Time to Buy This New Gold-Copper Stock Before the Drill Bit Does the Talking
@TheGoldAdvisor · · 2 upvotes · 0 replies
Hi Gold Advisor readers,
Today, we’re doing a deep dive into a stock that if you subscribe to the Paydirt Prospector you may already know.
Its large gold-copper resource is being priced at a fraction of its peers, first assays are on the way, and 50,000m of drilling is planned between now and the end of Q1 next year…
We believe this is an excellent moment to get positioned before the wider market catches on.
It’s time to take a look at…
AURO METALS (AURFF; AURO.V)
First things first, there’s a new sign on the door: as of June 11, 2026, Tincorp Metals has changed its name to Auro Metals.
So when you see “Tincorp” in some of the images below — or you already know the company by that name, don’t worry — you’re still in the right place.
Auro is advancing the Santa Barbara gold-copper project in what is now mining-friendly Ecuador.
Auro has already defined an Indicated Resource of 697koz gold and 68.1Mlbs copper, plus an Inferred Resource of 3.4Moz gold and 425Mlbs copper—with plenty of room to grow.
The goal now is to expand the resource, increase confidence in the existing ounces, and prove Santa Barbara’s scale.
Better still, Auro is doing this with a robust cash balance and the ongoing support of one of the biggest names in the sector: Silvercorp Metals.
We’ll get to the project, drilling and valuation shortly. First, how did this opportunity come about?
THE BACKGROUND
Santa Barbara has always looked interesting: vast mineralization, with potentially larger upside.
But it kept falling behind something bigger, more advanced, or more urgent—always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
As a result, it passed through several hands before landing with mining heavyweight Silvercorp in 2024.
Silvercorp saw a clear development opportunity. But with its large operating business and numerous priorities, Santa Barbara was once again at risk of being pushed down the list.
So, the company came up with a smart solution.
Rather than let the project idle, Silvercorp sold Santa Barbara to its TSX-V listed affiliate Tincorp Metals (now Auro) earlier this year, retaining a 27.5% stake in Auro—with Silvercorp providing operational and technical support.
And a result of this setup, the company today offers investors something very unique:
A large, advanced project backed by one of the sector’s most profitable operators but still valued like an under-the-radar explorer.
Indeed, CEO Victor Feng is himself a young, ambitious executive who cut his teeth at Silvercorp and New Pacific Metals. But he is supported by a board with serious mining depth thanks to the Silvercorp connection, including:
Technical Advisor Rui Feng, founder and chairman of Silvercorp and founder of New Pacific Metals (and also Victor’s father!);
Chairman Lorne Waldman, a former Silvercorp senior VP with more than 20 years’ public company experience;
Director Lon Shaver, President of Silvercorp and a veteran mining financier;
Director Alex Zhang, a 30-year exploration veteran who has helped advance projects from exploration toward production at Silvercorp, New Pacific and Eldorado Gold.
That’s a LOT of experience under the hood for a company valued at just $108M.
THE PROJECT
Santa Barbara is a large, high-grade gold-copper porphyry project, road-accessible from Zamora, with all necessary drill permits and social licences in place.
Most important, it sits in Ecuador’s Zamora Copper Belt—one of the world’s most prolific emerging copper jurisdictions, as you can see in this map…
The project is 10km south of Silvercorp’s Condor project, which has:
Measured and Indicated: 620,000oz gold and 4.4Moz silver
Inferred: 1.9Moz gold and 13.8Moz silver
Just 36km south of Lundin Gold’s Fruta del Norte mine, containing:
Proven and Probable: 5.02Moz gold and 6.5Moz silver
M&I: 6.8Moz gold and 8.9Moz silver
And CRCC-Tongguan’s Mirador mine is only 56km away, with:
M&I: 2.67Mt copper and 2.6Moz gold
Inferred: 1.22Mt copper and 1.2Moz gold
Proximity alone doesn’t guarantee success, of course. But this neighbourhood clearly hosts very large gold, copper and silver deposits.
So, while Santa Barbara’s updated Resource was already big, the regional context suggests it could be much larger.
Early signs support this view, with analysis of 22,000m of historic drilling showing mineralization remains open in all directions and extends beyond the current pit shell.
Now, Auro is testing how big this project can get.
The company is currently completing a 10,000m Phase 1 program, focused on infill drilling to upgrade a meaningful chunk of Inferred resources to Indicated while moving part of the resource into the higher confidence Measured category.
Fresh drill core will also undergo metallurgical testing, with the aim of optimizing recoveries beyond the current 85.5% for gold and 19.6% for copper.
With five holes already drilled and four rigs in the field, assays should begin flowing imminently, with Phase 1 work expected to complete by mid-summer.
From there Auro plans to move straight into Phase 2, focused on step-outs beyond the existing resource shell, both at depth and along strike.
All-in, Victor tells me Auro’s goal is to complete 50,000m of drilling by the end of Q1 next year, with the overwhelming focus on resource extension.
That means our understanding of Santa Barbara’s true scale could improve rapidly over the next eight months.
If Auro can demonstrate grades and scale on par with its neighbours, then two points really matter from a shareholder value perspective:
Unlike many nearby projects, Santa Barbara is gold-dominant, so the economics could prove materially stronger.
SolGold’s $1.2B sale of Cascabel in December, and CMOC’s C$581M acquisition of Cangrejos earlier in the year, show demand for Ecuadorian porphyry assets is very real.
Put simply, if drilling proves grade and scale at Santa Barbara, Auro could quickly find itself sitting on a highly valuable gold-copper porphyry project attracting serious takeout interest.
THE STOCK
As the chart shows, very little upside appears priced into Auro’s current valuation:
Even after last month’s significant share price jump, the market is currently valuing each attributable gold-equivalent ounce at Santa Barbara at just $22.
That’s significantly below even the closest comparable peer, highlighting the opportunity that’s available right now. We see a stock that could easily be worth $2.
And it leaves clear scope for Auro’s valuation to re-rate sharply once the market better understands what it owns:
A large gold-copper resource in a proven belt with established takeout interest
Clear upside beyond the existing pit shell, both along strike and at depth
Active drilling, fully funded for the foreseeable future, with an ambitious target of 50,000m by Q1 next year
This could move quickly, too. Just 130.8 million shares are in issue—low for a company with an MRE—and nearly 75% are held by Silvercorp, insiders and associates who are in it for the long haul.
Victor tells me more institutional investors are queuing up to get involved once liquidity improves—and we can get in before them.
The real driver will be regular assays that increase both resource confidence and scale.
Given those assays should be coming in any time now, it may not be long before Auro begins its next leg up.
RECOMMENDATION: BUY A FIRST TRANCHE
Now’s the time to jump into a position, as Auro gives us a large, advanced gold-copper resource, a deep-pocketed Silvercorp connection, and 50,000m of drilling to prove Santa Barbara is larger than the market believes.
With the stock still valued at a fraction of its peers and first assays due shortly, we think now is an attractive time to build a position.
We’ve officially added Auro to the Gold Advisor portfolio and will continue to cover major developments going forward. Both Jeff and I have taken positions and will continue to add on pullbacks and progress after two days.
Will Auro’s stock reach $2 or more at some point? We’re investing with that very idea in mind.
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