Lode Gold Resources creates subsidiary to vend in Canadian assets
Lode Gold Resources Inc. [TSXV-LOD; OTCQB-SBMIF] has incorporated a new wholly owned subsidiary to vend in its Canadian assets in Yukon and New Brunswick. The intention is to spin off the subsidiary into a new public vehicle. The company is actively evaluating options, either a direct listing or an RTO (reverse takeover).
In 2020, the market capitalization of Lode Gold with these Yukon and New Brunswick assets was $30 million.
The Yukon assets in the southeastern Tombstone gold belt host both a reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS) at the Win property and structurally controlled sedimentary-hosted gold mineralization at the Golden Culvert property. The Win property in Yukon has confirmed gold-bearing sheeted quartz veins in hornfels-altered rocks grading up to 8.53 g/t gold (best of three rock chip samples which also yielded 0.54 g/t Au and 0.18 g/t Au) with the geochemical signature (Au, Bi, Te) (gold, bismuth, tellurium) and zonation typical of RIRGS (gold by fire assay, multi-elements by ICP-MS, ALS Canada Ltd.).
The McIntyre Brook project in New Brunswick contains several known prospects with gold, base metals and cobalt mineralization. The project is immediately adjacent to Puma Exploration’s Williams Brook gold project which hosts several gold prospects including Lynx with its 5.55 g/t Au over 50.15-metre drill intercept.
Lode Gold continues to actively execute its restructuring and growth strategy and plans to unlock value for shareholders.
Buddy Doyle, Lode Gold’s new vice-president of exploration, was recruited to head up exploration at the new SpinCo which will be called Gold Orogen. All assets are orogenic, hence the name.
Doyle commented, “Both these assets are highly prospective – Yukon (99.5 square km) and New Brunswick (111 km2) – in excellent mineral exploration jurisdictions; our intention to put both assets into a new company will create more chances for success and therefore more value for our shareholders. I look forward to working with our management and technical team as we initiate our work program in the next few months.”
Its Golden Culvert and Win projects in Yukon, covering 99.5 km2 across a 27-km strike length, are situated in a district-scale, high-grade-gold-mineralized trend within the southern portion of the Tombstone gold belt. Gold deposits and occurrences within the belt include Fort Knox, Pogo, Brewery Creek and Dublin Gulch as well as Snowline Gold’s Valley target on its Rogue property in the Selwyn basin.
Its McIntyre Brook project in New Brunswick, covering 120 km2 and a 17-km strike length in the emerging Triple Fault gold belt, is surrounded by Puma Exploration’s Williams Brook project (5.55 g/t gold over 50 metres) and is hosted by orogenic rocks of similar age and structure as New Found Gold’s Queensway project.
The company is also advancing its Fremont gold development project in the historic Mother Lode gold belt of California, where 50 million ounces of gold have been produced. Fremont, located approximately 500 km north of Equinox Gold’s Castle Mountain and Mesquite mines, has a preliminary economic assessment with an after-tax net present value (NPV) (discounted at 5%) of US$217 million, a 21% internal rate of return (IRR) and an 11-year life of mine (LOM), averaging 118,000 ounces/annum at US$1,750 of gold. A sensitivity to the March 31, 2023, PEA at US$2,000 per ounce gold gives an after-tax NPV (discounted at 5%) of US$370 million and a 31% IRR over an 11-year LOM.
The project hosts a NI 43-101 resource of 1.16 million ounces at 1.90 g/t Au within 19 million tonnes indicated and 2.02 million ounces at 2.22 g/t Au within 28.3 million tonnes inferred. The mineral resource estimate evaluates only 1.4 km of the 4-km strike length of the Fremont property that features four gold-mineralized zones.
Significantly, three step-out holes at depth hit structure, typical of orogenic deposits, which often occur at depth. Fremont is located on private land in Mariposa, the original gold rush county, and is 1.5 hours from Fresno, California. The property has year-round road access and is close to airports and rail.