The Miner's Mucker's Dozen, Quebec's companies to watch in 2021
The Mining Life Online 2021 hot prospects
Follow these companies and more from Central Canada’s Daily Mining News Website.
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It’s considered one of the best jurisdictions on the planet with a long history of mining success. Quebec produces 1/3 of Canada’s annual gold output. If you’re looking for precious or base metals in Quebec, your chances of attracting investors is “kicked up a notch” as the famous chef Emeril Lagasse is fond of saying thanks to favourable government tax incentives and an abundance of suppliers and experienced miners.
Northern Quebec has been mined for more than a century and there are plenty of companies and investors who believe there’s another hundred years of discoveries in motion.
Here, in alphabetical order are Mining Life’s top 12 picks of companies with a brief description on each one of them. These along with others are the ones to watch in Quebec, we call it “The Miner’s Mucker’s Dozen”.
(1) Amex Exploration Inc.
The company is focused on its 100%-owned Perron gold project 110 kilometres north of Rouyn Noranda. With nearly $12 million in the bank thanks to a fresh round of financing in the fall of 2020, the company is planning 300,000 metres of drilling throughout 2021.
East Perron sits in the Chicobi Deformation Zone, which historically was largely regarded as a base metals area. Amex proved them wrong. The company has made several high-grade discoveries on their 4500-hectare property.
Amex hit the exploration sweet-spots in several holes, including 56.75 g/t gold over 8.50 metres with higher grade sections,16.48 g/t gold over 14.60 metres with higher grade sections, and 23.95 g/t gold over 2.70 metres.
(2) Falco Resources
A computer-generated concept of Falco Resources’ planned Horne 5 gold mine in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec.
Falco Resources is looking for copper and they hope to start up the Horne 5 project below the past-producing Horne deposit in Rouyn-Noranda - and they have some big backers, including Osisko Gold Royalties and Glencore Canada.
A feasibility study in 2017 on development at Horne 5 outlined a 15-year, 16,000-tonne-per-day bulk operation, producing an annual average of 219,000oz. gold over the life-of-mine. That study says the underground operation would produce 229 million pounds of copper, a billion pounds zinc and 26.3 million oz. of silver over 15 years.
Enter Glencore which put $10 million into the project through a senior secured convertible debenture bridge, along with life-of-mine copper and zinc concentrate offtake agreements. Falco also entered into a binding term sheet on a silver stream with Osisko Gold Royalties.
(3) Globex Mining
Globex Mining Enterprises is busy grabbing as much property in Quebec as they can. Globex is a project generator and mineral property bank whose strategy includes property acquisition and exploration, and preparing projects for option, joint venture or sale, in exchange for long-term royalty arrangements.
In September, one of Globex’s stable of properties Radisson Mining, hit high grades on the Kewagama Gold Mine portion of the O’Brien project. Globex holds a 2% net smelter royalty on that part of the O’Brien property. The intercepts included 2.1 metres of 45.86 grams gold per tonne and 2.2 metres of 17.9 grams gold.
In July, Globex sold 91 claims, totalling 49.6 sq. km, 80 km north of Chibougamau, to Troilus Gold. These claims allowed Troilus to continue assembling a land package south and southeast of the past-producing Troilus mine. In exchange, Troilus paid Globex 350,000 Troilus shares and granted the company a 2% gross metal royalty.
(4) Iamgold
Iamgold is quickly becoming a hot topic for investment advisors and institutional investors – to put it mildly, they like what they see. The company has three mines including Westwood in Quebec, Rosebel in Suriname, Essakane in Burkina Faso and of course, Cote Lake south of Timmins.
Westwood production was interrupted in late October 2020 after the mine experienced a seismic event. The company temporarily layed off 70% of its workforce in November, or about 440 employees. IAMGOLD has been busy exploring other projects in Quebec, looking to feed the Westwood processing site with material from satellite prospects and custom feed. The company is targeting commercial production at Cote by second half of 2023.
(5) Midland Exploration
Midland Exploration is exploring several projects in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of northern Quebec and it refuses to do most of them alone. The company has several gold prospects along the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Quebec, including the Larder Lake Cadillac, the Porcupine-Destor Faults, the Casa-Berardi and the Detour Trend.
Midland likes the joint venture model and has agreements with BHP Canada, Agnico Eagle Mines, Wallbridge Mining Company, Probe Metals, Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd., Abcourt Mines, SOQUEM and Nunavik Mineral Exploration Fund.
Midland has no debt and $13.5 million in cash. A significant part of exploration costs are underwritten by joint venture partners.
(6) Monarch Gold
Monarch Gold’s Beaufor Mine, northeast of Val-d’Or, Québec. By the time Mining Life readers pick up this magazine, Monarch Gold is likely to be part of Yamana Gold Inc. Yamana made a $200 million offer in late 2020 that would see the producer take over all of Monarch’s assets including the company’s flagship asset, Wasamac, which is currently in the permitting stage.
Wasamac’s 21.8 sq. km lies 15 km west of Rouyn-Noranda. A 2018 feasibility study concluded Wasamac is a 6,000 tonne-per-day, 11-year underground mine and produce 142,000 gold oz. annually.
More interestingly, in May of 2020, Monarch entered into a memorandum of understanding with Glencore, on the potential use of Glencore’s Kidd concentrator in Timmins, to treat Wasamac ore.
Monarch also has a 100% stake in the past-producing Beaufor Mine, 20 km north of Val-d’Or. The site was placed on care maintenance in June 2019. Monarch is looking to re-start this operation in the next 12 to 18 months.
