Wallbridge raises $6.2 million for Quebec gold exploration
Wallbridge Mining Company Limited [WM-TSX, WC7-FWB] has raised $6.2 million from a non-brokered private placement of flow-through shares. With the net proceeds, the company said it expects to have a year-end cash balance of $20 million, which (based on preliminary budgeting) is sufficient to finance the 2025 exploration program at the company’s Detour-Fenelon gold property in Quebec.
The private placement consisted of 22.9 million national flow-through (FT) common shares and 48.8 million Quebec flow-through common shares. The national FT shares were issued at a price of $0.08. The Quebec FT shares were issued at a price of $0.09.
Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (AEM-TSX, AEM-NYSE) subscribed for 8.59 million common shares for aggregate proceeds of $601,919. The Agnico-Eagle (AEM) private placement closed concurrently with the FT share private placement and was undertaken pursuant to certain participation rights set out in a pre-existing participation agreement between the company and a predecessor of Agnico-Eagle. The AEM shares will be issued at a price of $0.07.
On Friday, Wallbridge was unchanged at $0.06. The shares trade in a 52-week range of 12 cents and $0.06.
Wallbridge’s most advanced projects, Fenelon gold and Martiniere gold, incorporate a combined 3.05 million ounces of indicated gold resources and 2.35 million ounces of inferred gold resources. Fenelon and Martiniere are located within an 830-square-kilometre exploration land package in the northern Abitibi region of Quebec. Martiniere is located 30 kilometres west of Fenelon.
A 2023 preliminary economic assessment for Detour-Fenelon -forsees average annual gold production of 212,000 ounces over 12.3 years at an all-in-sustaining cost of US$924 an ounce, generating average annual free cash flow of $157 million over the life of the mine.
Initial capital expenditures are estimated at $645 million, with sustaining capital expenditures of $594 million. The after-tax net present value is pegged at $1,070-million at a spot price of US$1,950.
The PEA is based on the 2023 Fenelon deposit mineral resource estimate. Total indicated resources currently stand at 21.6 million tonnes at 3.40 g/t gold or 2.37 million ounces. On top of that is an inferred resource of 18.5 million tonnes of grade 2.89 g/t gold or 1.722222 million ounces.
In 2024, Wallbridge said it was planning to complete 5,000 metres of exploration drilling at Fenelon with a focus on testing gold mineralization in the vicinity of the PEA mine design where there is potential to improve the project’s overall economics.
The Martiniere project is 45 kilometres east of the Detour Lake mine operated by Agnico-Eagle. In January, 2023, the company announced an updated mineral resource of 684,300 ounces of gold (indicated) and 632,300 ounces gold (inferred).
Drilling at Martiniere this year was scheduled to be carried out in two phases, including 7,500 metres in Phase 1 and 5,500 metres in Phase 2.