Graycliff Drills Bonanza Grade Gold at Shakespeare Project

By Peter Kennedy

Graycliff Exploration Ltd. [GRAY-CSE, GRYCF-OTCQB, GEO-FSE] is a company that offers investors a window on an Ontario gold exploration strategy that is led by management team with a long and impressive track record of discovery.

Director Bruce Durham was a key member and leader of various exploration teams credited with the discovery of several significant mineral deposits including the David Bell and Golden Giant gold mines in Hemlo, Ontario and the Redstone Nickel and Bell Creek gold mines in Timmins, Ont. He also worked for two of Canadian mining’s most iconic figures, promoter Murray Pezim and Hemlo prospector Don McKinnon.

Working with Chairman James Macintosh, who is also a geologist, Durham is focused on finding high grade gold near surface and across an identified favourable horizon of over the six kilometres of property at the former Shakespeare gold mine roughly 88 kilometres west of Sudbury on the Canadian Shield. Operating from 1903 to 1907 it produced 2,959 ounces of gold from six underground stoped areas.

During the years that the mine was in production, the Shakespeare Gold Mining Co. drove an 18-metre-long tunnel and a 91 metre long adit into the mineralized ridge. A 96 metre shaft with six levels at 15 metre intervals was also completed.

In 2019, Graycliff secured an option to acquire a 100% interest in the property from a group of vendors that included the wife of Don McKinnon’s son, Don Jr. (who is a technical advisor to Graycliff).

When exploration began in September 2020, the company was working on the theory that there is a much larger gold system at depth below the previously mined areas and trending for a significant distance across the property to the northeast.

Since then, Graycliff has picked up more ground expanding its land position from 1,366 hectares from 517 hectares. Over the four phases of drilling completed between 2020 and 2022, Graycliff drilled 61 holes totalling more than 12,500 metres. A total of 38 of the 61 holes had gold mineralized intervals and 40% of those 38 holes included sightings of visible gold.

At the end of 2023, the company completed three large diameter drill holes designed to collect material for a metallurgical study designed to provide further information about the recoverability of the gold mineralization at the Shakespeare project.

The dominant rock types on the property are metasedimentary rocks of the Matinenda Formation and intercalated mafic metavolcanic rocks. The mineralization is hosted by strongly sheared quartzite and quartz sericite schist. Gold occurs as native gold with some increase in total sulphide content and quartz veining within the overall shear zone.

In a press release on June 2, 2026, the company said it had received the results from the first of three metallurgical drill holes drilled using large diameter HQ Core. Designated as Hole A, the hole returned an extremely high grade, 7.0 metre interval grading 454.34 g/t gold at a depth of 123 metres. The company also said it anticipates receipt of assay results from the remaining two metallurgical test holes in the coming weeks as it begins to reactivate work on the Shakespeare project.

“While we drilled this hole in the vicinity of earlier gold-bearing drill intervals, the gold values in this intersection are clearly well beyond our expectations,’’ said Macintosh. “The amount of visible gold shows the strength of the mineralizing event at Shakespeare,” he said. “These results are extremely encouraging and while we recognize at the end of the day it is all about ‘average grade’, extremely high-grade intersections like these enhance the overall average.’’ Results from Hole A include 1.0 metre of ultra high grade mineralization grading 3030.00 g/t gold from a depth of 124.0 to 125 metres.

In the June 2, 2026, press release that announced the very high-grade assay results , the company stated that it was from the core, pulp and related materials from the three holes that were drilled but not paid for in 2023.  The company purchased those materials and settled other debts in March 2026 to the vendors and others for  2.3 million common shares that were priced at 14 cents per share.

The company said it will us analytical data as well as sample material from the three HQ sized drill holes as the basis for initial mineralogical investigations, mineral extraction analysis and for initial mineral concentration studies. These studies will help provide the company with data and parameters to help formulate plans for a program of bulk sampling at the project, which is located just off the Trans Canada Hwy. Durham  said the project’s proximity to infrastructure, and other mining operations in northeastern Ontario means there is no shortage of companies that have the capacity to process bulk sample material from the Company’s Shakespeare project.

With the significant increase in gold prices in the past year, particularly in Canadian dollars, the company has embarked on a program to re-evaluate all of the project data, including data from the historic mine workings, field sampling, channel sampling and the four phases of drilling in additional to the three metallurgical drill holes.

Upon receipt of the results of this review work, including the results of the metallurgical holes, the company will be in a position to synthesize a better understanding of the extent of the gold mineralization in the context of the current gold price environment. The company will also be developing new models for exploration targets in advance of follow-up drilling to expand and better define the known gold mineralization away from the historic mining area.

Macintosh said the company has spent about $6.0 million on exploration on the project so far, an amount that is roughly equal to the company’s current market cap. On June 17, the shares were trading at 35.5 cents in a 52-week range of 51 cents and $0.015.

The company’s exploration effort will be enhanced by proceeds from a non-brokered private placement offering of up to 8.0 million units priced at 35 cents per unit that could raise up to $2.8 million.   Under the terms of the offering, each unit will consist of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional share at an exercise price of 55 cents for 12 months from the date of issuance and includes a provision that the warrants may not be exercised for a period of 60 days from the date of issuance.

Proceeds will be used to fund drilling near the mine shaft and for drilling on other regional targets. Graycliff provides investors with experienced highly successful management, high grade gold mineralization, a market cap that barely matches the money invested to date in the project and upside at both the historic mine site and across the project.