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Gold prices are showing increased volatility, prompting renewed investor focus on cost discipline and margin resilience across the mining sector, according to analysts at Jefferies.

The price of gold fell more than 3% to trade just abot $4,400 per ounce on Monday.

The firm noted that bullion has pulled back significantly from earlier highs, with prices now up only about 1.4% year-to-date after gains of roughly 20% in January. At the same time, gold equities have lagged, with the GDX ETF down around 3.5%.

“This recent pullback in gold prices has brought operating margins back to the forefront for investors,” the analysts wrote, particularly after a period in which elevated prices had masked underlying cost pressures.

As prices ease, producers are facing greater scrutiny over their ability to sustain profitability. “Lower spot prices pressure top-line, making cost discipline the key differentiator among producers,” Jefferies wrote, adding that margin preservation is likely to outweigh production growth as the main driver of relative performance in the near term.

The shift comes after a period of rising cost guidance across the industry, driven by factors such as inflation, higher royalties and share-based compensation. While these increases were largely overlooked during the price rally, Jefferies said that dynamic is now reversing.

“At current levels, operating leverage is again working in reverse, exposing differences in underlying cost structures and balance sheet flexibility across the sector,” the frim wrote.

Higher-cost producers are particularly vulnerable in the current environment, given the relatively fixed nature of sustaining capital, labour and site-level overhead expenses. Although cost inflation has moderated from peak levels, risks remain. Jefferies pointed to the potential for renewed pressure “the longer the Iran war persists,” warning that elevated absolute costs leave thinner buffers if prices weaken further.

Against this backdrop, the firm highlighted several miners it believes are better positioned to maintain margins at current spot prices of around $4,350 per ounce, including Dundee Precious Metals Inc (TSX:DPM), Lundin Gold (TSX:LUG), Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX:K) and Pan American Silver Corp. (TSX:PAA, NASDAQ:PAAS).

Jefferies noted the differences between traditional miners and streaming and royalty companies, which it said are structurally less sensitive to price swings. “Unlike miners, streamers and royalty companies typically operate with largely fixed cash cost structures, with minimal exposure to operating or sustaining capital inflation,” the analysts wrote. This allows such companies to “preserve margin and cash flow more effectively than most producers” during periods of declining or volatile gold prices.

While these companies may sacrifice some upside in a rising price environment, Jefferies said their defensive characteristics become more valuable when prices reset lower and margin risk returns to focus. As such, the firm maintained ‘Buy’ ratings on Wheaton Precious Metals Corp (LSE:WPM, TSX:WPM, NYSE:WPM), Royal Gold, Inc. (TSX:RGL) and Triple Flag Precious Metals (TSX:TFPM).

Lundin Gold (TSX:LUG) has been given a ‘Buy’ rating and C$103 price target by Bank of America in its initial coverage, with analysts highlighting the company’s high-margin production profile, strong free cash flow generation and exploration upside at its flagship Fruta del Norte (FDN) mine in Ecuador.

Shares of Lundin traded up more than 5% at C$91 on Friday afternoon.

The analysts wrote in a note that Lundin Gold’s valuation premium is supported by what it described as a combination of “track record, returns and optionality,” highlighting stable annual free cash flow potential of about $1 billion at current gold prices and additional upside from exploration programs that UBS believes are not fully reflected in the stock.

UBS noted that FDN is considered a world-class underground gold asset with high grades, consistent operational execution and a long mine life supported by inventory growth. Lundin Gold’s three-year production guidance of 475,000 to 525,000 ounces annually could prove conservative, with potential upside tied to plant optimization initiatives, the firm added.

The bank also pointed to all-in sustaining costs below $1,200 per ounce, which it said support strong operating margins even in a more range-bound gold price environment.

While Lundin Gold remains a single-asset producer, UBS wrote that investors may be underestimating the value of ongoing exploration efforts around FDN and within a broader copper-gold porphyry corridor. The firm highlighted that approximately 3 million ounces of depletion since 2016 have been offset by roughly 4 million ounces of additions through exploration.

UBS wrote that exploration activity has accelerated significantly, including a planned 133-kilometre drilling program in 2026. According to the bank, the exploration work could support higher processing throughput at FDN, mine life extensions and potential grade improvements relative to current technical assumptions.

The bank’s analysts also outlined longer-term potential tied to regional copper-gold discoveries, estimating that nearby porphyry targets could represent billions of dollars in value under certain development scenarios.

Lundin Gold has delivered growing free cash flow since 2021 through consistent execution and currently maintains more than $700 million in net cash, allowing for continued shareholder returns and potential expansion investments, it added.