(7) Northern Superior
Resources Inc.
Northern Superior is busy next to the big producers. The company is testing the extension of IAMGOLD’s Vanstar Nelligan deposit (3.2 million inferred ounces of gold grading 1.02 g/t gold) and whether it spills into the Northern Superior ground known as the Chapais-Chibougamau gold-copper mining camp.
In its first hole, drilling intersected a new discovery that returned 1.07 g/t gold equivalent (AuEq) over 35.5 metres, including a high-grade interval of 8.22 g/t AuEq over 2.6 metres, only 1.4 km from the westernmost step-out drill hole at Nelligan.
Northern Superior’s 100%-owned Croteau Est gold project has a NI 43-101 resource of 11.6 million tonnes, grading 1.7 g/t gold, for 640,000 ounces of gold. Intersections at this deposit include 11.06 g/t gold over 9.10 metres, 43.75 g/t gold over 2.00 metres as well as 61.24 g/t gold over 5.95 metres, including 705 g/t gold over 0.5 metres.
Northern’s 100%-owned TPK property near the Musselwhite Mine in Ontario hosts two district-scale mineral systems.
Highlights there include discovery holes (such as TPK-10-004: 25.87g/t Au over 13.45m) and the discovery of several high-grade gold-bearing boulders assaying up to 727 g/t Au, 111g/t Ag and 4.05% Cu.
(8) Probe Metals, Cadillac Break East Project
With one of the largest land packages in the Val D’or area, Probe Metals is focused on making a discovery in the prolific Quebec region. The company is targeting its Val-d’Or East project. Val D’or East covers 435 sq. km. The property includes three past-producers (Monique, Beliveau, and the Bussiere) and falls along the famous Cadillac Break.
In 2019, Probe produced an updated resource estimate, with measured and indicated resources of 14.6 million tonnes, grading 1.85 gpt, and an estimate of 866,300 ounces. Additional inferred resources stand at 37.9 million tonnes, at 1.96 grams gold, for a further 2.4 million oz. of gold.
In October Probe announced they hit near-surface gold mineralization around existing resources, as well as two new gold zones around the Pascalis trend. Just prior to that, Probe announced high-grade gold intercepts from expansion drilling at the wholly owned Monique property.
A month earlier, the company released results from the Courvan area at Val-d’Or East – intercepts included 7 metres of 8.8 grams gold and 4.4 metres of 10.3 grams gold.
(9) Troilus Gold
Troilus Gold’s flagship gold project in Quebec, with land holdings totalling over 1,000 sq. km, Troilus Gold is the largest mineral claims holder in the underexplored Frotet-Evans greenstone belt in Quebec. Troilus is hoping to re-start the Troilus gold project.
Troilus released a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in the fall of 2020 for the project. The PEA outlined a 22-year, 35,000 tonne-per-day open pit and underground operation, with an average of 220,000 gold oz. annually over its first five years. Troilus plans to deliver a pre-feasibility study this year.
In October, Troilus reported regional exploration results including samples from a new target, Testard, 10 km south of the main resource area. Those results included 203 grams gold, 2,440 grams silver and 4.37% copper; 54.2 grams gold; and 31.5 grams gold and 13.4 grams silver. At the time, Troilus said the results included “the highest in-situ gold grades recovered to date within the Frôtet-Evans Greenstone belt.”
(10) Vanstar Mining
After prospecting and sampling at its Quebec property in 2020 – which led to the discovery of four new gold showings, Vanstar Mining plans to start mapping, stripping and drilling this year at the Nelligan, Felix and Amanda projects.
Nelligan, the most advanced holding, covers 58 sq. km, and is under an earn-in option to joint venture agreement with IAMGOLD. The site, 60 km west of Chibougamau, includes a mineral deposit with 96.9 million inferred tonnes, at 1.02 grams gold, approximately 3.2 million ounces.
IAMGOLD holds a 75% interest in Nelligan, and Vanstar holds the remaining 25% stake. IAMGOLD can acquire an additional 5% interest, by completing a feasibility study.
In June of 2020 IAMGOLD announced exploration results from Nelligan, which suggested potential for a western extension of the resource. Drill highlights included 27 metres of 2.86 grams gold; 25.1 metres of 1.87 grams gold; and 10.5 metres of 10.5 grams gold.
(11) Wesdome Gold Mines, Kiena Mine Complex
The 65-sq/km Kiena complex has been on care and maintenance since 2013 but Wesdome hopes to restart soon and when they do, the mine is expected to operate at least eight years. Kiena contains a permitted, 2,000 tonne per day mill, a 930-metre shaft, and a ramp system that extends down to 1,050 metres.
In early 2020, Wesdome released the results of a preliminary economic assessment on a restart of Kiena. The study outlined an eight-year operation, producing an average of 86,000 oz. annually. The initial capital cost estimate is $35 million, the after-tax net present value estimate of the development is $416 million.
Wesdome is a producer that operates the Eagle River mine 50 km east of Wawa, as well as the Kiena complex in Quebec, near Val-d’Or. This year, the company expects to generate 90,000-100,000 oz. gold.
(12) Wallbridge Mining
With a massive exploration budget for 2021, Wallbridge Mining is poised to eclipse its impressive run in 2020 that included spectacular drill intercepts from its playfully-named Tabasco and Cayenne zones in the Fenelon exploration project.
Wallbridge has the backing of Kirkland Lake Gold and financier Eric Sprott thanks largely to Fenelon’s proximity to the massive Detour Gold Mine that KL Gold purchased in late 2019.
The theory is that Fenelon is an easterly extension of the Detour complex.
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