Raymond James keeps “outperform” rating on Batero Gold

Batero Gold Corp. (CVE:BAT) snagged coverage from capital markets firm Raymond James, which has maintained its “outperform” rating on the junior explorer.

Raymond James has set a target price of $1.45 per share, up from its current trading price of 43 cents per share.

The capital markets company said it sees “significant exploration and development potential” on the Quinchia property.

Batero is a junior gold-copper exploration and development company focused on the 100 per cent owned Quinchia project in Colombia.
It has identified three gold-copper porphyry deposits and released an initial resource estimate for the Quinchia deposit in early 2012.
Raymond James added that it “believes Batero is heading in the right direction” as it focuses on higher grade, lower strip and open pit potential at the La Cumbre deposit.

The capital markets firm also noted that Batero has sufficient funds to carry on with the 2012 and 2013 work program at La Cumbre.

The work program includes 6,000 metres of drilling, metallurgical testing, geotechinical studies as well as environmental studies in a bid to expand existing resources.  

The project has an initial resource estimate of 3.5 million ounces of indicated gold and 2.6 million ounces of inferred gold. The open pit resource estimate is based on a 0.16 grams per tonne (g/t) cut off, with 70 per cent of the project remaining unexplored.

Raymond James added that the La Cumbre deposit, with the combination of oxide potential and low strip potential, makes it the most attractive of the three porphyry deposits.

Batero is a Canada-based exploration company focused on the exploration and development of its mineral property interest in Colombia.

Its stock jumped 7.50 per cent touching 43 cents per share on the TSX Venture Exchange Tuesday late afternoon.