The junior exploration and development scene is still in high gear in North America, with many juniors planning for extensive work programs in 2019 at precious and base metal projects across the Americas. Here is a look at eight such companies.
BARKERVILLE GOLD MINES
Barkerville Gold Mines (TSXV: BGM; US-OTC: BGMZF) is exploring and developing the historic Cariboo mining district of central British Columbia, where it has amassed mineral tenures covering 2,039 sq. km, collectively known as the Cariboo gold project.
The project area has a 67 km strike length and includes several past-producing placer and hard rock mines, which Barkerville says makes it “one of the most well-endowed land packages in British Columbia.”
Drillers at Barkerville Gold Mines’ Cow Mountain gold project in the Cariboo mining district of British Columbia. Credit: Barkerville Gold Mines.
The company says its brownfields exploration team is focused on developing and delineating a mineable resource within 7 km near the town of Wells, B.C., while its greenfields team is developing exploration assets throughout the remaining land package. A total of 123,000 metres was drilled on the property in 2018.
Barkerville’s operations team is focused on developing and mining the Bonanza Ledge and BC Vein deposits on Barkerville Mountain, which the company says will allow it to “generate near-term cash flow, train a local work force, keep the present mining permit active and de-risk the project through staged production growth.”
Material from these deposits would be processed at the company’s fully owned, permitted QR mill and tailings facility, located 110 km by road from Wells.
In late December, Barkerville raised $28.5 million in a private placement, and will unveil its plans for 2019 early next year.
COBALT 27 CAPITAL
Anthony Milewski’s Cobalt 27 Capital (TSXV: KBLT; US-OTC: CBLLF) has exposure to the electric vehicle (EV) revolution through cobalt streams, battery metal royalties and an inventory of physical cobalt.
In 2018, Cobalt 27 acquired the world’s first pure cobalt stream for US$300 million from Vale on the supermajor’s Voisey’s Bay nickel-copper-cobalt mine in Labrador. The stream could deliver 1.9 million lb. cobalt per year to Cobalt 27, and it will be settled in physical delivery for the mine’s life.
In June 2018, Cobalt 27 acquired a US$300 million cobalt stream for 32.6% cobalt production beginning January 1, 2021, from Vale on the Voisey’s Bay mine, including the proposed US$1.7 billion Voisey’s Bay mine underground expansion which will extend the life of mine to 2034. Cobalt 27’s Voisey’s Bay Cobalt Stream is scheduled to deliver approximately 1.9 million pounds of cobalt per year to Cobalt 27, to be settled in physical delivery for the life of the mine. Credit: Vale.
The Voisey’s Bay stream entitles Cobalt 27 to 32.6% of the mine’s finished cobalt production starting on Jan. 1, 2021, until it receives 23.8 million lb. cobalt, and 16.3% of the mine’s finished cobalt production thereafter.
Also in 2018, Cobalt 27 picked up a 1.75% net smelter return royalty (NSR) on RNC Minerals’ construction-ready Dumont nickel-cobalt project in Quebec, which includes the world’s largest undeveloped cobalt reserve, and a 2% NSR on Giga Metals’ low-grade Turnagain nickel-cobalt project in British Columbia, one of the world’s largest undeveloped, nickel-cobalt sulphide deposits in terms of total contained nickel.
Apart from the streams and royalties, Cobalt 27 has 2,906 tonnes of physical cobalt in storage, valued at $286 million in October 2018.
GARIBALDI RESOURCES
Vancouver-based Garibaldi Resources (TSXV: GGI; US-OTC: GGIFF) is a junior explorer developing assets in Mexico and British Columbia.
Garibaldi says it has used “cutting-edge technology in Mexico in recent years to cost-effectively unlock project value, build financial strength and accurately pinpoint the most prospective targets for potential new discoveries over a vast area in the deposit-rich Sierra Madre.”
Its priorities in Mexico are to advance its Rodadero silver-gold project and its La Patilla gold property.
Prospecting at Garibaldi Resources’ E&L nickel-copper property in northwestern British Columbia, from left: Jeremy Hanson, Matt Fraser and Everett Makela, vice-president of exploration. Credit: Garibaldi Resources.
Meanwhile in northwest B.C.’s Eskay camp, Garibaldi is advancing a 200 sq. km land package that includes the E&L Project at Nickel Mountain — which the company describes as the “first magmatic nickel-copper-rich massive sulphide system discovered in this prolific district.”
In a year-end release, Garibaldi president and CEO Steve Regoci said: “Not only have we made important progress in expanding the footprint of this nickel-copper-rich mineralization, but our geological understanding of this unique Eskay Camp system — from the configuration of the intrusion to the controls on mineralization — has advanced dramatically over last year. We’ll enter 2019 with working capital of approximately $15 million, which puts us in a highly favourable position to take Nickel Mountain to the next level, and fully leverage this asset for shareholders.”
METALLIS RESOURCES
Vancouver-based Metallis Resources (TSXV: MTS; US-OTC: MTLFF) is also exploring in northwestern B.C.’s Golden Triangle region, where it has its wholly owned Kirkham property, which is prospective for gold, copper, silver and nickel.
