Soho’s sunny results can’t thaw icy market

VANCOUVER — Like many other juniors, Soho Resources (SOH-V, SHRJF-O) continues to receive a chilly reaction from the market on the release of decent drill results.

Reporting on its latest 15 holes from Tahuehueto, a property 175 km by road from Tepehuanes in Mexico’s Durango State, Soho dropped 1 to close at 7.

“It’s been murder what’s happened to our share price,” Soho president Ralph Shearing says.

Its best numbers include 12 near-surface metres in hole 193 of the El Creston zone grading 2.76 grams gold per tonne, 42.92 grams silver per tonne, 0.26% copper, 1.37% lead and 1.31% zinc and another 7.1 metres grading 1.04 grams gold, 41.8 grams silver, 0.5% copper, 2.25% lead and 1.45% zinc in hole 204 (true widths).

Soho acquired the property in 1997 and to date, the company has drilled more than 200 holes — all since 2005, after metal prices began picking up from the late 1990s doldrums.

The drilling culminated in a resource estimate released in June. Tahuehueto weighed in at 6.4 million tonnes grading 1.34 grams gold, 31 grams silver, 0.24% copper, 0.78% lead and 1.43% zinc.

But market reaction to the inferred resource has been less than stellar. Since releasing it, Soho has dropped 5.5.

Shearing boils that reaction down to bad timing and investors’ unfulfilled expectations.

“The numbers aren’t as high as the market wants to see,” he says, adding that releasing a resource estimate as the market was going south this summer didn’t help matters.

With its infill and stepout program completed, Shearing hopes the latest results will go towards putting out an upgraded resource by the end of this year or the beginning of next.

Ultimately, he says Soho needs more funding to keep the project moving ahead. To that end, patience is part of the plan.

“I think we can weather the storm and get to a better market,” he says.