Geopolitical and economic uncertainty helped drive gold to record highs last year and many believe prices will remain elevated in 2025. Here’s a look at eight juniors with compelling gold projects in all corners of the world.
Aurion Resources
Aurion (TSXV: AU; US-OTC: AIRRF) is exploring at its pre-resource flagship Risti project in northern Finland’s Central Lapland Belt, about 10 km from the municipality of Sodankyla.
In September, Aurion released drill results from the Vanha prospect in the project’s Kaaresselka area. Highlights included 3.1 metres grading 29.1 grams gold per tonne from 20.1 metres downhole in drillhole KS24079 and 9 metres at 2.77 grams gold starting from 85.3 metres in drillhole KS24081.
Aurion also has joint venture exploration properties in the Central Lapland Belt with B2Gold (TSX: BTG; NYSE-AM: BTG). In March, Aurion and B2Gold made a new discovery called Sore in the northwest part of its joint-venture area. Sore, a blind discovery, is about 15 km east of Kaaresselka.
Intercepts at Sore included 2.4 metres of 26.45 grams gold from 104.6 metres in drillhole SOR23010; 1.05 grams gold over 40.7 metres starting from 38.4 metres in drillhole SOR23002; and 1.33 grams gold over 17.9 metres from 5.4 metres depth in SOR23001.
The JV (30% Aurion/70% B2Gold), covers 293 sq. km and includes several discoveries like Helmi (77.5 metres grading 2.05 grams gold); Kutuvuoma (11 metres at 16.47 grams); and Soretiavuoma (1.1 metres at 48 grams gold), among others.
In May, Aurion decided not to acquire B2Gold’s 70% stake in the joint venture under its right of first refusal.
Aurion also has a joint venture called Launi East with Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC). Drilling at the 23-sq.-km project has returned highlights of 0.37 metre grading 63.9 grams gold from 260.8 metres downhole in LN20014; and 0.55 metre at 8.65 grams gold from 28.4 metres in LN20042. Kinross can earn a 70% stake in the project.
Kinross also owns 9.98% of Aurion and in July opted to top up its shares to maintain its ownership stake in the junior.
Aurion Resources has a market cap of roughly $78 million.
Dryden Gold
In October, Dryden Gold (TSXV: DRY; US-OTC: DRYGF) reported the highest-grade intercept yet at its Elora target in the Gold Rock Camp in northwestern Ontario.
Drillhole KW-24-017 cut 0.55 metre at 313 grams gold, part of a broader interval of 5.7 metres at 30.72 grams gold starting from 192 metres downhole.
In March last year, the company reported an intercept of 7.5 metres at 14.1 grams gold from 206 metres in drillhole KW-24-008, including 1.4 metres grading 43.81 grams gold and 0.3 metre at 92.10 grams. Other assays of note were from drill hole KW-24-003, which returned 1 metre at 53.51 grams gold from 53.9 metres, and KW-24-01, which cut 0.33 metre grading 15.9 grams gold starting from 183 metres.
Historically, the Elora gold system hosted two mines that lie north of the current drill site. The Elora-Jubilee mine was about 300 metres to the north and the Laurentian mine about 700 metres farther. (The Laurentian mine recovered 19,950 tons at a grade of 14 grams gold down to 146 metres depth.) Both mines represent targets for Dryden’s next drill program.
In the company’s first drill program targeting the Big Master zone, drillhole KW-23-009A cut 3.2 metres grading 26.11 grams gold starting from 107.5 metres downhole, including 0.3 metre at 79.80 grams gold. The historic Big Master mine on the property was mined to a depth of 200 metres. The property hosts gold mineralization over 50 km of potential strike along the Manitou-Dinorwic deformation zone. According to the company, there has been limited exploration with only 33,200 metres of historic drilling district-wide at shallow depths.
Though the company hasn’t yet released a resource for its projects hosted in the Dryden Gold District, NexGold Mining (TSXV: NEXG; US-OTC: NXGCF) has defined a 3-million oz. low-grade resource for the district.
Dryden Gold has a market cap of roughly $17.5 million.
First Mining Gold
First Mining Gold (TSX: FF; US- OTC: FFMGF) submitted the final environmental impact statement for its Springpole gold project in northwestern Ontario last November and estimates the process should be completed by the fourth quarter of this year. It also inked a process agreement with the Cat Lake and Lac Seul First Nations for an Indigenous-led impact assessment.
Springpole, about 110 km northeast of Red Lake, is one of the largest open-pit gold projects in Canada, with 151 million indicated tonnes grading 0.94 gram gold per tonne and 5 grams silver per tonne, and 16 million inferred tonnes averaging 0.54 gram gold and 2.8 grams silver.
