iMetal Resources Inc. (IMR:TSX.V; ADTFF:OTCBB) holds about a half-dozen projects in Ontario and Quebec, with Gowganda West in northern Ontario in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt—and about 90 km southwest of the Timmins Gold Camp—its chief focus. The property abuts Caldas Gold Corp.'s Juby Gold project where an October 2020 technical report estimated a resource of 773,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 1.13 grams per tonne (g/t) in the Measured and Indicated category and 1.488 million ounces at 0.98 g/t in the Inferred category.
iMetal, after staking the land and growing the project from 20 sq kilometers to 147 sq kilometers, set to explore it. "After discovering some rocks with gold and grab samples, we did VTEM magnetics late in 2019 over 40% of the property," Director Johan Grandin told Streetwise Reports. "The VTEM survey identified the potential strike extension of the shear zone hosting the Juby deposit and also two parallel shear zones to the south hosting Zone 1 and Zone 3." Surface samples have returned values as high as 56.6 g/t gold.
Several years ago iMetal drilled seven holes, concentrating in a limited area of Zone 1, with one hole drilled well to the east of Zone 3. Highlight drill intersections included 2.95 g/t Au over 2.5 meters, 1.43 g/t Au over 4.6 meters and longer intervals of 0.37 g/t Au over 29.4 meters and 0.32 g/t Au over 30.25 meters.
The company conducted a sampling program in 2020 to test areas peripheral to Zones 1 and 3, and just-released assays have led to the discovery of new gold mineralization that extends Zone 1 some 500 meters to the north, and open in both directions, and the discovery of a new zone 150 meters northeast of Zone 1, which, according to the company, may be an extension of the zone or a parallel zone. The Zone 1 samples included 5.13 g/t gold and five of the seven samples returned assays above 1 g/t gold.
The exploration work also resulted in the discovery of a new zone, the Elkhorn Zone, 8 km southwest of Zone 1, with sampling returning values as high as 2.32 gold.
"The newly discovered gold mineralization both extends the open-ended Zone 1 and suggests further extension or a parallel structure and further supports Gowganda West being related to the Juby mineralizing event," stated iMetal CEO Saf Dhillon. "The newly discovered Elkhorn Zone gives the company a third area of exploration focus to further develop as a drill target."
The company now plans shortly to begin a phase 1 2021 drill program based off of the results of the IP survey and grab and channel samples. "We are permitted from the First Nations and the government for all drilling," Grandin said.
"We plan to drill Zone 1 in Q1 and conduct follow-up sampling and channel sampling in advance of Q2 drilling at the Elkhorn Zone. We expect to have news on drilling shortly," Dhillon stated.
"We have a pretty exciting project, and it's definitely a hot area play," Dhillon said. "We have one of the largest land packages; we have one of the best addresses."
iMetal has some noteworthy neighbors. Caldas Gold Corp. was the recipient of a CA$14 million investment by Gran Colombia Gold Corp. in June 2020. Caldas used the funds to complete the purchase of South American Resources Corp., holder of a 100% interest in the Juby project and a 25% joint venture interest in some claims adjoining Juby. In November, Caldas announced a CA$85 million private placement financing with Aris Gold Corp. The deal will result in changing Caldas Gold's name to Aris Gold Corp. as well as management and board of director changes. Gran Colombia is expected to become an approximately 45% shareholder. The announcement stated, "The Company will be led by a highly experienced Board with new nominees, including Ian Telfer as Chair, David Garofalo, Peter Marrone, Attie Roux, Daniela Cambone and Neil Woodyer. Gran Colombia's nominees will be Serafino Iacono and Hernan Martinez. In addition, Frank Giustra will be a Strategic Advisor. The management team will be led by Neil Woodyer, as CEO."
iMetal borders Platinex Inc. to the west. Last June, Platinex purchased 208 mining claims from Treasury Metals to consolidate adjoining projects in the area.
To the south and east lies privately held Battery Minerals Resources, which has actively been exploring its Gowganda property and plans to build a cobalt mill in the area.
Orefinders Resources Inc., iMetal's northwest neighbor, shares a border with Juby. Orefinder's Knight properties includes the past producing Tyranite property as well as the Minto, Duggan and Porphyry Lake properties.
IAMGold's Cote Gold project, 50 km west of iMetal, is under construction and has an estimated life of mine production of 6.61 million ounces of gold.
At the end of last year, iMetal brought on geologist R. Tim Henneberry as the qualified person and a director. Henneberry has over 40 years of exploration and production experience, including as former CEO of First Vanadium Corp., Indigo Exploration Inc. and Pike Mountain Minerals Inc., now Carebook Technologies Inc.
iMetal recently raised just over CA$2 million in a private placement, with each unit consisting of one common share of the company and one common share purchase warrant for CA$0.20 with a two year expiration date. The firm currently has 42.3 million shares outstanding, 64.3 million fully diluted. Management owns approximately 24%.
[NLINSERT]Disclosure:
1) Patrice Fusillo compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.
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