Exploration dollars pour into the North by the hundreds of millions.
In Nunavut, companies expect to spend $255 million to search for minerals and metals and to appraise deposits in 2024.
In the NWT, the equivalent figure is almost $144 million.
Here are some of the exploration highlights among active companies this year:
NWT
Project: Pine Point
Owner: Osisko Metals
Resource: Lead, zinc
Location: 42 km east of Hay River
Status: In early November, Pine Point Mining Limited and the Town of Hay River signed a new memorandum of understanding outlining their hopes of restarting the mine, which last produced lead and zinc in the late 1980s. The location features on-site power, paved highway access and 100 kilometres of haulage roads.
Another major development occurred in August with the announcement that South African-based Gold Fields would purchase Osisko Metals, the joint venture partner with Pine Point Mining Limited, for almost $2.2 billion.
In June, Osisko Metals, en route to the feasibility stage for Pine Point, was able to upgrade a significant portion of mineral resources at the site to the “indicated” category, which comes with higher confidence. This was made possible by drilling campaigns carried out over the previous two years.
According to the company’s new calculation, Pine Point hosts “49.5 million metric tonnes of indicated resource averaging 4.22 per cent (4.6 billion lbs.) zinc and 1.49 per cent (1.6 billion lbs.) lead; plus 8.3 million metric tonnes of inferred resource averaging 4.18 per cent (700 million lb) zinc and 1.69 per cent (300 million lb) lead.
Overall, it represents a 214 per cent jump in indicated resource from 2022.
Project: Yellowknife Lithium/Cali
Owner: Li-FT Power
Resource: Lithium
Location: 60 km east of Yellowknife/near the Yukon border, respectively
Status: The Yellowknife Lithium Project represents the third largest hardrock initial resource estimate in Canada and the 10th largest hosted in the Western Hemisphere, according to Li-FT Power’s initial resource estimate, released Oct. 1.
That estimate followed 10 months and 49,548 metres of drilling, comprising 286 drill holes through to April 2024.
“The initial resource estimate further positions the Yellowknife Lithium Project as a globally significant source of spodumene and will underpin a preliminary economic assessment that is on track to be completed in Q2 2025,” the company stated.
Projects: Halo-Yuri
Owner: Trinex Minerals Ltd.
Resource: Lithium
Location: 250 kms northeast of Yellowknife
Status: The Halo-Yuri project produced batches of pegmatite outcrops that successfully confirmed lithium mineralization, according to assays returned in August. That included between 1.2-4.1 per cent Li2O at the Jagged and OIG prospects .
“Those are grades that, if replicated in bedrock after drilling, would come in among some of the highest in the industry,” the company stated.
Other NWT projects under the Trinex banner include Lightning, Prelude Lake and Lizo.
Project: Mon
Owner: Sixty North Gold Mining
Resource: Gold
Location: 40 km north of Yellowknife
Status: On Oct. 16, Sixth North Gold Mining revealed that a batch of chip assays turned up 62 grams of gold per tonne over 0.3 metres from the A-Zone East Limb.
The company established a 17-person tent camp with kitchen and dining, and wash facilities on the earlier this year to replace the trailer camp that was destroyed by the 2023 wildfires.
Mining at the site was conducted over 44 days but has concluded for the season.
“A bulk sample of the A-Zone allows for immediate extraction of the vein. Previous operations extracted 1,000 tonnes of ore per vertical metre grading 30 gpt from the A-Zone, to a depth of 15 metres below surface totaling 15,000,” stated Dave Webb, the company’s president and CEO.
Project: Con Mine
Owner: Newmont FN/Miramar Northern Mining Ltd.
Resource: Gold
Location: Just south of Yellowknife
Status: Gold Terra extended its definitive option agreement with Newmont Canada FN Holdings and Miramar Northern Mining Ltd. from four years to six years, it was announced on Sept. 9.
The deal “grants Gold Terra the option, upon meeting certain minimum requirements, to purchase [Miramar] from Newmont FN, which includes 100 per cent of all the assets, mineral leases, Crown mineral claims, and surface rights comprising the Con Mine, as well as the areas immediately adjacent to the Con Mine…” Gold Terra stated.
Gerald Panneton, chairman & CEO of Gold Terra, remarked, “We are pleased with our continued excellent relationship with Newmont who is also a shareholder of the company. The extension of the option agreement to acquire 100 per cent of [Miramar’s] Con Mine allows us to continue with our current drilling program designed to delineate more than 1.5 [million oz.] in all categories with high-grade ounces along the prolific Campbell Shear structure below and around the existing mine workings.”
Project: Colomac Gold
Owner: STLLR Gold Inc.
Resource: Gold
Location: 200 km north of Yellowknife
Status: STLLR Gold Inc. received its final batch of assay results in mid-September after an exploration drilling campaign.
