Pandemic Concerns Drive Gold Prices up 13% in Q2

PALM BEACH, Florida, July 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Gold has historically been a safe haven during times of uncertainty and the markets are once again turning to gold in the face of the current global world health crisis. Recent financial market reports are all showing this recurrence. An article on Yahoo Finance said that: " Gold prices have gained around 13% in second-quarter 2020 — the largest quarterly percentage increase since first-quarter 2016 when it had posted a rise of 14.6%. In fact, on the last day of the second quarter, gold crossed the $1,800 mark and hit a high of $1,804 an ounce. Gold's rally in the quarter has primarily been driven by the global uncertainty fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic and its devastating impact on the global economy has impacted investor's risk appetite and boosted safe haven demand for gold. Further, the low interest rates scenario make stocks, government bonds and other investments less appealing, making investors opt for gold. Renewed U.S.-China tensions and the civil unrest in the United States also pushed prices north."     Active stocks mentioned in today's commentary include:  Ridgestone Mining Inc. (TSX-V: RMI) (OTCQB: RIGMF), Gold Fields Limited (NYSE: GFI) (TSX: GAU), B2Gold Corp. (NYSE: BTG) (TSX: BTO), Alamos Gold Inc. (NYSE: AGI) (TSX: AGI), Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) (TSX: K).

The article continued, saying: "Backed by the trend, the Gold Mining industry appreciated 50.9% in the second quarter outperforming the S&P 500's growth of 25.1%. The industry falls under the broader Basic Material sector, which gained 40% in the quarter under review. The gold mining industry currently carries a Zacks Industry Rank #70, which places it at the top 28% of 256 Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1."

Ridgestone Mining Inc. (TSX-V: RMI) (OTCQB: RIGMF) (FSE: 4U5) BREAKING NEWS - Ridgestone Drilling Intercepts 2.13 g/t Gold and 1.79% Copper over 16.25 metres at Rebeico Project, Sonora, Mexico - Ridgestone Mining ("Ridgestone") is pleased to report the first three holes from a recently completed 1,674 metre drill program on its wholly-owned Rebeico gold-copper project in Sonora, Mexico. The holes were part of a maiden drill program conducted on the New Year Zone to investigate the subsurface extent of significant gold and copper mineralization previously sampled on surface.

Highlights

• Hole 20REB013D intersected 2.13 g/t gold and 1.79% copper over a 16.25 metre interval from 3.05 metres to 19.30 metres, including a higher-grade 4.35 metre interval @ 5.25 g/t gold and 1.46% copper.
• Copper mineralization in hole 20REB013D commenced from surface for 19.3 meters averaging 1.56 % copper.
• Holes 20REB014D and 20REB015D collared 60 metres west and about 10 metres south of 20REB13D encountered significant copper mineralization from near surface to 18 metres.
• Pervasively hydrothermally altered rocks with variable amounts of pyrite, magnetite, and chalcopyrite were encountered in all three of these holes.

Mr. Jonathan George, CEO, commented "We are very pleased that all three of these holes intersected multiple runs of elevated copper and visible chalcopyrite over tens of metres of length down-hole from the reported, near-surface significant results.  As well, extensive intercepts with veinlets containing variable mixtures of pyrite, chalcopyrite, magnetite, chlorite, calcite and quartz, and the intercepts of hydrothermal breccia, taken together confirm we have penetrated a highly-prospective copper and gold bearing mineral system." 

Hole 20REB13D was drilled vertically to a depth of 98 metres (Table 1), encountering abundant iron and copper oxides and sulphides in veinlets and disseminations in brecciated and silicified andesite and hydrothermal breccia from surface to greater than 19 metres (Figure 1 and Figure 2).  Narrower intervals of hydrothermal breccia were penetrated to depths of 68 metres.  Pyrite and minor amounts of chalcopyrite ± magnetite were observed in more extensive intervals in veinlets and as disseminated grains, as well as in narrow veins with calcite and/or quartz.

The New Year Zone diamond-drill core program was completed by Layne de Mexico under the guidance of Steve Weiss (Chief Technical Advisor) and Jonathan George (CEO), with onsite supervision by geologists from Ridgestone's partner YQ Gold. Drill core of HQ size was recovered by conventional wireline methods and was transported daily from the drill sites to a secure logging and sample storage area.

