A resource update for Blue Star Gold (TSXV: BAU; US-OTC: BAUFF) lifts total contained gold by almost 20% for the Ulu project that’s located near the Ottawa-backed all-season Grays Bay road project.
The update outlines 2.2 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 7.87 grams gold per tonne for 558,000 contained oz., which lowers ounces in those categories by 2% from a 2023 resource but raises the grade by 12%, Blue Star reported Thursday.
Inferred resources more than double to 3.2 million tonnes at 4.54 grams gold for 476,000 oz., a 57% rise in contained gold, while total contained yellow metal rose by 18%. Ulu is about 210 km southeast of the Nunavut hamlet of Kugluktuk and 525 km northeast of Yellowknife, N.W.T.
“This updated mineral resource estimate highlights the strength and growth potential of the Ulu gold project amid strong gold prices and ongoing support for the proposed Grays Bay Road and Port Project,” Blue Star CEO Grant Ewing said in a release. “This potential is supported by numerous high-quality exploration targets across the company’s extensive land package.”
Top three projects
Blue Star’s update now puts Ulu in the top ranks of junior gold explorers by contained ounces and grade in Nunavut. Ulu sits just 1,500 metres from the location of the proposed Grays Bay all-season road.
Company shares gained 2% to 25¢ apiece on Thursday morning in Toronto, valuing the Blue Star at $39.2 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of 8¢ to 34¢.
Grade winner
By measured and indicated grades among juniors in the territory, Ulu ranks number one, ahead of the 7.85 grams gold for Fury Gold Mines’ (TSX, NYSE: FURY) Committee Bay/Three Bluffs project and 2 grams gold for private explorer BG Gold’s Whale Cove project.
By contained gold, Ulu ranks third in Nunavut behind BG’s 2.4 million oz. and Fury’s 1.2 million ounces.
Envisioned as an open pit and underground project, Ulu’s three zones of Flood, NTK and NFN could be co-processed and achieve gold recoveries higher than 90%, Blue Star said.
All-season access
The Grays Bay Road and Port Project (GBRP), whose sole proponent is West Kitikmeot Resources (WKR), would comprise a deepwater port on the Arctic Ocean, an airstrip and a 230-km all-season road that would run through Nunavut and into the Northwest Territories. The corridor is designed to connect the Izok zinc and High Lake copper deposits in Nunavut – as well as diamond, base metal and gold projects like Ulu – with the Grays Bay port.
The GBRP is to be complemented by the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor (AESC), a 400-km all-season road that would connect the N.W.T. with the GBRP and whose proponents are the Tłı̨chǫ, Dene and Northwest Territories governments. Prime Minister Mark Carney added both initiatives to the Major Projects Office in March.
Natural Resources Canada on Wednesday conditionally earmarked up to $50 million for the GBRP through the First and Last Mile infrastructure fund.
Utilities and infrastructure company Atco (TSX: ACO.X) announced in March a $10 million (US$7.2 million) investment for a 40% stake in WKR. West Kitikmeot and the NWT government estimate the two projects will cost at least $2 billion combined.
Construction could start in 2028 and be open to traffic by 2035, West Kitikmeot says. AESC’s backers haven’t yet given a construction timeline for their project.
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