Mining Company Discovers High-Grade Gold in Brazil

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Cabral Gold Inc. (CBR:TSX.V; CBGZF:OTCMKTS) announced results from two surface trenches and eight reverse circulation (RC) drill holes at the Machichie Main gold deposit in the Cuiu Cuiu gold district of Brazil.

Trench CT051 returned 20 meters of 3.6 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au), including 4 meters of 15.7 g/t Au in gold-in-oxide material at surface, the company said.

"The current drilling and trenching program at Machichie Main is aimed primarily at upgrading the inferred resource base within the near-surface gold-in-oxide zone to indicated resources," Cabral President and Chief Executive Officer Alan Carter said. "These results confirm the presence of significant grades, both within the near-surface gold-in-oxide material, which comprises mineralized blanket sediments and saprolite (weathered bedrock), as well as the underlying fresh primary intrusive material at Machichie Main."

The trench results, in particular, confirm the presence of excellent grades within gold-in-oxide material at surface, he said.

"This bodes very well for our efforts to upgrade the inferred resources at Machichie Main as we work towards updating the results from the PFS (preliminary feasibility study) on an initial heap-leach starter operation previously released in October 2024," Carter said.

Surface trench CT052, developed 150 meters west of CT051, also returned 7 meters of 0.8 g/t Au, Cabral said, and the "mineralized interval is again open to the north and south."

Reverse circulation drill results from Machichie Main include:

• 4 meters of 3.9 g/t Au from 36 meters depth, including 1 meter of 10.6 g/t Au in RC497;
• 4 meters of 3.1 g/t Au from 41 meters depth, including 1 meter of 10.6 g/t gold in RC496;
• 7 meters of 1.5 g/t Au from 64 meters depth in RC494;
• 7 meters of 1.2 g/t Au from 78 meters depth in RC495;
• 1 meter of 9.9 g/t Au from 26 meters depth and 1 meter of 7.3 g/t Au from 37 meters depth in RC503.

Writing for The Gold Advisor on March 13, the day of the release, Senior Analyst Jeff Valks noted that the Cuiú Cuiú Gold District includes the Machichie Main, MG, and Central gold deposits. At Machichie Main, gold-in-oxide material lies above fresh intrusive rock that hosts primary gold mineralization. A preliminary Inferred resource estimate of 3.73 Mt (million tons) at 0.5 g/t Su for the gold-in-oxide material was released in October 2024.

"The company's objective is to upgrade a portion of the Inferred resource to Indicated status for inclusion in the mine plan for a heap-leach starter operation," wrote Valks. "The current drilling and trenching program is also gathering material for metallurgical column-leach tests to assess gold recoverability from the oxide zone."

Valks said he doesn't hold a position on Cabral, but his colleague, Jeff Clark, is long on the stock.

'Attractive Acquisition Target'

Cabral is a junior resource company engaged in the identification, exploration and development of mineral properties, with a primary focus on gold properties located in Brazil. The company has a 100% interest in the Cuiu Cuiu gold district located in the Tapajos region, within the state of Para in northern Brazil.

Several gold deposits have so far been defined at the Cuiu Cuiu project, which contains National Instrument 43-101-compliant indicated resources of 12.29 Mt of 1.14 g/t Au (450,200 ounces) in fresh basement material and 11.11 Mt of 0.48 g/t Au (171,883 ounces) in oxide material. The project also contains inferred resources of 13.63 Mt of 1.04 g/t Au (455,100 ounces) in fresh basement material and 12.22 Mt of 0.39 g/t Au (151,608 ounces) in oxide material.

"With recent exploration successes and so many promising targets left to chase, the Cuiú Cuiú project is demonstrating stand-alone potential and is likely to start attracting a broader M&A audience, in our opinion,"  wrote analysts Don Blyth, Lauren McConnell, and Don MacLean.

The resource estimate for the primary material is based on the NI 43-101 technical report dated Oct. 12, 2022. The resource estimate for the oxide material is based on an NI 43-101 technical report dated Oct. 21, 2024.

"The Tapajos gold province is the site of the largest gold rush in Brazil's history, which, according to the ANM (Agencia Nacional de Mineracao or National Mining Agency of Brazil), produced an estimated 30 million to 50 million ounces of (Moz) placer gold between 1978 and 1995," the company noted. "Cuiu Cuiu was the largest area of placer gold workings in the Tapajos and produced an estimated two million ounces of placer gold historically."

On the release of the results on March 13, Valks of The Gold Advisor noted the stock was up on the news "and up 15% over the last five days."

"As Jeff Clark would put it, Cabral is sitting at 'pre-pre producer' stage — and that means bigger moves are yet to come," he wrote.

Also on March 13, in an update flash note about Cabral, analysts for Paradigm Capital noted that they expect the company to upgrade the resources at the project in the updated PFS.

"We also continue to view Cabral as an attractive acquisition target, with G Mining Ventures (GMIN:TSX.V) being the most logical acquirer as it owns the now-operating Tocantinzinho (TZ) mine next door," wrote analysts Don Blyth, Lauren McConnell, and Don MacLean. "But it is not only GMIN . . .  with recent exploration successes and so many promising targets left to chase, the Cuiú Cuiú project is demonstrating stand-alone potential and is likely to start attracting a broader M&A audience, in our opinion."

The Catalyst: Gold Rallies Higher

Writing for Forbes on March 15, Garth Friesen noted that gold prices have climbed nearly 14% so far this year and set a recent new all-time high by breaching the US$3,000 per

"Geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty are driving safe-haven flows, pushing up gold prices," Garth Friesen wrote for Forbes on March 15. "However, several other longer-term factors and trends will help determine whether the rally will be sustained."

On March 11, according to Friesen, DoubleLine Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Gundlach said, "I think gold will make it to US$4,000. I'm not sure that'll happen this year, but I feel like that's the measured move anticipated by the long consolidation at around US$1,800 on gold."

In addition, Goldman Sachs recently revised its gold forecast higher to $3,100 a troy ounce by the end of 2025.

"Gold is in a secular bull market. We forecast prices to trade between US$3,000-US$3,200 this year," said Alex Ebkarian, chief operating officer at Allegiance Gold, according to a Reuters report.

Ownership and Share Structure

According to Refinitiv, about 7% of the company is owned by insiders and management, while institutions own about 20%. The rest is retail.

Major shareholders include AMS Asset Management with 7.37%, Arbiter Partners Capital Management with 6.07%, Aegis Financial Corp. with 6.04%, the CEO Carter with 5.53%, and Director Lawrence Lepard with 0.66%.

It has 220.68 million shares outstanding and a market cap of CA$71.72 million. It trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.16 and CA$0.39.