Keyvan Salehi, president, CEO, and director of STLLR, stated, “Our 2024 drilling campaign at Colomac concluded successfully, revealing mineralized zones beyond the known mineralization and below the 2023 Colomac PEA [preliminary economic assessment] pit shell. The results suggest the potential to expand the project’s estimated mineral resources.”
Project: NICO
Owner: Fortune Minerals
Resource: Gold, bismuth, cobalt, copper
Location: 50 km northeast of Whati
Status: Fortune Minerals hired Worley Canada Services Ltd. to undertake additional engineering and lead the preparation of an updated feasibility study for NICO.
“Worley has also been retained to assist with permitting for the hydrometallurgical facility [in Alberta], which is planned to be constructed at a brownfield site held under a purchase option arrangement from JFSL Field Services,” the company stated on Oct. 7.
Fortune was awarded close to $17 million of “non-dilutive grants and contribution funding from the U.S. Department of Defence (“ DoD ”), Natural Resources Canada (“ NRCan ”) and Alberta Innovates to help finance the work needed to advance the NICO project to a project finance and construction decision,” Fortune stated.
The last feasibility study was carried out in 2014.
Project: Great Bear
Owner: White Cliff Resources
Location: Near the historic Eldorado and Echo Bay mines close to Great Bear Lake
Resource: Iron, copper, gold, silver
Status: Results from rock chip samples received in mid-August “confirm widespread high-grade precious and base metal mineralization associated with multiple IOCG [iron oxide, copper, gold] and epithermal systems,” the company stated. “High-grade precious and base metals assay results from an additional four project areas at Great Bear reinforce the potential for multiple occurrences of metal accumulation within this under-explored district.”
At Coyote, results included 17.4 grams of gold per tonne, 1.47 per cent copper, and 29.6 grams of silver.
“To have such consistently high grade copper and precious metal results, along significantly expanding strike lengths within such a small percentage of the overall area… is truly exciting. We now fully understand for the first time the significance of historical statements regarding Great Bear from the Canadian Mines Department that this area is the most prospective area in Canada to host multiple large IOCG [iron oxide, copper, gold] style deposits,” said Troy Whittaker, the company’s managing director.
Project: Grad
Owner: Rackla Metals
Resource: Gold
Location: Near the Yukon border
Status: The “key discovery” at the Grad property, which was staked in July, was the BiTe zone, located at the southern exposure of the North Nahanni Pluton. Grab samples there graded over two per cent bismuth with high tellurium and up to 92 grams of gold per tonne.
The site “will require a significant focus during the 2025 exploration season,” according to the company’s Oct. 3 news release.
NUNAVUT
Project: Back River
Owner: B2Gold
Resource: Gold
Location: 364 km southwest of Cambridge Bay
Status: The first gold pour at the Goose mine is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2025, according to a Sept. 12 update from B2Gold. Commercial production is targeted for the third quarter. That should spur 310,000 oz. of gold annually for the mine’s first five years, the company stated. Because gold production in 2025 won’t be for a full year, the goal is to hit 120,000 to 150,000 oz.
“Importantly, the updated mining schedule does not impact the total number of gold ounces the company expects to produce over the life of mine of the Goose project,” B2Gold stated.
However, the cost of the mine has jumped to $1.5 billion, which marks a 23 per cent increase (or an extra $290) compared to the previous estimate. That’s partly due to a delay in gold production — originally slated for the first quarter of 2025 — and earlier purchases of capital items and the increased cost of shipping materials, among other items.
Projects: Hood River, Ulu, Roma, Ataani
Owner: Blue Star Gold Corp.
Resource: Gold
Location: Approximately 125 km west of Bathurst Inlet
Status: Blue Star Gold is touting Ataani as “the first new massive sulphide discovery in the region” in close to 20 years. It’s located less than 13 km from the company’s High Lake deposits and six kilometres from the proposed Grays Bay road. The mineralization exists over a 300-metre strike length and remains open, according to a Blue Star Gold news release on Oct. 29.
Grant Ewing, Blue Star’s CEO, stated, “The Ataani massive sulphide discovery, one of the highlights of our 2024 exploration campaign, further demonstrates the under-explored nature of our extensive landholdings in the High Lake Belt. Blue Star recently completed a strategic expansion of the Roma Project to include known historical and untested targets between the Ataani discovery and the existing High Lake deposits, providing additional high potential resource growth areas for the company.”
Blue Star is planning its target priorities for 2025.
Project: Angilak
Owner: ATHA Energy Corp.
Resource: Uranium
Location: 350 km west of Rankin Inlet
Status: ATHA Energy completed more than 10,000 metres of drilling over 25 drill holes between early June and late August.
