Daily Brief Energy/Materials: Orecorp Ltd, West China Cement, Ball , Trigon Metals , Corteva , Endurance Gold, Equitrans Midstream Corp, Omai Gold Mines, Packaging Corporation of America and more

• On the 27 Dec, to circumvent Perseus (PRU AU)‘s 19.9% dissenting vote, Orecorp (ORR AU) and Silvercorp (SVM CN) agreed to an off-market takeover, on the same terms. 
• That Offer – A$0.19 in cash and 0.0967 new Silvercorp shares – opened on the 3 January.
• Silvercorp paid ~A$0.51/share, on-market, just prior to the Offer. OreCorp is currently trading ~A$0.51-$0.52/share. Is there any legal obligation to set a minimum floor price of A$0.51/share?

Lucror Analytics’ ESG Scores are based on a 3-tiered scale and are adjusted for Controversies (if applicable).
We assess West China Cement’s ESG as “Adequate”, in line with its “Adequate” Environmental and Governance scores. That said, the company’s Social pillar is “Weak”. Controversies are “Immaterial” and Disclosure is “Adequate”.

• Ball Corporation delivered a mixed result in the recent quarter, with revenues below market expectations but surpassed the analyst consensus regarding earnings.
• In the third quarter, they improved operational efficiencies and successful measures to counter inflationary costs.
• Notably, they navigated through a $14 million operating earnings headwind from the Russian sale and $43 million higher interest expense.

• Gold continued to rise in December, gaining 1.3% on the month and closed out 2023 up 13% to $2,062/oz.
• Sentiment Update Gold closed out the year up 13% at $2,062/oz, marking an all-time high in December at $2,135/oz.
• Uranium posted yet another month of positive gains, ending the month up 12% at $91.0/lb and closing the year up 89%.

• Corteva delivered a disappointing result with below-par revenues and on-par earnings.
• Despite a 1% year-to-date sales decrease, pricing gains globally, especially in Seed and Crop Protection, contributed to a 9% increase in global pricing.
• On the other hand, Crop Protection net sales declined by 10%, with a 12% drop in organic sales due to pricing gains being overshadowed by lower volumes.

• EDG reported assay results for two diamond drill holes at the Imperial Zone, intersecting wider than expected mineralized zones.
• The 2023 drill program has concluded with 5,301m completed across 22 drill holes, assays remain outstanding for 7 holes.
• This morning, Endurance Gold Corp. (EDG:TSXV) announced assay results for two drill holes at the Imperial Zone.

• EDG reported assay results for the last seven diamond drill holes of the 2023 drill campaign from the Eagle and Crown Zones.
• This morning, Endurance Gold Corp. (EDG:TSXV) announced the final set of assay results for the 2023 drilling season.
• The results were for the final seven holes drilled at the Eagle and Crown Zones, returning high-grade intersections, notably 5.80 g/t Au over 23.0m, including 8.52 g/t Au over 12.7m and five high-grade vein intercepts, one with visible gold.

• This is a special one-time report on Equitrans Midstream Corporation.
• A significant factor in Equitrans’ future is the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, now expected in the first quarter of 2024.
• The MVP, with an increased budget of $7.2 billion, is critical for Equitrans, offering potential revenue streams once operational.

• Today’s results highlight the existence of other high-grade gold targets nearby the existing resources which could be important in providing low-cost high-grade mill feed in the early years of an operation.
• This morning, Omai Gold Mines Corp. (OMG:TSXV, OMGGF:OTC) announced the completion of its 2023 Omai Project drill campaign and drill results for two additional holes completed on the nearby SP and BBH exploration targets.
• One of the two exploration holes, which tested a historical high-grade target at SP, intersected two high-grade gold zones of 7.69 g/t Au over 9.5m and 3.42 g/t Au over 15.0m.

• Packaging Corporation of America delivered a mixed result in the recent quarter, with revenues below market expectations, but it surpassed the analyst consensus in earnings.
• The company announced a third-quarter net income of $183 million, reflecting a decrease compared to the third quarter of 2022, when net income stood at $266 million.
• The management’s cost-effective approach to containerboard supply and demand management included idling the Wallula mill, resulting in market-related downtime of approximately 174,000 tonnes.