Explorer Uncovers High-Grade Gold in Historic Comstock

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1. Ownership and Share Structure Information

The information listed above was updated on the date this article was published and was compiled from information from the company and various other data providers.

Mackay Gold and Silver Corp. (MACK:TSXV; MKGSF:OTCQB) announced initial assay results from its first seven holes of a 20,000-meter drill program underway at its wholly owned Comstock District property in Nevada, with thick zones of shallow gold and silver mineralization confirmed near surface, according to a September 15 release.

"We started the program with bold, 150 to 250-meter step-outs to the north of the closest historical drilling at Occidental South and have been rewarded with thick intersections at very good grades for oxide gold in Nevada," CEO and Director Darwin Green said.

He continued, "These results confirm a strong correlation between gold-in-soil geochemistry and near-surface gold mineralization in bedrock and demonstrate the potential to expand the footprint of mineralization at Occidental South, which we have already nearly doubled in length with just these first few holes. Most of the 20,000-meter Phase 1 program is focused on the gold-in-soil anomaly, which currently measures approximately 1,000 m x 400 m and remains open in all directions. We look forward to reporting additional results in the coming weeks and months."

Among the standout intercepts, hole 26MGS007 returned 59.4 meters grading 1 gram per tonne (g/t) gold and 9.45 g/t silver, including a higher-grade section of 18.3 meters at 1.46 g/t gold and 19.74 g/t silver. Hole 26MGS005 intersected 47.2 meters at 1.15 g/t gold and 1.68 g/t silver, including 4.6 meters grading 7.57 g/t gold and 5.54 g/t silver. Hole 26MGS001 returned 48.8 meters at 0.97 g/t gold and 2.92 g/t silver, while hole 26MGS002 delivered 33.5 meters at 0.68 g/t gold and 4.88 g/t silver.

Chasing the Lode Less Traveled

The Phase 1 campaign is planned to cover about 15,000 meters of shallow reverse-circulation (RC) drilling at Occidental South, alongside 5,000 meters of deep diamond drilling at the Sutro Tunnel intersection. Both programs target the Occidental-Brunswick Lode, a 5-kilometer mineralized structure running east of and parallel to the Comstock Lode. The two structures share similar strike, dip, and broader geological characteristics.

At Occidental South, drilling is planned on 50- to 100-meter spacing across an initial gold-in-soil target measuring roughly 1,000 by 400 meters. The target follows an approximately 300-meter oxide gold-silver zone identified through surface outcrops and limited historical drilling. Ground to the north has not been tested with modern exploration, while strong gold-in-soil results extend across a detailed grid of about 1,000 meters that is being expanded northward.

The latest results cover the first seven holes of Phase 1 and represent Mackay Gold & Silver's initial drilling on the project. The holes were positioned 150 to 250 meters north along strike from the Occidental South zone, which previous operators tested with 10 holes between 2018 and 2021. Holes 26MGS001, 26MGS005, and 26MGS007 each cut approximately 50 to 60 meters of strong gold mineralization. With the holes spaced 50 meters apart, the results demonstrate continuity across roughly 100 meters of strike and extend the Occidental South mineralized zone to approximately 550 meters. The zone remains open for expansion in every direction.

The new drilling also provides an early indication of the broader potential along the Occidental-Brunswick Lode, most of which remains untested across its 5-kilometer length. About 35 holes totaling 5,700 meters have now been completed as part of the planned 100-hole, 20,000-meter program, with additional assay results expected to be released over the next several months.

A Legendary District, Untested at Depth

Mackay is fully financed, having raised roughly US$60 million in an April 2026 concurrent financing completed in connection with its go-public transaction. That capital funded a second rig's mobilization in August — a diamond core unit joining an RC rig active since mid-June, letting the company advance both halves of its Phase 1 program at once.

