Explorer's CEO Talks Advancing Its Premium Gold Assets in Nevada

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Western Exploration Inc. (WEX:TSX.V; WEXPF:OTC) will have plenty of news about its Aura Project in Nevada to offer investors in 2025, President and Chief Executive Officer Darcy Marud told Jeff Clark of The Gold Advisor at this year's Metals Investor Forum in Vancouver last month.

The 100%-owned Aura Project is about 120 kilometers north of Elko, Nevada, and includes three gold and silver deposits: Doby George, Gravel Creek, and Wood Gulch, and a 1.32-million-ounce gold equivalent NI 43-101-compliant resource.

In reviewing the company last month, Technical Analyst Clive Maund named the stock an Immediate Strong Buy for all timeframes after the release of positive results from drilling at Gravel Creek, including assays of up to 75.3 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) and 4,630 g/t silver (Ag).

However, Marud told Clark the company was working on a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for Doby George targeted for this year that he said may surprise precious metal investors.

"It's got over 800 drill holes in it, good metallurgy, 70% recovery, heap leach, so very straightforward," Marud told him. "But I think it's going to shock the market when they see this junior company has this resource that we haven't heard much about."

In a December interview with Streetwise Reports, when asked why Clark supported Western Exploration, he responded, "They're a gold explorer with a 1.35-million-ounce resource that, based on high-grade step-out results, looks like it could hit 2 million ounces."

Clark also noted that Western Exploration is in the middle of a drill campaign to answer that very question. He also stated that the campaign is spearheaded by a geologist who's made multiple discoveries, with two producers and multiple institutions invested in the stock.

District-Scale Expansion?

Last month, the company announced the final results of its 2024 core drill program Aura, and they exceeded the explorer's expectations in terms of grade and extension.

The campaign targeted the high-grade Jarbidge rhyolite discovery with five core holes. These were placed to offset high-grade intercepts encountered in drilling done in 2023. The new high-grade Jarbidge discovery area is less than 200 meters east of the current mineral resource of Gravel Creek.

At the time, Marud highlighted in the release that all five holes of the 2024 drill program intersected many vein/breccia zones, demonstrating +10 AuEq g/t values. Two step-out holes to the north and south intersected the Discovery trend as anticipated and showed continuation of high-grade gold and silver mineralization.

In a recent research report, FRC Analyst Sid Rajeev gave the stock a Buy rating and a fair value estimate that implied a 130% increase over Friday's price.

"There is scope for district-scale expansion of the resource at Gravel Creek/Wood Gulch," Maund wrote.

"We drilled five holes, every one of them hit the mineralization," Marud told Clark at the Forum. "But more importantly, every one hit the mineralization perpendicularly. So, we now know the trend vertically and horizontally"

Marud said using last year's results, the company is finishing its geologic model to dictate a drill plan for this year.

"We know that it's wide open in both directions," Marud said. " And I think that's where we can give our shareholders the biggest value, is demonstrating a larger footprint rather than infill drilling to confirm what we got. To really say, it can be bigger than it is."

'A Compelling Bet on Rising Gold Prices'

Clark is not the company's only supporter. The stock was named to the 2025 OTCQX Best 50 last month, a ranking of top-performing companies traded on the OTCQX Best Market last year.

For FRC, Western Exploration is one of its Top Picks among the gold companies in its coverage universe. Among its Top Picks, the stock was the top performer in the week ended Dec. 6, when it was up 9.7%. It took second place in the week ended Dec. 27 with a 6.7% gain.

In a recent research report, FRC Analyst Sid Rajeev gave the stock a Buy rating and a fair value estimate that implied a 130% increase over Friday's price.

Brien Lundin, editor/publisher of Gold Newsletter, also is bullish on WEX. He wrote in his Dec. 17 edition, "I think Western Exploration makes for a compelling bet on rising gold prices and exploration success in 2025." 

The Catalyst: Caution or Possible Bonanza on Horizon?

In an initial reaction to mixed employment data, gold prices surged to session after record highs this week, but gains quickly faded Friday, reported Neils Christensen of Kitco News. Gold prices traded roughly where they were before the report was released, he said.

Chris Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer for Northlight Asset Management, told Christensen said that although January's weak job growth was disappointing, the first month in the new year can be noisy. He added that there are bigger risks to the U.S. economy than the labor market.

"We think the bigger issue is around tariffs and worry that a trade war could develop — either as an intentional strategy or even as a result of miscalculation between the US and other trading partners — and this is what can interrupt the bull market and economic expansion," Zaccarelli said, according to the Kitco piece. "While we remain cautiously optimistic in early 2025, we see much more downside potential this year than we have in the prior two years and believe now is a time for caution and a dialing back of risk-taking."

As a traditional hedge to market volatility, the yellow metal has had quite a start to the year, and according to a recent Streetwise contributed opinion by John Newell of Newell & Associates, it could go much higher.

"Historically, gold had demonstrated its ability to make exponential moves, with one of the most notable runs occurring in the late 1970s when gold surged from US$100 in 1977 to $850 by 1980, a nearly 750% increase," he wrote. "Given this precedent, a similar trajectory today could see gold rising from its recent lows near US$1,050 to as high as US$8,000 per ounce. This isn't mere speculation; it's a pattern that has played out before and appears to be setting up once again."

Ownership and Share Structure

According to Refinitiv, strategic entities own about 61% of Western Exploration. These include the Top 2 shareholders overall, Golkonda with 44% and Agnico Eagle with 14%. Insiders and management hold about 3%.

Institutional investors, Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC and U.S. Global Investors Inc., own about 4%. The rest is in retail.

The precious metals explorer has 45.43 million (45.43M) outstanding shares and 17.85M free-float traded shares. Its market cap is CA$42.25 million. Its 52-week range is CA$0.70−1.50 per share.