Founders Metals stock surges to new high on Antino drill results
The new results are highlighted by another high-grade interval of 6 metres at 5.31 g/t gold.
Quebec’s historical Chibougamau mining district, located within the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt, is attracting renewed attention. Against a background of lackluster gold prices and generally low levels of exploration activity worldwide, one of the most recent market-dominating announcements came from the Monster Lake joint venture among IAMGOLD Corp. (50%), TomaGold Corp. (45%), and Quinto Real (5%). While exploration is still at an early stage and has yet to produce a resource estimate, recent drilling by the joint venture has identified significant gold mineralization in numerous holes, including 9.07 meters grading 11.55 g/t and 11.3 meters grading 8.65 g/t.
There are two operating mines within a 150-kilometer radius of Monster Lake and numerous projects at various stages of development — 14 of which recently reported significant drill results.
As SNL data shows, 70 significant drill intervals have been reported from six of the 14 projects in the first five months of 2014, down from 100 intervals in the comparable period for 2013 but up from 40 intervals in 2012. Among the projects, Monster Lake is unique as the only one affiliated with a major gold producer.
After initial drilling in the 1980s, Monster Lake was inactive until Stellar Pacific Ventures completed a 46-hole 5,187-meter diamond drill program in 2010 and 2011. In 2011, Stellar transferred ownership of the project to TomaGold, which completed an 18-hole, 2,420-meter program in 2011 and 2012 and a 15-hole, 5,000-meter program in 2013. In late 2012, TomaGold formed a joint venture with Quinto Real, with TomaGold as operator. In November 2013, IAMGOLD agreed to earn a 50% interest in Monster Lake by spending C$16 million on exploration at the project over five years and paying TomaGold C$1.6 million in cash.
Several nearby properties also recently reported prospective drill results. At Eagle Hill Exploration Corp.‘s Windfall Lake project, located 87 kilometers southwest of Monster Lake, highlights to date in 2014 include 37.3 meters grading 11.2 g/t of gold, 17 meters grading 4.5 g/t of gold, 22 meters grading 3.3 g/t of gold and 7.8 meters grading 415.7 g/t of gold. Eagle Hill published an NI 43-101 report in April, including the latest resource estimate outlining an inferred resource of 5.5 million tonnes grading 8.4 g/t of gold for 1.5 million ounces of gold.
At the Nelligan project, located 15 kilometers south of Monster Lake, Vanstar Mining Resources Inc. published initial results the day after IAMGOLD and TomaGold released Monster Lake’s latest results, including 31.75 meters grading 1.16 g/t of gold, 33 meters grading 1.05 g/t of gold, 19.6 meters grading 2.34 g/t of gold, and 51 meters grading 1.01 g/t of gold; these results follow a number of similar intersections at Nelligan reported in 2013.
Other notable projects include:
* Metanor Resources Inc.‘s Bachelor Lake mine, which has been consistently encountering significant results and resumed commercial production in November 2013 following a 24-year hiatus.
* Nyrstar NV‘s wholly owned Langlois zinc-silver-copper-gold mine, located 149 kilometers west of Monster Lake, which produced 36,000 tonnes of zinc, 2,000 tonnes of copper and 524,000 ounces of silver in 2013 from 2011 reserves as well as resources totaling 6.6 million tonnes grading 9.3% zinc, 44.8 g/t of silver, 0.58% copper and 0.1 g/t of gold.
* BonTerra Resources Inc.‘s Eastern Extension project, where significant results in 2011 included 160.7 meters grading 0.73 g/t of gold and 15.3 meters grading 14.85 g/t of gold. The project has inferred resources containing 492,000 ounces of gold (based on a 2012 NI 43-101 estimate); however, Bonterra has not raised sufficient funds to resume drilling.
* Cogitore Resources Inc.‘s Scott Lake deposit, discovered in 2007 and hosting inferred resources of 5.45 million tonnes of base metals ore valued at more than US$1 billion, based on SNL estimates. There has been no work on the property since 2012.
Following up on their recent success at Monster Lake, IAMGOLD and TomaGold announced plans for a further 8,000 meters of drilling in 2014, while Eagle Hill and Metanor continue to raise funds for exploration at Windfall Lake and Bachelor Lake, respectively. In addition, following the release of Monster Lake’s latest results,Bold Ventures Inc. and Northern Superior Resources Inc. reached an agreement for the Lac Surprise project, located 10 kilometers southwest of Monster Lake, whereby Bold can earn a 60% working interest by spending C$2 million on exploration at the project over three years and issuing 350,000 shares to Northern Superior.
With the positive results at Monster Lake and nearby projects, there is reason to believe that 2014 may be another strong year for exploration in the Chibougamau district.
* “Significant drill results” include precious and base metals exploration results (that meet a specified grade-interval cutoff) announced by junior and intermediate companies as reported in SNL’s online database.