The core rig's priority target is the historic Sutro Tunnel intersection, a site with a colorful backstory but no modern drill testing. Completed in the late 1870s as a 6.5-kilometer drainage tunnel linked to the 500-meter level of the main Comstock workings, the Sutro Tunnel crossed the district's lodes at right angles and reportedly cut through a 30-meter-wide section of the Occidental-Brunswick vein approximately 450 meters below surface.

Historical records describe that interval as mineralized, though grades reportedly fell short of the roughly 8 to 10 g/t gold cutoff used at the time. The tunnel is no longer accessible, and despite that century-and-a-half-old evidence of mineralization at depth, no drill hole had followed up on it before Mackay's program. The company believes later faulting dropped the Occidental-Brunswick structure relative to the Comstock Lode, potentially placing the depth range that hosted the Comstock's richest ore beneath ground the historical Occidental-Brunswick workings never reached.

"During its construction 150 years ago, the nearly 4-mile-long Sutro Tunnel crosscut a 100-foot-wide interval of the Occidental-Brunswick vein that has never been followed up with a single drill hole," Green said. "This represents the starting point of our exploration of the deeper portions of the multi-kilometer-long Occidental-Brunswick Lode, which we believe has excellent potential to host high-grade mineralization like the famous 'bonanzas' of the Comstock Lode."

That history carries weight: mining across the broader Comstock District between 1859 and 1926 produced roughly 8.2 million ounces (Moz) of gold and 192 Moz of silver, with the district's bonanza lodes averaging about 35 g/t gold and 726 g/t silver.

Yet the district has seen little modern, systematic exploration: historical miners focused only on high-grade zones reachable with 19th-century technology, and fragmented land ownership blocked district-wide exploration for more than a century. Mackay has since consolidated a major land position across the district, an opportunity the company says now allows systematic target evaluation rather than piecemeal work.

One of 10: Frisby's Case for Mackay

Gold's rally has cooled into what investment writer Dominic Frisby calls a year of consolidation, with the metal trading around US$4,300 an ounce even after the Federal Reserve's latest rate hike. Writing for The Flying Frisby on September 17, Frisby said he expects gold to reach US$7,000 by the end of the decade, with a spike toward US$10,000 possible, as currency debasement and central-bank buying continue to drive demand for the metal as a reserve asset. Against that backdrop, he laid out his 10 largest gold-mining stock positions, framing gold miners as a way to add leverage beyond simply holding bullion.

Mackay Gold & Silver was one of those 10. Frisby noted that CEO Darwin Green has pulled together much of Nevada's historic Comstock District — a property once so fragmented across multiple owners that systematic exploration was impossible — including the acquisition of the LODE properties themselves.

"This is not about geological theory," he wrote. "There is historically proven gold and silver here. Modern drilling and geological interpretation are beginning to show that the mineralization may extend beyond what the historic miners exploited around the old workings."

Frisby added that at a roughly CA$250 million market cap, Mackay isn't cheap for an explorer, but he sees the value in "the quality of the address and the potential scale, rather than the valuation."

Piecing Together America's Lost Bonanza

In an August 20 stock review, Jeff Clark, Daniel Flynn, and Sharyn Alexander of The Paydirt Prospector described Mackay as a well-funded effort to methodically explore a Nevada district left fragmented and underexplored for generations. They credited CEO Green with assembling Mackay's core properties into what the company describes as the largest land position in the district's 167-year history.

Mackay currently controls about 4,343 hectares, following completion of the Silver City Lode Properties acquisition, and has agreed to acquire an additional 392 hectares at the historic Big Bonanza, which would expand its land position to approximately 4,747 hectares. The expanded footprint lets the company explore the district as a single system, potentially building a consolidated asset attractive to a future acquirer.