A prefeasibility study in January 2021 outlined a mine life of more than 11 years producing an annual average of 335,000 oz. gold during its first nine years. The study estimated a post-tax net present value (at a 5% discount rate) of US$995 million and an internal rate of return of 29% based on a gold price of US$1,600 per ounce. Initial capex was pegged at US$718 million.
In late November, the company released results from the first hole of a five-hole 2024 East Extension drilling program. The Eastern Extension target is at the southeastern boundary of the mineral resource. Highlights from drillhole SP24-007 included 1.1 metre at 6.46 grams gold and 34.87 grams silver from 50 metres in drillhole SP24-007 and 52.5 metres grading 0.83 gram gold and 8.02 grams silver starting from 303 metres downhole.
The company also recently reported drill results from its Duparquet gold project in Quebec. In the Buzz zone, highlights included 15.4 metres grading 1.55 grams gold from 475 metres downhole in drillhole DUP24-028, including 5.3 metres at 3.08 grams gold. In the North zone, DUP24-032 returned 5.7 metres at 4 grams gold from 571 metres, including 2 metres of 6.65 grams gold.
Duparquet, immediately north of the namesake town, and 50 km northwest of the city of Rouyn-Noranda, contains 183,600 measured tonnes grading 1.43 grams gold and 69 million indicated tonnes grading 1.55 grams gold. Inferred resources add 50.8 million tonnes grading 1.62 grams gold.
First Mining Gold has a market cap of about $140 million.
Kenorland Minerals
Kenorland Minerals (TSXV: KLD; US-OTC: KLDCF) holds its main, discovery-stage Frotet project, 100 km north of Chibougamau, Que. It hosts the Regnault gold system, a greenfields discovery made by Kenorland and Sumitomo Metal and Mining Canada in 2020. Kenorland staked the project in 2017 and then entered into a joint venture and earn-in agreement with Sumitomo in 2018. Earlier this year, Kenorland exchanged its 20% stake in the project for a 4% net smelter return royalty on the project.
Kenorland reported drill results in November from Frotet with highlights of 3.3 metres grading 26.67 grams gold per tonne starting from 506 metres downhole in drillhole 24RDD223, and 6.3 metres of 9.78 grams gold starting from 277.7 metres in drillhole 24RDD224.
At the corporate level, Centerra Gold (TSX: CG; NYSE: CGAU) became a strategic investor in Kenorland in May and in September topped up its shares to maintain its 9.9% stake in the company. Sumitomo also exercised its top-up right to maintain its 10.1% interest in the junior.
In other news, Sumitomo withdrew from an earn-in and joint venture exploration agreement with Kenorland at its Chicobi project in Quebec. The junior now owns the entire project.
In November, Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM; ASX: NEM) elected to enter the second stage of its agreement to potentially earn an additional 29% participating interest in Kenorland’s Chebistuan project, also in Quebec. Newmont completed its 51% earn-in during the first stage of the option agreement.
Kenorland has a market cap of about $82 million.
Lavras Gold
Lavras Gold (TSXV: LGC; US- OTC: LGCFF) has identified 24 prospects centred on historic gold workings dating to the late 1700s at its Lavras do Sul (LDS) project in southern Brazil, about 320 km from Porto Alegre, the state capital of Rio Grande do Sul.
The company reported 12 drill holes in September from its Fazenda do Posto target, situated at the western edge of the 235-sq.-km property. Gold mineralization at Fazenda begins at surface and has been traced down to a vertical depth of 400 metres. Highlights included 32 metres of 4.3 grams gold starting from 240 metres downhole in drillhole 24FP016, within a broader 59-metre interval of 2.9 grams gold from 233 metres.
Fazenda do Posto is about 150 metres west of the Butia deposit, which hosts 12.9 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.91 gram gold and 3.7 million inferred tonnes averaging 0.97 gram gold.
Drill results from Butia released in mid-2024 included 236 metres grading 1.4 grams gold from surface in drillhole 23BT019, including 1.6 grams gold over 199 metres from 37 metres downhole, and 228 metres grading 1 gram gold from surface in hole 24BT023. All seven holes intersected gold mineralization, three of which cut more than 200 metres of continuous mineralization.
Its Cerrito prospect contains 8.3 million indicated tonnes grading 0.7 gram gold and 13.2 million inferred tonnes averaging 0.69 gram gold.
Lavras Gold has a market cap of roughly $128 million.