“All objectives were successfully achieved with the expansion of the historic footprint of mineralization along the Lac 50 Trend and the identification of new parallel mineralized trends called the Lac 48, Lac 52, and Lac 54 Trends,” the company stated on Sept. 3.
A few weeks later, ATHA Energy announced that it expanded its holdings at the Angilak Project, staking an additional 69,704 hectares within 48 mineral claims. That makes the Angilak project 158,447 hectares in size.
Project: Ferguson Lake
Owner: Canadian North Resources Inc.
Resource: Nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals
Location: 250 km west of Rankin Inlet
Status: Canadian North Resources Inc. is expressing optimism about the process of bioleaching leading to much higher metal recoveries in addition to being better for the environment.
Tests using bioleaching showed metal extraction of greater than 96 per cent nickel and almost 98 per cent cobalt, the company stated on Oct. 21. By comparison, flotation only resulted in 29-51 per cent nickel and 48-89 per cent cobalt.
“Ongoing tests are expanding to include high recoveries of copper and precious metals (palladium, platinum, gold, etc.),” the company stated. “Bioleaching is a proven technology that uses naturally occurring oxidizing bacteria to extract nickel, cobalt, copper and precious metals from sulfides.”
Dr. Kaihui Yang, Canadian North Resources’ president and CEO, said, “We are extremely encouraged by the initial bioleaching tests results, which indicate highly efficient metal extraction and suggest the potential to produce nickel/cobalt sulphates on the project site for battery manufacturing. Bioleaching will significantly simplify mineral processing, bypass smelting and refining, and substantially reduce the capital expenses for mine development, energy consumption and operating costs for production.”
Project: Seal/Storm
Owner: Aston Bay Holdings/American West Metals Ltd.
Resource: Copper, zinc, silver
Location: 120 km south of Resolute Bay on Somerset Island
Status: ‘Thick, high-grade copper” was discovered through a summer drilling campaign, American West Metals reported in October. The results were promising enough for the Chinook deposit to be an open-pit starter mine, according to the company.
Highlights included 42.7 metres grading 3.1 per cent copper and 4 grams of silver per tonne from surface, including 1.5m at 7.1 per cent copper and 6 grams of silver per tonne.
“Assays also highlight the potential to both upgrade and expand the Cyclone deposit,” American West Metals added.
Project: Rae
Owner: White Cliff Resources
Resource: Copper/silver
Location: 70 km from Kugluktuk
Status: On Oct. 23, White Cliff Minerals announced that it had acquired an additional 243 sq. km. in the area of its Rae copper-silver project.
“After initial review of the preliminary geophysical information it became obvious, that is was strategically necessary to secure the adjacent northern blocks to the existing licence area which contain potential anomalous areas,” said Troy Whittaker, the company’s managing director. He added that “we look forward to drilling commencing during Q1 2025.”
The company now controls 1,198 sq. km. in the area, representing expansion of close to 20 per cent.
Projects: Project Itza and Project 176
Owner: Lexston Mining
Resource: Uranium
Location: Thelon Basin
Status: A field reconnaissance program “yielded promising results, identifying several key indicators favorable for uranium mineralization. Notably, low-level anomalous readings were detected over a broad area of boulder trains and outcrops using a handheld scintillometer, highlighting potential mineralization zones.” Lexston Mining stated on Oct. 15.
“Exploration targets and/or Exploration zones and/or Exploration areas are speculative and there is no certainty that any future work or evaluation will lead to the definition of a mineral resource,” the company acknowledged.
Project: North Thelon
Owner: Forum Energy Metals Corp.
Resource: Uranium
Location: 50 km west of Baker Lake
Status: Thirty drill holes were bored to a cumulative total of 6,962 metres between late June and late September, announced on Oct. 1. Assays were expected to be complete by mid-to-late October, but still had not been posted in a news release as of Nov. 10. However, on Aug. 20, Forum stated that it “continues to intersect uranium mineralization and intense alteration within favourable structural and lithological corridors for unconformity-style uranium deposits in an emerging uranium district comparable to the prolific Athabasca Basin.”
Project: Nagvaak
Owner: StrategX Elements Corp.
Resource: Graphite, nickel, vanadium, cobalt, copper, silver and platinum group metals
Location: On the Melville peninsula, southwest of Sanirajak, northeast of Naujaat
Status: In March, StrategX Elements Corp. reported a 45.6-metre drill core interval within the identified six kilometre mineralized corridor “rich in critical metals, which shows great potential in all directions. This interval is located four kilometres from the initial discovery drill hole which returned 58 metres of 2.63 per cent copper equivalent… furthermore, preliminary results have returned significant high-grade graphite [greater than] 20 per cent [contained graphite], much higher than typically observed in other graphite deposits in North America.”