At Occidental South, historical operators drilling from 2018 through 2021 hit mineralization consistently, including 25 meters grading 13.49 g/t gold and 48 g/t silver. The zone remains open, with a gold-in-soil anomaly extending roughly one kilometer along strike. Mackay's 15,000-meter Phase 1 RC program is testing extensions along strike and down dip to establish the oxide system's size, grade, and continuity, with a conceptual target of 1 million to 2 million ounces of oxide gold at 1 to 2 g/t. The company also plans to revisit the historic Comstock Lode, updating a historical 1-million-ounce gold-equivalent inventory and testing for more than 3 million ounces.

Alexander said the opportunity centers on consolidating a long-established high-grade Nevada epithermal district, with unified ownership of the Comstock, Occidental-Brunswick, and Silver City lodes removing the fragmented land position that had blocked systematic exploration. She pointed to the geological similarities with Comstock and the interpretation that fault structures carried Occidental-Brunswick deeper as factors supporting a testable model for preserved high-grade mineralization. Occidental South offers a separate target, its soil anomaly extending past the area that historical drilling has tested. Alexander stressed that Mackay's resource figures remain conceptual, and current drilling must show whether significant mineralization continues beyond the historically tested ground.

Mackay said its latest financing drew roughly US$120 million in investor demand, letting the company raise about US$60 million and fund a substantial drilling campaign without needing another financing soon.

"If assays begin confirming shallow oxide potential at Occidental South — or show bonanza-style mineralization at depth — the stock could move quickly," the Paydirt Prospector piece said, adding, "Mackay is a well-funded attempt to reboot one of America's great gold-silver districts."

The authors named Occidental-Brunswick the immediate focus, citing its mix of shallow oxide potential and deeper high-grade targets. They wrote, "Reboots don't always work. But with the team, money, and land finally in place to test this region properly, we want exposure before those first results. Both Jeff and I have previously established overweight positions, Jeff through an earlier private placement, but we stopped buying a couple of months ago when we knew we would recommend the stock. We recommend buying a first tranche now, ahead of the initial Occidental-Brunswick assays."

The Paydirt Prospector authors said they were "officially adding" Mackay to the publication's portfolio and would track the company's progress, closing with: "Can Mackay prove the Comstock still has multi-million-ounce potential and trigger a material re-rate? We think that possibility is very strong, and our recommendation reflects that view."

The Catalyst: Gold Shrugs Off Fed Hikes, Eyes US$5,400

Gold extended its rebound into a second consecutive session Friday, reaching a one-week high as falling oil prices offset the Federal Reserve's first rate increase in three years, signaling that further tightening could follow, according to a Reuters report updated September 18 and published by CNBC.

Spot gold rose 0.9% to US$4,378.97 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures gained 0.4% to US$4,418.50. Crude fell for a third straight session as easing concerns over Saudi supply disruptions outweighed renewed worries about a widening Middle East conflict.

"The precious metal appears to have taken the Fed's hawkish signals in its stride, instead finding immediate relief from falling oil prices amid hopes that the Fed's hiking cycle will prove shallow," said Han Tan, chief market analyst at Bybit. Gold can benefit from inflation concerns, but higher rates tend to weaken demand by making income-generating assets more attractive.

The Fed indicated on Wednesday that further rate increases could come in the months ahead. Goldman Sachs said in a note that it expects "the impact of tighter monetary policy to be felt primarily through a slower near-term appreciation path rather than a lower terminal gold price."

The Bank of Japan also lifted rates to their highest level in 31 years and signaled additional increases remain possible as major central banks continue responding to persistent inflation.

Geopolitics remains a key variable for bullion. "Looking ahead, the state of the conflict in the Middle East will be a key factor influencing gold prices. If the conflict prolongs and oil prices remain high well into next year, that could prompt central banks to raise rates more than investors expect, which would put downward pressure on gold prices," said Hamad Hussain, a climate and commodities economist at Capital Economics.

Goldman Sachs kept its constructive outlook for gold in a Friday note, saying further Fed tightening is more likely to slow the metal's advance than reverse it, Sam Boughedda wrote for Investing.com on September 18.

