Silver on the Brink of “Going Ballistic”, Claims Nord Precious Metals’ Frank Basa
July 09, 2025 — Silver, Frank Basa contends, is on the brink of “going ballistic,” and the veteran miner is positioning Nord Precious Metals Mining Inc. (TSXV: NTH | OTCQB: CCWOF) to catch the blast.
Basa’s company operates the only permitted high-grade silver mill in Ontario’s storied Cobalt Camp, a 63-square-kilometer domain where drill results at the Castle East discovery have already outlined 7.56 million inferred ounces averaging 8,582 g/t silver. “Even Teck used to haul their rock to this plant,” Basa recalled, noting that Agnico mined 1.6 million ounces here decades ago and that the reborn facility can treat up to 3 million ounces annually.
The grades, he insists, still defy modern laboratory standards. “We hit 89,000 grams a tonne—silver only,” he said of the “discovery holes” that convinced him to buy the past-producing Castle Mine a dozen years ago. A 60,000-meter drill campaign is now being re-assayed because, as Basa put it, “of the 100,000 samples, the labs couldn’t get it right—there are no standards that high.” Even without those new holes, Nord tallies roughly 250 ounces per ton in its current resource.
Yet silver, in Basa’s telling, is only the opening act. The Castle rocks also host cobalt, nickel and—far from being a liability—arsenic, which Washington unexpectedly classified as a critical mineral. “Nobody’s producing it anymore,” he said. “What used to be waste is now in demand for chip substrates and, we discovered, even lithium-ion batteries.” To unlock that value, Nord spent $8 million developing Re-2Ox, a low-tech-high-sophistication hydrometallurgical circuit that has already produced cobalt sulphate “on spec for Sumitomo.” With federal and provincial coffers lining up behind industry partners, SGS is building a Re-2Ox pilot plant that will process a tonne a day before scaling to commercial throughput.
A fresh trove of feedstock has just come to light. In early July, Nord’s crews completed their 68th test pit near the Castle headframe and found tailings in every hole. One trench, four meters deep and “still open,” underscores what Basa calls “new tailings discovery.” The company’s fenced compound—earmarked for a Falcon gravity concentrator and spiral circuit—sits atop the material, raising the prospect of immediate silver recovery and critical-metal extraction. “Every test pit tells a story of untapped value,” Basa said after the news release confirmed that tailings grades in earlier lab work reached 786,809 g/t in gravity concentrates.
Basa keeps one eye on macroeconomics. The gold-to-silver ratio hovering near 100:1 is, he said, “something I’ve never seen in my lifetime,” and he expects a short squeeze as primary silver supply stagnates. “I don’t see gold coming down—some talk of $4,000 an ounce—so sooner or later silver will be really explosive.”
Arsenic’s renaissance rounds out the thesis. “In the old days it was a penalty element,” he shrugged, “but now the Americans want it, and we might be the only hydromet plant globally that can handle this high-arsenic feed.” With three battery factories rising in Ontario—including Volkswagen’s first in Canada—Nord aims to become the camp’s twenty-first-century hub, pulling 300 tons a shift from underground veins that once ran “32 to 80 ounces a ton,” shipping gravity concentrates to Re-2Ox, and marketing both silver and critical metals to hungry supply chains.
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About Nord Precious Metals Mining Inc.
Nord Precious Metals Mining Inc. operates the only permitted high-grade milling facility in the historic Cobalt Camp of Ontario, where the Company has established a unique position integrating high-grade silver discovery with strategic metals recovery operations. The Company’s flagship Castle property encompasses 63 sq. km of exploration ground and the past-producing Castle Mine, complemented by the Castle East discovery where drilling has delineated 7.56 million ounces of silver in Inferred resources grading an average of 8,582 g/t Ag (250.2 oz/ton) in 27,400 tonnes of material from two sections (1A and 1B) of the Castle East Robinson Zone, beginning at a vertical depth of approximately 400 meters. Note that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Please refer to the Nord Precious Metals Press Release May 27, 2020, for the resource estimate.
Nord’s integrated processing strategy leverages the synergistic value of multiple metals. High-grade silver recovery supports the economics of extracting critical minerals including cobalt, nickel, and other battery metals, while the Company’s proprietary Re-2Ox hydrometallurgical process enables production of technical-grade cobalt sulphate and nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) formulations. This multi-metal approach, combined with established infrastructure including TTL Laboratories and underground mine access, positions Nord to capitalize on both precious metals markets and the growing demand for battery materials.
The Company maintains a strategic portfolio of battery metals properties in Northern Quebec through its 35% ownership in Coniagas Battery Metals Inc. (TSXV: COS) as well as the St. Denis-Sangster lithium project comprising 260 square kilometers of prospective ground near Cochrane, Ontario.
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