Rua Gold
Rua Gold (TSXV: RUA; US-OTC: NZAUF) is exploring pre-resource targets in two historic gold districts in New Zealand: the Reefton Goldfield area on the South Island and the Hauraki Goldfield on the North Island.
The company holds 1,250 sq. km or 95% of the tenements in the Reefton Goldfield district, an area that started producing in 1872 and churned out about 2 million oz. ranging between 9 to 50 grams gold from underground mines in orogenic quartz vein systems.
Last November the company reported that the second drill hole into the Victoria Lode target at Reefton cut a 0.2-metre interval of 34.1 grams gold from 388 metres downhole in DD-VIC-042. At its Capleston target, the first drill hole, DD-REF-043, intersected a 12-metre zone of quartz-pyrite-arsenopyrite in the hanging wall, including a 1-metre quartz vein from 31 metres to 32 metres grading 3.86 grams gold.
Rua Gold’s other project, Glamorgan, is within 3 km of OceanaGold’s (TSX: OGC; US-OTC: OCANF) Wharekirauponga (WKP) project in the Hauraki district, which historically produced 15 mil- lion oz. grading 15 to 30 grams gold, and 60 million oz. of silver.
Based on initial surface soil geochemistry, interpreted geophysical structures and geological mapping, Rua Gold says there is preliminary evidence that Glamorgan has the hallmarks of an epithermal gold system, with features similar to OceanaGold’s WKP project. It plans to start drilling there in 2025.
Rua Gold has a market cap of about $38 million.
Vista Gold
Vista Gold (TSXV: VGZ; NYSE- AM: VGZ) released results in the fall from its stage two drill program at the Mt Todd gold project in Australia, about 250 km southeast of Darwin.
The drill program focused on the shallow portion of the South Cross Lode zone, a narrower mineralized structure adjacent to the project’s Batman deposit. Assays included 8 metres grading 1.2 grams gold from 22.5 metres downhole and 20.8 metres of 1.96 grams gold starting from 142.5 metres in drill- hole VB24-025.
Other highlights were drillhole VB24-014, which cut 9.1 metres of 3.35 grams gold from 101.8 metres, and BV24-022, which returned 4 metres grading 7.18 grams gold from 106 metres downhole, including 1 metre of 25.89 grams gold.
All major construction and operation permits have been approved.
An updated feasibility study completed in March last year forecast initial capital of about US$1 billion, a US$1.8 billion after-tax net present value (at a 5% discount rate) and an internal rate of return of 29.6%.
The study was to reflect first-quarter estimates for capital and operating costs. It used a gold price of US$1,200 per oz. and envisioned average annual gold pro- duction of 395,000 oz. at all-in sustaining costs of US$1,034 per oz. over a mine life of 16 years.
The company said it plans to update the Mt Todd resource estimate after it completes the drill program started last year, and anticipates moving forward with a new feasibility study targeting throughput in the range of 12,000 to 17,000 tonnes per day, 150,000 to 200,000 oz. of annual gold production, and an initial capex of less than US$400 million.
Vista Gold has a market cap of about $99 million.
Zodiak Gold
Zodiak Gold (TSXV: ZAU) has intercepted mineralization in 57 of the 65 holes it has drilled so far at its main Todi project in Liberia, about 13 km from the capital of Monrovia.
Highlights from its Arthington target, a 4-km-long soil anomaly with artisanal workings, include 9.6 metres grading 7.5 grams gold in drillhole ADD007 starting from 87.3 metres, and 6 metres at 10.6 grams gold in ADD004 from 55 metres. Drillhole ADD024 cut 25.9 metres of 2.1 grams gold from 93.3 metres downhole.
At the Alasala target, a 2.4-km-long by 250-metre-wide soil anomaly—also with artisanal activity— highlights include 19.6 metres of 6.17 grams gold, 6 metres at 7.69 grams gold and 9 metres of 4.6 grams gold.
The pre-resource project also has three other drill ready targets, all of which have artisanal workings. Benben is a 4.5-km-long soil anomaly where rock chips have delivered up to 255 grams gold; Youth Camp-Fehfeh, a 4-km-long soil anomaly where trench results include 30 metres of 1.04 grams gold; and Alasala South, a 3-km soil anomaly.
The project is about 20 km southeast of privately-held Avesoro Resources’ New Liberty gold mine and 30 km south of its Ndablama project.
The company recently acquired two exploration licences for the Bomi South and Bong West sites, which Zodiak says have iron ore potential. The Bong iron ore mine, owned by China Union, is adjacent to the east and Vedanta’s Bomi Hills iron mine is adjacent to the north.
Zodiak Gold has a market cap of $7 million.
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