By James Kwantes | Published first at Patreon

January in Vancouver: Announcing a discovery to coincide with the Vancouver shows is an annual event. This year it was Amarc Resources (AHR-V) hitting some joy with its AuRORA gold-rich copper porphyry discovery, on the margin of its JOY project where Freeport McMoRan can earn a 70% interest by funding $110 million in exploration. JOY is part of British Columbia's Kemess-Toodoggone district; Amarc has also partnered with a major at Duke, where Boliden can spend $90M to earn a 70% stake.

Amarc's near-surface hits, announced Jan. 17, included 162 metres of 2.19 g/t gold and 0.63% copper and 108m of 2.38 g/t Au and 0.6% Cu. The news propelled AHR shares from a 40-cent open to a 72-cent close. Amarc followed up on Jan. 20 with 130m of 2.4 g/t Au and 0.61% Cu and 266m of 1.24 g/t Au and 0.31% Cu.

The biggest beneficiary, however, could well be neighbour TDG Gold (TDG-V). Amarc's discovery holes are less than a kilometre away from TDG's Greater Shasta-Newberry project to the west.

I was at VRIC chatting with a colleague on the day of the follow-up results. He had heard that TDG chairman Stephen Quin was quite excited by Amarc's results and we went looking for him. We started at VRIC, made our way to AME-BC RoundUp and found Quin in the hallway at Vancouver Convention Centre East.Quin explained that TDG had an as-yet-untested geological theory for the western boundary of its Greater Shasta zone, and that Amarc's discovery had gone some distance to proving the theory.

Because Amarc's holes were drilled on the valley floor and TDG's nearby ground was mountainous, deeper drilling would be required. "How much do you have in the treasury?" I asked him. Quin replied, "We'll have to raise money."

This morning, they did -- in spades. TDG announced a $14.5-million financing of charity flow-through and non-flow-through shares, on favourable terms, including a strategic investment by Skeena Resources (SKE-T).

TDG is already one of the top junior performers this year; the stock started 2025 at 13.5 cents and traded as high as 51 cents today. It was also hitting insider buying screens, thanks to some chunky purchases by director Michael Kosowan, a large shareholder. Since Jan. 17 Kosowan has purchased 2.166 million TDG shares at prices as high as 49 cents. He owns 16.34 million shares, an 11.2% stake.

A few takeaways:

  • discoveries continue to be rewarded in a tough junior market;
  • exploring for porphyries with a deep-pocketed partner is probably the best modus operandi;
  • British Columbia remains a highly prospective minerals jurisdiction despite geopolitical and socio-cultural challenges.

TDG Gold (TDG-V)

Price: 0.45

Shares out: 145.5 million (175.1M fully diluted)

Market cap: $65.5 million

Amarc Resources (AHR-V)

Price: 0.63

Shares out: 220.8 million (245M fully diluted)

Market cap: $139.1 million

Disclosure: I own shares of TDG Gold and have no business relationship with any of the companies mentioned.