the project or the designation. Until resolved, however, it could impact the timing of a potential partnership agreement for the development of the +$6bn gold/copper project in B.C."

The Catalyst: A Great Start to 2025

The gold market is experiencing its best start since 2023 and is on track for its strongest monthly performance since September, Neils Christensen reported for Kitco on Tuesday.

That robust start could signal another big year for gold, according to one fund manager.

Eric Strand, founder of the boutique precious metals firm AuAg Funds, said he expects gold prices to surpass US$3,000 an ounce this year, Christensen wrote.

"We predict that gold will break the US$3,000 level during the year and potentially finish even higher, with a realistic target of US$3,300," Strand said.

FX Empire's A.G. Thorson also recently predicted a run towards US$3,000-plus gold by next March or April.

Ownership and Share Structure

Refinitiv provided a breakdown of the company's ownership and share structure, where management and insiders own approximately 3% of the company. According to Refinitiv, CEO and Chairman Rudi P. Fronk owns 1.37%.

Refinitiv reports that institutions own about 50% of the company. According to Reuters, Friedberg Mercantile Group Ltd. owns 12.72%, National Bank of Canada owns 4.87%, Van Eck Associates Corp. owns 4.07%, Kopernik Global Investors, L.L.C. owns 3.32%, and Paulson & Co. Inc. owns 2.25%.

According to Refinitiv, there are about 91 million shares outstanding, while the company has a market cap of CA$1.59 billion and trades in a 52-week range of CA$12.62 and CA$28.39.