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Billionaire Sprott bags 678% return on idle Nevada gold and silver mine
By Dylan Sloan
Bloomberg News
Friday, January 23, 2026
Hycroft Mining Holding Corp., the owner of a non-operational gold and silver mine in northern Nevada, has seen its shares soar more than 380% over the past two months as precious metals prices have climbed to record highs.
That's delivered glittering returns for its largest investor, Canadian billionaire Eric Sprott, a longtime gold bug whose stake has increased 678% in value to almost $2 billion.
... Dispatch continues below ...
... ADVERTISEMENT ...
Power Metallic Reports Lion Zone Recoveries of 98.9% Copper,
93.9% Palladium, 96.8% Platinum, 85% Gold, and 88.9% Silver
Company Announcement
via Pro.CEO.CA
Monday, January 19, 2026
TORONTO -- Power Metallic Mines Inc. (TSXV: PNPN) (OTCBB: PNPNF) (Frankfurt: IVV) provides preliminary metallurgical results performed by SGS Canada Ltd1 at its laboratories based in Quebec City, Quebec, and Lakefield, Ontario, from representative samples of Lion Zone mineralization.
An initial Lock Cycle Test returned a sulphide concentrate grading 25.8% copper containing very high metal recoveries of copper (98.9%), palladium (93.9%), platinum (96.8%), gold (85.0%), and silver (88.9%), exceeding Power Metallic's most optimistic estimates for recovery prior to this test work.
As previously reported, the copper mineralization at Lion is contained within coarse grained chalcopyrite and cubanite and copper was expected to respond well to conventional sulphide concentration methods. These initial metallurgical tests were designed to determine the recovery potential of the platinum group metals, gold, silver, and nickel. ...
... For the remainder of the announcement:
https://pro.ceo.ca/@newswire/power-metallic-reports-lion-zone-recoveries-of-989
Hycroft is riding the updrafts of a staggering rally in the spot silver and gold market that has seen prices soar in the past year. Even though Hycroft doesn't yet have a clear plan to mine its underground reserves, the company's stock still serves as a way for investors to buy into the precious metals boom.
"Think of it as a massive, in-ground ETF," Bank of Montreal precious metals analyst Brian Quast said in an interview. "There's a whole bunch of silver there that they might or might not be able to get out, and people really want exposure to silver right now."
Sprott, 81, who has loudly advocated for owning precious metals for decades, has emerged as one of the most prominent billionaires to notch major gains from gold and silver's bullish run. The majority of ultra-high-net-worth investors have mostly missed out, survey data shows, with family offices reporting an average allocation to precious metals of just 2% last year, according to the UBS Global Family Office Report 2025.
However, bold bets from a few tycoons including Sprott and Hong Kong-based investor Cheah Cheng Hye have reaped massive returns. ...
... For the remainder of the report:
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