Skip to main content

Lab Report | Sep 8 Deep Dive on Luca, Power Metallic, Arizona, Sun Peak

CEO.CA Sep 8, 2026 58:02

Summary

Drill programs at Luca Mining and Sun Peak Metals show systems that hang together and grow — continuity the host weights above headline grades.

Power Metallic's maiden Lion zone resource — 85% indicated, 406 million pounds copper-equivalent — is likely understated because NI 43-101 rules favor low-grade deposits, the host argues.

Rushing into resource estimation drops a junior into the Lassonde Curve's development discount window — the trade-off Power Metallic just accepted.

Arizona Gold & Silver infill drilling hit 90 meters at 1.45 g/t (grams per tonne) gold at Philadelphia, and Evolution Mining's investment expanded drilling to 24 hours.

Sun Peak drills VMS (volcanogenic massive sulfide — volcano-deposited metal lenses) in newly opened Saudi Arabia, with intercepts open at depth and clusters to test.

Key points on Evolution Mining

  • Its strategic investment in Arizona Gold & Silver has expanded drilling at the Philadelphia project from day shift to 24-hour operations, significantly increasing drill core production.
  • The host speculates Evolution invested because it understands these high-grade epithermal vein systems.

Key points on Luca Mining

  • New drilling at its mine in Durango cut 9.9 m of 5.39 g/t gold-equivalent (3.63 g/t gold, 70 g/t silver, 5.63% zinc) at the Cantor zone, the first drilling of that zone since 2008.
  • All 14 drill holes targeting the breccia zone 20-35 m below Level 20 of the Creston vein intersected the vein, confirming continuity and, per VP Exploration Paul Gray, supporting significant expansion potential beyond the current resource.
  • A second hole returned 6.2 m of 6.37 g/t gold-equivalent (3.68 g/t gold, 153 g/t silver, 0.91% copper, over 1% lead and over 1% zinc), including 1.1 m of 20 g/t gold-equivalent with 563 g/t silver.
  • The host argues the by-product metals do more than lift the gold-equivalent grade: at 3.63 g/t gold he calls it over $500-a-ton rock as of the Sep 8, 2026 show, with credits that can pay the cost of mining the gold.
  • The host likes the company a lot as a junior producer with a platform to grow into a mid-tier: at about C$311 million he plots it in the sweet spot of the Lassonde curve's right side, priced like a developer with a lot of blue sky plus exploration upside.

Paul D. Gray's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Luca Mining's VP of Exploration says the results continue to reinforce the view that the project has significant expansion potential beyond the current resource at Creston.
  • All 14 drill holes targeting the breccia zone below Level 20 intersected the vein, which he says demonstrates excellent continuity and provides further confidence in expanding the structure at depth.
  • He calls the first drilling of the Cantor zone since 2008 equally exciting, with the first hole cutting the 9.9 m of 5.39 g/t gold-equivalent headline intercept.

Terry Lynch's takeaways

  • Top takeaway The Power Metallic CEO says the inaugural resource confirms what drilling has been telling them: Lion is a high-grade polymetallic deposit of about 4.7 Mt at close to 4% copper-equivalent for roughly 406 Mlb.
  • He frames the open questions as how deep Lion goes and where the nickel went, pointing to a nickel-rich sulfide source that should be somewhere in the system but has not been found.

Greg Davis's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Sun Peak's President and CEO describes the first drill results at Safra as exceptional intercepts of copper, zinc, gold and silver that remain open for further expansion.
  • He says the results validate the exploration process the team applied at Safra and confirm the geological model, with clear opportunities to extend the mineralized zones through follow-up drilling.
  • He says the same disciplined methodology will be applied to numerous other targets across the Saudi Arabian portfolio, a point the host endorses as right on the money.

Dr. Lex Lambeck CPG's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Quoted as senior vice president saying these are the final infill holes in the current program, with results that continue to demonstrate broad, continuous gold mineralization with higher-grade intervals.

Joe Campbell's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Describes Lion as a textbook fractionated copper- and precious-metal-rich shoot within a magmatic sulfide system, which the host takes to mean a 400-million-pound system with a lot of room to grow.
  • Notes the Lion zone is modeled continuously for more than 600 m of vertical depth from surface, is open at depth with the shoot untested below 600 m, and that downhole geophysics will help target the deeper potential.

Allan Barry Laboucan's takeaways

  • Top takeaway His recurring thesis on the show is that grades alone mislead: investors should judge where a project sits in its system and whether the model hangs together and keeps expanding as drilling continues.
  • Argues NI 43-101 and CIM estimating rules force ultra-conservative, grade-capped resource models in high-grade systems like Power Metallic's Lion zone, understating what is actually in the ground and raising companies' cost of capital.
  • Criticizes multiplying contained metal by the spot price (the '$3.2 billion of copper in the ground' framing) and companies rushing into resource estimates, which lands them in the Lassonde curve's development discount window.
  • Bullish on copper as of the Sep 8, 2026 show: nearly $7/lb and, in his view, heading to $10-plus within a couple of years, which lifts valuations across the Lassonde curve's later phases.
  • Plots the four companies on the Lassonde curve (Luca in the right-side sweet spot, Power Metallic entering phase 3, Arizona halfway into the left-side sweet spot, Sun Peak at concept stage) while stressing he is only an idea generator, not making buy or sell recommendations.