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Lab Report | Sep 16 Deep Dives on Generation, Contango, Goliath, Sterling, and New Found Gold

CEO.CA Sep 16, 2026 57:22

Summary

Generation Mining closed roughly $340 million of final funding for its Ontario copper-palladium project, with Glencore buying the concentrate for domestic processing.

Contango's 2026 drilling sits outside its resource update, so connecting the Torbret and North Star silver zones would add unpriced ounces.

About 90% of Goliath's Sherbet drill holes returned visible gold, a footprint Laboucan reads as a candidate tier-one high-grade system.

New Found Gold cleared commercial production at Hammerdown in Newfoundland on throughput, recovery, and head-grade tests sustained for 60 days.

Sterling's 0.81% copper-equivalent core (all metals priced as copper) near Batchawanna Bay matters now that copper trades near $6.50 a pound.

Key points on Contango Ore Inc

  • Laboucan's top point: at a roughly C$862M valuation he calls Contango a strong opportunity for investors who want gold and silver exposure with less risk than an explorer or a pre-production developer, because Mancho is already in production.
  • Contango holds a 30% joint-venture interest in the producing Mancho project, which he estimates generates about $100M a year of free cash flow at current prices and serves as the base for growth, with Lucky Strike and a second project both advancing toward near-term production.
  • Drilling returned 506 g/t silver equivalent over 13.9 m at Torbret and 807 g/t silver equivalent over about 5 m at North Star, including 22,254 g/t over one metre; he describes these as narrow but very high-grade systems.
  • Step-out drilling has linked the Torbret and North Star zones, which he says could allow two deposits to become one integrated mine plan with shared infrastructure; none of the 2026 drilling is in the resource update due later in September 2026.
  • Management says over 90% of the silver-equivalent grade comes from silver content rather than base metals, which Laboucan highlights as what makes the Kitsault Valley a primary silver deposit rather than a gold-silver blend.

Key points on New Found Gold

  • Laboucan's top point: he treats New Found Gold as a timing call rather than a value call, saying at the roughly C$927M valuation discussed on Sep 16, 2026 it looks fairly valued for what exists today, with the upside coming as Queensway ramps up.
  • The company declared commercial production at its 100%-owned Hammerdown gold mine in Newfoundland after 60 consecutive days meeting three tests, with averages of 748 tons per day at the Pine Cove mill, 87.7% gold recovery and 2.92 head grade.
  • He says Hammerdown is intended to process and ship material from the very high-grade Queensway open-pit project, sharing its mining and milling capacity, which he treats as the growth engine alongside CEO Keith Boyle's stated goal of becoming a mid-tier producer.
  • He notes the valuation was once above C$2B before the company fell to the bottom of the Lassonde curve's development-discount window, and expects the company to move up the right side of the curve once Queensway and Hammerdown reach full commercial production.
  • He argues the Queensway open-pit grades would be economic to mine underground but sit at the surface, and expects that to carry the stock higher over the next two to three years if timed well.

Key points on Wheaton Precious Metals

  • Wheaton is named alongside the Canada Growth Fund and Glencore Canada as committing about $100M of the $200M bought-deal financing for Gen Mining's Marathon project.
  • Gen Mining's CFO said the package could not have been assembled without the support of CGF, CIB, Wheaton and Glencore, which Laboucan reads as the private-sector anchor behind a government-backed financing.

Allan Barry Laboucan's takeaways

  • Top takeaway His top point on Sep 16, 2026 is that the five companies he covered look mispriced: he flags Gen Mining, Contango, Goliath and Sterling as under-valued and New Found Gold as fairly valued for now with the upside tied to timing.
  • He uses the Lassonde curve as his decision framework, placing each company on it by phase, and says Goliath's tier one high-grade gold system could be worth $1-2B rather than its roughly C$263M valuation.
  • He argues copper economics have changed, noting that in the 1990s a project without 1% copper drew no interest when copper traded around $0.60 a pound, while open-pit porphyry targets are now developed at about 0.3% copper equivalent with copper near $6.50 a pound.
  • He says he uses his 32 years in mining to highlight the news releases that stand out to him, and that he is not making buy or sell recommendations but telling viewers to speak with a financial advisor and do their homework.
  • He promotes CEO.ca as the place he uses for that homework and criticises investing on rumours rather than data.