PDAC: Getchell says third party staked on un-lapsed gold claims in Nevada

Getchell Gold (CSE: GTCH; US-OTC: GGLDF) says it’s pressing ahead with plans to release an updated resource within weeks on its Fondaway Canyon gold project in Nevada after a third party staked on existing un-lapsed claims.

The Vancouver-based junior said it is assessing legal routes after finding the staking by a private company – NV Minerals – on 120 of Getchell’s 261 claims, including the heart of the project where a pit could be located.

“In our opinion this situation is pretty cut and dry,” Getchell CEO Mike Sieb said in an interview in Toronto. “We have valid existing mining claims. Some of our claims date back over 70 years, and they’ve been in constant good standing.”

Fondaway Canyon, about 130 km east of Reno, is Getchell’s main asset. The company plans to release an updated preliminary economic assessment by the end of June. The project hosts 13.5 million indicated tonnes grading 1.49 grams gold per tonne for 648,000 oz. contained gold, according to a late 2024 resource. It also has 44.8 million inferred tonnes at 1.16 grams gold for 1.67 million oz. of the yellow metal.

Deliberate?

Shares in Getchell Gold have slipped 2¢ apiece to 31¢ since Feb. 23 when the company issued a release describing the new staking. The company has a market capitalization of $62.4 million (US$45.7 million).

While mineral claims through the counties and the federal Bureau of Land Management in Nevada are subject to strict annual filing and fee requirements, any ground that lapses can be re-staked by third parties. Getchell says that’s not the case here.

“They specifically targeted the core claims of our project,” Sieb said Sunday at his company booth at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention.

New staking on lapsed claims is not uncommon in the mining industry, sometimes over areas of active development, where large land packages and administrative oversight can occasionally result in missed deadlines. But there’s been no noticeable increase in claim jumping with gold at record prices, Rob Ghiglieri, administrator of Nevada’s Division of Minerals, said in an interview at PDAC.

“What I recommend for that company is just double check the BLM and the county that everything’s paid and up to date,” Ghiglieri said. “Then we always recommend consulting a mineral attorney at that point in time.”

However, the BLM doesn’t validate claims, Ghiglieri said. That must be done through a mineral appraiser and a potential civil suit, he said. The government could take a stronger role in preventing claim jumping, he added, but that should be done at the federal level because it controls mineral rights while the state just oversees that its counties record claims.

Even if an interloper stakes on top of an existing claim, they’re the junior claimant and nothing is valid on theirs until the first staker gets rid of its claims, the administrator said.

Ex-Argonaut Gold

State filings list David Ponczoch as CEO of NV Minerals. He was chief financial officer from 2016 to 2019 at Argonaut Gold, whose Magino mine in Ontario suffered cost overruns and was eventually acquired by Alamos Gold (TSX, NYSE: AGI in 2024.

Ponczoch was also a finance executive at Yamana Gold, which Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX, NYSE: AEM) and Pan American Silver (TSX, Nasdaq: PAAS) bought in 2022. 

Sieb, who’s normally based in Vancouver, said multiple operators developed small-scale mining on the site after a gold discovery in the mid-1970s. Getchell took control of the entire project in 2024 after optioning it in 2020. It released an initial PEA last year.

“The actions of NV Minerals does not affect us in our claim standing,” Sieb said. “It’s business as usual, and that’s what we’re trying to convey to our shareholders and potential investors.”