The Kirkham property is 65 km north of Stewart, B.C., and the property’s northern border is contiguous to Garibaldi Resources’ E&L Nickel Mountain project, whereas the northeast corner of Kirkham is within 12 km of the Eskay Creek mine, and the eastern border is within 15 km of Seabridge Gold’s KSM deposits and Pretium Resources’ Brucejack mine.
The Kirkham property was assembled over the years by world-renowned copper-gold expert Rodney Kirkham, and vended into Metallis.
Metallis says the property features several geological environments — magmatic sulphide, porphyry and shear vein — and has the “potential for a world-class mineral discovery.”
In November, Metallis reported that the first-ever drill program at the Cole and Nina targets totalled 1,645 metres of diamond drilling, and resulted in two porphyry system discoveries. The assays at the Cole target included a high-grade gold zone discovery containing 11.18 grams gold per tonne over 7.7 metres.
NEO LITHIUM
Waldo Perez-led Neo Lithium (TSXV: NLC; US-OTC: NTTHF) is active in South America’s Lithium Triangle. Its Tres Quebradas (3Q) lithium brine project in Argentina’s Catamarca province covers 350 sq. km, and hosts a measured and indicated resource of 714,000 tonnes lithium-carbonate equivalent at an average grade of 716 milligrams lithium per litre, plus an inferred resource of 1.34 million tonnes lithium-carbonate equivalent at an average grade of 713 milligrams lithium per litre.
Neo Lithium’s Tres Quebradas lithium project in Argentina’s Catamarca province. Credit: Neo Lithium.
The company says 3Q is one of the highest-grade lithium brine projects in the world. It has the lowest impurity content of any known salar; its salar footprint is large, at over 150 sq. km; and it is wholly owned and fully permitted.
Neo Lithium recently contracted GHD — an engineering firm with expertise in lithium brines — to complete a prefeasibility study at 3Q by first-quarter 2019. GHD completed a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for 3Q in 2017.
Neo Lithium says the decision to complete a prefeasibility study stems from the “significant technical progress achieved on many fronts post-PEA, including advancements in brine processing and engineering, and a significant increase in the size and grade of the resource estimate of the project.”
NRG METALS
A highlight for Vancouver-based NRG Metals (TSXV: NGZ; US-OTC: NRGMF) in 2018 was its October resource calculation for its Hombre Muerto North project in Argentina’s Salta and Catamarca provinces.
The new figures include 509,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and 1.6 million tonnes of potash (KCl) equivalent in the measured resource category, with another 62,000 tonnes of LCE and 231,000 tonnes KCl in the indicated category.
The average grade of lithium for the 571,000-tonne combined measured and indicated resource is 756 milligrams per litre lithium, with a low lithium to magnesium ratio of 2.6 to 1.
NRG is looking at beginning a preliminary economic assessment at the project, and expects to award a contract to do so soon.
POWER ORE
Toronto-based Power Ore (TSXV: PORE) was spun out in 2018 as an energy metals junior by Stephen Stewart’s Orefinders Resources, and in mid-December agreed to buy a full interest in the Opemiska copper mine complex from privately held Explorateurs-Innovateurs de Québec.
Power Ore describes the Opemiska copper mine complex as consisting of two past-producing underground mines in Springer and Perry, and near the town of Chapais, Quebec. Falconbridge operated the Opemiska copper mine complex from 1953 to 1991, when it produced a total of 23 million tonnes at 2.4% copper and 0.3 gram gold per tonne.
“This is a great opportunity for all stakeholders in that the Opemiska copper complex has the potential to be fast tracked, given its jurisdiction, infrastructure, location and a host of other advantages,” said Power Ore CEO Stephen Stewart in a release. “Another key point for this acquisition is Opemiska’s database, which is a proverbial gold mine of data, which we will utilize to determine the potential for an open-pit mining scenario in what was originally a high-grade, underground mine.”
STANDARD LITHIUM
Standard Lithium (TSXV: SLL; US-OTC: STLHF) had been exploring and developing its Bristol Dry Lake lithium project in the Mojave region of San Bernardino County, Calif., in recent years, but now has as its flagship the 700-plus sq. km acre Smackover project in southern Arkansas, which the company describes as the “most prolific and productive brine region in North America.”
Standard Lithium says that by securing access to the strategically important resource through agreements with the area’s largest commercial brine operators, it can use the existing infrastructure, including brine supply and disposal pipelines, water, power and a trained workforce to fast track project development timelines.
The firm says its “breakthrough rapid lithium extraction process reduces the recovery time of extracting lithium from brine from the current industry method that takes years to as little as several hours. The process is also much more environmentally friendly, with a significantly smaller foot print than the conventional processes.”
The company has an agreement to locate a demonstration-scale plant in Southern Arkansas in 2019.
Be the first to comment on "Outlook Snapshot: Eight juniors with plans for a busy 2019"