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This Copper Discovery Has 4X the Grade of Other Mines | Power Metallic - Lion MRE

The Deep Dive Sep 16, 2026 14:36

Summary

Power Metallic's maiden Lion resource proved the promised grade — nearly 4% copper equivalent (metals expressed as copper), roughly four times the average copper mine.

The sell-off was about tonnage: infill drilling (tighter spacing to prove edges) traded size for confidence, putting 87% of Lion's tons in the indicated category.

Lock-cycle flotation tests (a lab dress rehearsal for a mill) recovered 98.5% of copper into one concentrate, making low-grade rock feed rather than waste.

Economics stay unanswered: the PEA (a preliminary mine study) slipped to H1 2027, and Nisk's 44% nickel recovery needs metallurgical work before it feeds anything.

Three deep holes below Lion hit visible copper near 900 meters, keeping the deposit open at depth, with assays due before the end of September.

Terry Lynch's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Lynch's core argument is that the market is counting the wrong thing: Lion is a smaller-tonnage but very high-grade deposit, and in his words "you'd rather process a lot less tonnage with a lot more metal. That's where the money is."
  • He managed expectations in advance, publishing a post six days before the MRE telling shareholders it "will not tell you whether this is a mine" — "The MRE is not a PEA."
  • On the company webinar he owned the tonnage shortfall without dressing it up: "I get the disappointment. I was disappointed," describing the move "from the arm-waving of Terry to the reality of the data."
  • He argues Lion is likely the part of the magmatic sulfide system that "traveled" — the mobile leftover liquid enriched in copper and precious metals — and the morning after the release he asked his followers: if Lion is what moved, where is what stayed?
  • He says Nisk has been optimized to be "a contributor, not a material contributor" to a future mill, an SGS met study is testing whether blending Nisk and Lion ores lifts Nisk's recoveries, and the PEA has been pushed from fall 2026 to H1 2027.

Joe Campbell's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Campbell explains the tonnage miss as the predictable cost of infill drilling — "you squeeze your deposit because you're defining the edges much better" — which is why 87% of Lion came out indicated but smaller than expected, a call the company made well over a year ago.