After logging by geologists, intervals selected for sampling were sawed in half lengthwise. The ½-core samples were placed in pre-numbered sample bags and weighed. Blanks and certified reference material samples were inserted into the sample stream for Quality Assurance / Quality Control ("QA/QC") purposes.  The samples were transported by YQ Gold personnel to the ALS Chemex ("ALS") preparation laboratory in Hermosillo, Sonora.  At ALS the samples were crushed in their entirety to 70% less than 2 mm, then riffle split to obtain a 250 gram sub-sample that was pulverized to > 85% passing 75 microns.  After preparation, the sample pulps were air-freighted by ALS to their assay laboratory in North Vancouver, British Columbia.  All samples were analyzed for gold by 30-gram fire assay with an atomic absorption ("AA") finish (ALS method code AuAA23).  The samples were also analyzed for multiple minor and trace elements by inductively-coupled plasma-emission mass-spectrometry ("ICP-MS") following a 4-acid digestion (ALS method code ME-MS61).  Read this full release more news for Ridgestone Mining by visiting:  https://www.ridgestonemining.com/news-releases/2020/     

In other mining news of note:

Gold Fields Limited (NYSE: GFI) (TSX: GAU) recently announced an update from its 2020 exploration program underway at the Asanko Gold Mine ("AGM"), located in Ghana , West Africa . The AGM is a 50:50 joint venture ("JV") with Gold Fields Ltd, which is managed and operated by Galiano.  The previously announced 2020 exploration program at the AGM (see news release dated May 5, 2020 ) consisting of approximately 36,000m of Diamond (DD) and Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling, has been underway with four drill rigs and is now approximately 40% completed.  This news release provides an update on the drilling and results for the Abore open pit.

"Our second set of drill results from our 2020 exploration program were promising. They extend the known mineralization at Abore to the north and justify planned further drilling that will continue to test for mineralization along strike," said Greg McCunn , Chief Executive Officer.  "Abore plays an important role in our objective of replacing depletion in 2020 and 2021 and the recent drill results at Abore add to the drill results from the Akwasiso pit.  We expect Abore and Akwasiso to be the main sources of ore supplementing our Esaase pit in H2 2020 and through 2021 and we believe that we have shown the potential for resource expansion at both pits with our drill program."

Alamos Gold Inc. (NYSE: AGI) (TSX: AGI) recently reported new results from surface and underground exploration drilling at the Island Gold Mine, further extending high-grade gold mineralization in all three areas of focus.   "Island Gold has seen exceptional growth over the last several years with the deposit doubling in size since we acquired it in 2017. This includes the addition of nearly one million ounces of Mineral Reserves and Resources through our 2019 exploration program to now total 3.7 million ounces. This growth has been incorporated into a Phase III Expansion Study of the operation which we will be releasing the details of later this week," said John A. McCluskey, President and Chief Executive Officer. "These new high-grade results from the 2020 program demonstrate both the significant potential for further growth in Mineral Reserves and Resources and upside to a Phase III Expansion of the operation," Mr. McCluskey added.

Alamos is a Canadian-based intermediate gold producer with diversified production from three operating mines in North America. This includes the Young-Davidson and Island Gold mines in northern Ontario, Canada and the Mulatos mine in Sonora State, Mexico. Additionally, the Company has a significant portfolio of development stage projects in Canada, Mexico, Turkey, and the United States. Alamos employs more than 1,700 people and is committed to the highest standards of sustainable development.

Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) (TSX: K) recently announced it has commenced drilling on its Titan Project as well as initiated ground surveys on other high priority targets based on the Company's systematic data-based exploration strategy, including detailed soil sampling, ground geophysical surveys, GT probing, mechanical trenching and detailed geological and structural mapping. This activity marks the initiation of the Company's fully funded 2020 exploration program backed by partners Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (TSX: AEM, NYSE: AEM) and Kinross Gold Corp on its extensive 420,000 hectare land package in the emerging White Gold District, Yukon,  Canada.

The 2020 exploration program has been designed to further test existing targets and recent new discoveries on the Company's White Gold, Hen and JP Ross properties, as well as to identify and advance other targets on its regional land package.  A video presentation providing an overview of the Company, its unique district scale opportunities and a detailed overview of the 2020 work program can be found on the Company's website at https://www.whitegoldcorp.ca/media/videos/. 

B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE: BTG) recently announced its gold production and gold revenue for the second quarter and first half of 2020. All dollar figures are in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated.

A few 2020 Second Quarter Highlights:

- Consolidated gold production of 239,574 ounces, above budget by 3% (7,327 ounces) and a significant increase of 15% (30,684 ounces) over the second quarter of 2019 (excluding discontinued operations of El Limon and La Libertad) -   Total gold production of 241,593 ounces (including 2,019 ounces of attributable production from Calibre Mining Corp. ("Calibre")  - Record quarterly consolidated gold revenue from the Company's three operating mines of $442 million, a significant increase of 65% ($175 million) over the second quarter of 2019 (excluding discontinued operations)  -No lost time injury ("LTI") incidents at the Company's operating mines during the second quarter; the Otjikoto and Masbate Mines continued their remarkable safety performance extending the number of days without a LTI to 826 days (well over 2 years) for Otjikoto and 592 days (well over 1.5 years) for Masbate as at June 30, 2020  - The Fekola Mine continues to operate unimpeded and no operational days have been lost due to the recent political developments and demonstrations in Mali  -  On June 12, 2020, the B2Gold Board declared a cash dividend for the second quarter of 2020 of $0.02 per share, paid on July 7, 2020 to shareholders of record as of June 23, 2020

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