Analyst Lina Thomas maintained the bank's US$5,400-per-ounce forecast for the end of 2027, despite this week's rate increase and growing expectations for another hike in October. She expects higher borrowing costs to weigh on gold through ETF demand in the near term, but still sees the Fed cutting rates three times between September 2027 and March 2028, leaving its projected terminal rate unchanged.

"We expect the impact of tighter monetary policy to be felt primarily through a slower near-term appreciation path rather than a lower terminal gold price," Thomas said. Goldman lowered its year-end fair-value estimate to US$4,650 an ounce from US$4,900, though that remains above spot gold near US$4,350, with much of the expected rate impact already reflected in ETF demand.

Thomas added that gold should "grind higher in the near term," as stronger central-bank buying offsets the remaining pressure from elevated rates. Central-bank purchases remain the primary structural driver behind Goldman's projected 23% gold gain through the end of 2027, averaging about 91 tonnes a month versus 17 tonnes before 2022.

Ownership and Share Information¹

Mackay Gold & Silver Corp. has a market cap of CA$257.16 million, with 87.77 million shares outstanding. The company's 52-week range is CA$1.96-CA$5.00.

Management and insiders own 2.26% of shares, institutions own about 8.69%, and the rest is retail.

Common Investor Questions

What did Mackay Gold & Silver announce on September 15? Initial assay results from the first seven holes of its 20,000-meter Phase 1 drill program at the Comstock District property in Nevada, confirming thick zones of shallow gold and silver mineralization near surface at the Occidental South target.

What were the standout drill results? Hole 26MGS007 returned 59.4 meters grading 1 g/t gold and 9.45 g/t silver, including a higher-grade section of 18.3 meters at 1.46 g/t gold and 19.74 g/t silver. Hole 26MGS005 intersected 47.2 meters at 1.15 g/t gold, including 4.6 meters at 7.57 g/t gold and 5.54 g/t silver.

How does this fit into the broader Phase 1 program? The full program covers about 15,000 meters of shallow RC drilling at Occidental South and 5,000 meters of deep diamond drilling at the historic Sutro Tunnel intersection, both targeting the Occidental-Brunswick Lode — a structure that runs parallel to, and shares geological characteristics with, the historic Comstock Lode.

What is significant about the Sutro Tunnel target? Built in the late 1870s, the tunnel reportedly crossed a 30-meter section of the Occidental-Brunswick vein approximately 450 meters below surface — evidence of mineralization at depth that no drill hole had ever tested until Mackay's current program. The company believes faulting may have dropped that structure relative to the Comstock Lode, potentially placing high-grade ore beneath ground that the historical workings never reached.

How is the drilling funded? Mackay raised roughly US$60 million through an April 2026 go-public financing (from about US$120 million in investor demand), funding both a second drill rig and providing runway without an immediate need for further financing.

What do outside commentators think? Investment writer Dominic Frisby named Mackay one of his ten largest gold-mining positions, valuing it for "the quality of the address and the potential scale" rather than a cheap valuation.

The Paydirt Prospector's Jeff Clark, Daniel Flynn, and Sharyn Alexander called it "a well-funded attempt to reboot one of America's great gold-silver districts" and said they were adding it to their portfolio ahead of initial Occidental-Brunswick assays.

How big is Mackay's land position? Mackay currently controls about 4,343 hectares across the Comstock, Occidental-Brunswick, and Silver City lodes. It has also agreed to acquire the 392-hectare Big Bonanza property, which would expand its land position to approximately 4,747 hectares and consolidate the entire six-kilometer Comstock Lode under one owner.

What are the conceptual resource targets? At Occidental South, a conceptual target of 1 million to 2 million ounces of oxide gold at 1 to 2 g/t. Separately, the company plans to revisit the historic Comstock Lode, updating a prior 1-million-ounce gold-equivalent inventory and testing for more than 3 million ounces — figures the company and outside analysts stress remain conceptual pending further drilling.