McEwen Mining to speed up Timmins exploration program

McEwen said the funds raised would be used exclusively for a 2018 exploration program, primarily at the Black Fox property, which it bought in August for $35 million from Primero Mining Corp.

Deep direction exploration drilling, said the miner, is already underway at Black Fox, which currently hosts resources to a depth of 880 metres.

Other targets include areas around the Froome and Grey Fox deposits, located 800 metres to the west and four kilometres to the south of Black Fox Mine.

In the last two years, Rob McEwen — one of the gold’s industry’s best-known bulls — has been aggressively working on expanding his company, which already has producing mines in Mexico, Argentina and most recently also in Ontario, Canada.

His goal is to take McEwen Mining to the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which groups the 500 largest companies that list either in the NYSE or NASDAQ.

In April, the Canadian resources magnate McEwen told MINING.com he was giving himself two-to-three years to make that happen through a combination of organic growth in production as well as mergers and acquisitions.

The company has been moving in the right direction. In April, it acquired junior exploration company Lexam VG, which gave McEwen access to mineral properties in advanced exploration stage in the heart of Timmins Gold Camp, northern Ontario. And in October, it completed the acquisition of Black Fox.