Lundin Gold shares have also underperformed the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) by roughly 40% over the past year as investors shifted toward higher-beta gold equities. UBS sees a more attractive risk-reward profile for the company if investor focus begins shifting from operational execution toward growth and exploration potential.

Issued on behalf of Salazar Resources Limited (TSXV: SRL)

, /PRNewswire/ -- USA News Group News Commentary — In mineral exploration, two things rarely show up on the same property: the bulk-tonnage scale of a copper porphyry, and the eye-popping per-tonne grades of a high-grade gold vein. One is a long-life, low-grade engine; the other is a smaller, richer prize. Salazar Resources Limited (TSXV: SRL) (OTCQB: SRLZF) (FSE: CCG) has just reported results suggesting it may have both on a single, wholly owned concession in one of the world's most prolific copper-gold belts.

On June 1, 2026, Salazar reported rock-chip sampling of up to 100 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 1,000 g/t silver from the Yumi vein system at its 100%-owned Tarqui Concession in southeastern Ecuador — high-grade precious-metals results sitting right alongside a large, district-scale copper-molybdenum porphyry that was previously drilled under an earn-in by mining giant BHP. It is the kind of combination that gives a junior two distinct ways to win on one piece of ground.

The high-grade headline: Yumi

The numbers that grab attention come from the Yumi gold-silver epithermal vein system, where Salazar's own recent rock-chip sampling returned exceptional grades. One sample assayed 80.9 g/t gold and 824 g/t silver; a second came back at greater than 100 g/t gold and greater than 1,000 g/t silver, with over-limit analysis still pending — meaning the true values could be even higher once the lab re-runs them at a wider range. Beyond those two standouts, 13 additional samples returned between 1.0 and 17.9 g/t gold across a vein system roughly 100 metres in length.

Two caveats matter and Salazar discloses them plainly. First, these are rock-chip and grab samples taken at surface, which are selective by nature and are not necessarily representative of the grade of any mineralization at depth — they point to potential, not to a resource. Second, the highest result is an over-limit pending value, not a confirmed assay. What the sampling does establish is that a high-grade epithermal system is present and worth drilling. The company notes the mineralization is consistent with low- to intermediate-sulfidation epithermal systems similar to Lundin Gold's Fruta del Norte deposit, located about 48 kilometres to the south — a useful geological analogue, not a statement of equivalence.

The bulk-tonnage engine: a BHP-drilled porphyry

Underpinning the gold story is the larger copper-molybdenum porphyry system at Tarqui, defined by a 1.8-kilometre by 1.0-kilometre copper-molybdenum surface anomaly, with rock samples running up to 1.64% copper and soils up to 1.00% copper. The system has the kind of pedigree juniors rarely get to point to: it was drilled under a 2019–2022 earn-in agreement by BHP Billiton, following earlier work by Luminex Resources in 2018. That historical program included thirteen drill holes that confirmed porphyry mineralization.

Two of those historical holes frame the scale. TARQ1D returned 0.33% copper-equivalent over 186 metres, sitting within a much longer 682-metre interval grading 0.22% copper-equivalent. TARQ4D returned 0.34% copper-equivalent over 218 metres, with higher-grade sub-intervals up to 0.54% copper-equivalent. These are early-stage porphyry intercepts rather than a defined resource, but they confirm a real, drill-tested system that Salazar says remains open at depth and along its margins — leaving significant exploration upside. That a super-major spent the money to drill it is itself a form of validation that the target is district-scale.

Why the address matters

Tarqui and the nearby Quimi Concession together cover 7,547 hectares in Ecuador's Morona Santiago Province, roughly 15 kilometres from Gualaquiza, and sit within the Jurassic-aged Zamora Batholith — the same belt that hosts some of the region's marquee deposits. The concessions lie along the same regional structural corridor as the Panantza-San Carlos and Solaris Resources' Warintza porphyry systems, and the project sits about 48 kilometres north of Lundin Gold's Fruta del Norte. The two concessions are located roughly 20 and 5 kilometres, respectively, from Mirador Norte, the northern extension of the producing, Chinese-operated Mirador copper mine. In exploration, being on-trend with proven, large-scale systems does not guarantee success, but it materially improves the odds that the right geology is present.

CEO Fredy Salazar framed the opportunity as a rare pairing, pointing to "a large, well-defined copper-molybdenum porphyry system and high-grade gold-silver veins" at Tarqui, complemented by promising soil anomalies at the underexplored Quimi Concession. With the mineralized systems open in multiple directions and at depth, he said Salazar believes Tarqui and Quimi "could evolve into important discoveries" within one of the world's most prospective copper-gold belts. It is an exploration thesis, not a resource — but it is a well-located one with both bulk-tonnage and high-grade levers.

