Lake Victoria Gold/LVG

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Lake Victoria Gold Ltd. (LVG:TSX) announced the start of a 4,000-meter, multi-purpose drilling program at the fully permitted Imwelo Gold Project in northwestern Tanzania, according to a release on October 9.

The first of approximately 24 planned drill holes has begun at Area C, the site of the company's proposed initial open pit at Imwelo.

"Starting drilling at Area C is a significant step toward first production at Imwelo," said President and Chief Executive Officer Marc Cernovitch. "This program is designed to refine our final pit design, convert ounces where appropriate, and establish grade-control so that once construction begins, we can quickly move into pre-strip and stockpiling. With a low-capex build plan and a fully permitted project, each meter drilled reduces risk and advances Imwelo along the development path."

The program combines reverse-circulation (RC) pre-collars with diamond core (DD) tails to optimize cost and efficiency while gathering the geotechnical and geological data necessary for final pit design and mine scheduling, the company said.

Program objectives include the final pit design and geotechnical data, resource confidence and conversion (to infill shallow gaps to improve confidence in near-surface mineralization and, where supported by results, upgrade Inferred to Indicated categories and increase the Measured inventory in areas of sparse coverage), resource growth, grade-control readiness, and metallurgy (collect representative cores for confirmatory test work across oxide-transition-fresh domains to validate recoveries and inform early mine sequencing), Lake Victoria said in the release.

Drilling Program Design and First Hole

• Shallow Infill: Eight holes will target gaps near the eastern and western pit margins and one central area, with intersections planned at approximately 25- and 50-meter vertical depths to tighten lateral pit boundaries, the company said.
• Depth Extensions: Thirteen holes are planned on ~100-meter section spacing to test the mineralized lodes at approximately 150 meters and 200 meters below surface, with the objective of upgrading classification down-dip and assessing the case for a future underground phase following the open-pit operation (currently envisioned at ~18-24 months of pit life).
• Western Step-Outs: Three holes are positioned west of a north-northeast-trending dyke-filled fault that truncates Area C at its western end; the structure is interpreted to offset mineralization 50-70 meters to the north. These holes will test for continuity across the displacement.
• Hanging Wall/Foot Wall Potential: All holes are designed to drill completely through the existing modeled zone to evaluate additional hanging wall and footwall lodes not included in the current historical resource and pit design, according to Lake Victoria Gold.

Drilling has commenced on the first hole, IMWRD_005, which is designed to intersect the Area C mineralization at ~120 meters vertical depth near the western end of the zone. The hole is planned as an RC pre-collar to ~80 meters, followed by a ~150 meter DD tail to a projected final depth of ~230 meters.

Some historical results for Area C, the western end, include: 2 meters at 5.06 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) from 15 meters and 6.8 meters at 14.6 g/t Au from 33.2 meters; and 2 meters at 7.5 g/t Au from 22 meters, the company said.

"We've engineered this campaign to answer the last technical questions: slope angles, ramp geometry, and continuity down-dip and to the west," said Chief Operating Officer Seth Dickinson. "By combining RC with diamond tails, we keep costs down without compromising core data quality. The work also builds the dataset we need for grade-control design and early mining, while testing the deeper potential that could support a follow-on underground phase."

Future Catalysts

The company said there were certain areas to watch for future catalysts, such as western step-outs to assess continuity across the dyke-fault. Lake Victoria Gold said success here could expand the open-pit boundary to the west.

Down-dip holes (between about 100 meters and 200 meters) aim for resource conversion from Inferred to Indicated and assess underground potential beneath Area C.

Geotechnical cores could determine slope angles and ramp geometry, finalizing pit design parameters; and metallurgical test work will analyze composites across oxide, transition, and fresh zones to confirm recoveries and refine early mine scheduling.

Lake Victoria Gold said it plans to provide regular updates on drilling progress and initial assay results once they are received and validated.

'A Crucial Milestone'

According to an AI summary of the company's news on Stock Titan, some positives include that the project is fully permitted for development, and the first hole has been started. Some negatives include the lack of a National Instrument 43-101 feasibility study and risks such as cost overruns, funding availability, and metallurgical/geotechnical issues.

On September 18, Stock Titan reported that LVG had reached a pivotal agreement in principle with the Tanzanian government concerning the state's 16% non-dilutable free carried interest in Imwelo. The framework includes a 6% royalty on gold production and a 1% export levy, with a reduced 4% royalty rate for minerals refined within the country.

The agreement establishes a new joint venture company to manage the Imwelo Mining License, mandating that 20% of production be refined and sold within Tanzania.

"This development represents a crucial regulatory milestone for Lake Victoria Gold, positioning the company to advance toward construction and production phases," the site noted.

The Catalyst: 'You Should Own Gold'

Gold has hit record highs recently, indicating that investors are seeking safe havens to protect their wealth as traditional currencies depreciate, according to a report by Durva More for The Economic Times on October 9.

The yellow metal has performed exceptionally well this year, reaching a record high above US$4,060 per ounce. Although it dipped slightly on Thursday, it remains on track for the best annual gain in over 40 years.

"Absolutely, you should own gold," said Twin Focus co-founder Paul Karger, according to the report. "It's just a great store of value. Gold has had a 2,000-year history of calling bunk on currencies."

According to an October 7 report by Myra Saefong for MarketWatch, Investor interest in gold remains robust, with a growing number of first-time buyers, even as the precious metal's price soared past US$4,000 an ounce on Tuesday.

Gold has surged despite the U.S. stock market trading near record highs. This indicates that investors are hedging record-high equities with record-high gold, but there's also "a growing element of hot money driving both markets," Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault, told MarketWatch via email.

On Tuesday, December gold futures reached unprecedented levels, trading as high as US$4,014.60 an ounce on Comex, Saefong wrote.

According to Dow Jones Market Data, prices are nearly 52% higher year-to-date, as mentioned in a Yahoo Finance report. In September, BullionVault experienced the highest number of new account openings since August 2020, with first-time investors increasing by 87.6% from the previous month. This figure more than tripled from September last year, rising 213.5%.

Regarding gold, "put simply, demand is greater than supply," said Jerry Prior, chief operating officer and senior portfolio manager at Mount Lucas Management, according to MarketWatch.

While the fundamental case for gold is strong, with a dovish Federal Reserve and the "weaponization" of the U.S. dollar leading to central-bank buying and deficit concerns, recent gains for the metal appear to be more flow- and retail-driven, he told MarketWatch.

Ownership and Share Structure

According to the company's website, about 29% is owned by management and insiders, institutions own 14%, shares issued for the acquisition of Imwelo include 16%, the TAIFA Group owns 11%, and Barrick owns 4%. The rest is retail.

Top shareholders include AIMS Asset Management with 9.31%, Rostam Aziz with 8.71%, Simon Charles Benstead with 7.9%, Concept Capital Management Ltd. with 6.2%, and Walter David Scott with 3.1%.

Its market cap is CA$34.91 million with ?? shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.13 and CA$0.25.