Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Wallbridge Mining (TSX: WM) has released a first resource estimate for its flagship Fenelon gold project and an updated resource estimate for its Martiniere project, both located in the Detour-Fenelon gold trend in northern Abitibi, Quebec.
Wallbridge’s president and CEO, Marz Kord, says the estimates demonstrate that Fenelon continues to grow from a small, high-grade deposit into a potential multi-million ounce deposit with an open pit and underground mine, while the updated resource estimate for Martiniere bolsters the company’s belief that it could also become a significant new gold deposit.
“These two gold deposits remain open in multiple directions laterally and at depth indicating significant potential for expansion,” Kord said in a press release. “Our next step is additional drilling to add to these resources prior to proceeding with an economic study and to identify new mineralization elsewhere on the Detour-Fenelon gold trend.”
Fenelon, 75 km northwest of Matagami, has an indicated open pit resource of 28.1 million tonnes grading 1.45 grams gold per tonne for 1.3 million oz. contained gold, and an inferred resource of 22.1 million tonnes grading 1.18 grams gold per tonne for 841,400 ounces. The project’s underground indicated resource stands at 7.9 million tonnes grading 3.23 grams gold per tonne for 819,300 oz. gold, with an inferred resource of 6.9 million tonnes grading 2.83 grams gold per tonne for 626,000 ounces.
At Martiniere, 30 km west of Fenelon, the updated indicated pit resource measures 6.6 million tonnes grading 2 grams gold per tonne for 422,800 ounces gold and the inferred resource is 1.4 million tonnes grading 1.81 grams gold per tonne for 81,900 ounces gold. The indicated underground resource at Martiniere is 957,500 tonnes grading 3.93 grams gold per tonne for 120,900 oz. gold and inferred resources stand at 1.4 million tonnes grading 3.95 grams gold per tonne for 174,300 ounces.
The resource estimate for Fenelon was based on 1,040 recent and historical holes totalling about 358,000 metres, including 650 holes (292,000 metres) that Wallbridge drilled since acquiring the property from Balmoral Resources in 2016. The updated estimate for Martiniere was based on 111 recent and historical drill holes totalling over 40,000 metres.
Wallbridge owns 100% of both projects.
“The resource estimate marks the first significant measure of the scale of Fenelon,” Andrew Mikitchook, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, commented in a research note. “Overall we were expecting visibility on 2-5 million ounces of mineralization and the initial resource clearly approaches the upper limit of that range.”
At presstime Wallbridge was trading at C48¢ within a 52-week range of C47¢ to C92¢. The company has 817 million common shares outstanding for a market cap of C$388 million.
BMO’s Mikitchook has a target price on Wallbridge of C$1 per share and an outperform rating on the company.
(This article first appeared in The Northern Miner)