Four Ecuador-focused names investors watch alongside Salazar

Salazar is exploring in a jurisdiction that has gone from frontier to recognized producer in just a few years, drawing major and mid-tier mining capital to the same belt. The peer group below shows the range — from a high-grade producer to porphyry developers — that defines the Ecuadorian copper-gold story Salazar is now a part of.

Lundin Gold Inc. (TSX: LUG) (OTCQX: LUGDF) is the benchmark Salazar's own release points to. Its Fruta del Norte mine — the same epithermal gold-silver system geologically analogous to Salazar's Yumi target, 48 kilometres to the south — is among the highest-grade operating gold mines in the world. Lundin guided to 2026 production of 475,000 to 525,000 ounces of gold at an average head grade around 8.3 g/t, and launched its largest-ever exploration program at roughly US$85 million and 133,000 metres of drilling. Lundin shows what a world-class epithermal system in this belt can become once it is fully developed.

Solaris Resources Inc. (TSX: SLS) (NYSE: SLSR) is the porphyry analogue, advancing its Warintza copper project in the same Morona Santiago province as Tarqui. Solaris has reported an inferred resource on the order of 887 million tonnes grading about 0.39% copper, and signed an Investment Protection Agreement with the Ecuadorian government carrying tax incentives — a sign of how the country is courting large-scale copper development. Warintza illustrates the bulk-tonnage end of the spectrum that Salazar's own copper-molybdenum porphyry is chasing.

Silvercorp Metals Inc. (TSX: SVM) (NYSE American: SVM) represents the near-term builder in Ecuador. The company is advancing the El Domo deposit at the Curipamba project toward construction and first production later this decade, and — through its subsidiary Adventus — holds further exposure to the Zamora belt. Silvercorp shows the development-and-production stage of the Ecuadorian pipeline, several steps ahead of where Salazar sits today, and underscores that projects in the country are moving from discovery to construction.

Tincorp Metals Inc. (TSXV: TIN) is arguably the closest peer of all. In early 2026 Tincorp acquired the Santa Barbara gold-copper project — located in the same Zamora Copper-Gold Belt as Tarqui — from Silvercorp and its Adventus subsidiary, which retained a significant shareholding. Santa Barbara carries an updated resource of roughly 29.8 million tonnes grading 0.73 g/t gold and 0.10% copper. As a junior chasing a gold-copper porphyry in the very same belt, Tincorp is the most direct read on how the market values the kind of dual-metal exploration story Salazar is pursuing.

Across the group, the common thread is the one drawing capital to Salazar's ground: Ecuador's Zamora belt has proven it can host world-class copper porphyries and high-grade epithermal gold, and the market is rewarding companies that can credibly position themselves within it. Salazar sits at the early, high-risk exploration end — but on a wholly owned concession that offers exposure to both the bulk-tonnage and the high-grade sides of that story at once.

What to watch from here

For Salazar specifically, the near-term catalysts are clear. The first is the over-limit re-assay of that greater-than-100 g/t gold sample, which will put a firm number on the headline result. Beyond that, investors will watch for any move toward drilling the Yumi vein system — the logical next step to test whether the high-grade surface results carry to depth — as well as follow-up on the soil anomalies at the underexplored Quimi Concession and any further interpretation of the BHP-era porphyry data. Each would help convert surface promise into a drill-defined target.

None of this changes the fundamental reality that Salazar is an exploration-stage company working with surface samples and historical drill data, not a defined resource, and that grab samples are by their nature selective and unproven at depth. But the combination of a BHP-validated, district-scale copper-molybdenum porphyry and a freshly sampled high-grade gold-silver vein system — on one wholly owned property, in a tier-one copper-gold belt that is actively attracting major capital — is the kind of setup that draws exploration investors. The drill results to come will determine whether the promise becomes a discovery.

About Salazar Resources

Salazar Resources Limited (TSXV: SRL) (OTCQB: SRLZF) (FSE: CCG) is a Vancouver-based mineral exploration company focused on Ecuador. Its 100%-owned Tarqui and Quimi concessions cover 7,547 hectares in Morona Santiago Province within the Zamora Copper-Gold Belt, hosting a district-scale copper-molybdenum porphyry system — previously drilled under an earn-in by BHP Billiton — and the high-grade Yumi gold-silver epithermal vein system. Fredy Salazar serves as Chief Executive Officer.

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