Overview
Ontario has always been a premier jurisdiction for mining in Canada. However, one of Ontario’s earliest gold camps in the province’s northwestern region is showing signs of high-grade revitalization.
The town of Atikokan in Ontario is known for its two massive iron ore pits mined in the middle of the Second World War and operated until the late 1970s. The earliest gold exploration dates back to the 1800s, with significant production reaching upwards of approximately 52,000 ounces of gold and 174,000 ounces of silver in that period. With over 50 occurrences, prospects and producers of gold since Atikokan’s initial discovery, the gold camp boasts exploration potential for investors worldwide.
One such mining exploration company with a project in Atikokan is Falcon Gold (TSXV:
FG, FWB:3FA, OTCQB:FGLDF). Its flagship Central Canada gold and polymetallic project leverages strategic positioning 20 kilometers east of Agnico Eagle’s Hammond Reef gold deposit. The world-class deposit currently has an estimated 3.32 million ounces of gold mineral reserves at 0.84 grams per ton (g/t) gold grading and an indicated mineral resource at 2.3 million ounces. The Central Canada project has a high potential to mimic this exceptional high-grade gold mineralization with further exploration and discovery.
Falcon Gold conducted a 17-hole drill program at the Central Canada project totaling 2,942.5 meters of core. The weighted average grade of the main gold zone is 1,570 parts per billion (ppb) gold or 1.57 g/t gold and within the main zone intersections, the first meter of core returned 5.68 g/t gold. The company also completed sampling on the J.J. Walshe mine trend in 2021 which returned five grab samples ranging from 11.2 g/t gold to 79.7 g/t gold. Assay results highlight several gold-bearing zones across the property previously undocumented including the Sugar Shear (22.9 g/t gold), Monte (3.63 g/t gold), Honey (1.04 g/t gold), and Hoist Zone.
The company’s portfolio of mineral projects also includes those in prolific mining jurisdictions of Ontario, British Columbia and Argentina. In April 2021, Falcon created the Argentina-based
Falcon Gold LatamARG S.A. to manage its South American exploration and development operations. This creation came at an optimal time with the company’s acquisition of the Esperanza gold-silver-copper project in La Rioja, Argentina. Falcon intends to explore further interests in South America’s mining-friendly jurisdictions.
Falcon currently has approximately 90,000 hectares of prospective ground in Newfoundland which are strategically located and contiguous to companies like First Mining Gold, Sokoman Minerals-Benton JV, Gander Gold, Exploits Discovery, Vulcan Minerals and Marvel Discovery.
In 2022, Falcon entered into two separate agreements to acquire a 100-percent interest in two battery metals projects in the province of Ontario and Quebec, collectively known as the Timmins West and Outarde Nickel projects northwest of Baie Comeau, Quebec. The first purchase agreement covers five mining claims totaling 1,940 hectares within the Kamiskotia Gabbroic Complex (KGC), a gabbroic to anorthositic intrusive mafic to ultramafic body that has documented nickel-copper-cobalt mineralization. The second purchase agreement comprises 93 claims covering 5,138 hectares located 120 kilometers northwest of Baie-Comeau, Quebec.
In November 2022, Falcon completed the spin-out of its subsidiary Latamark Resources Corp. The arrangement entitles Falcon shareholders to one common share in Latamark for every 5.8 common shares held in Falcon. Latamark will also issue 5 million Latamark shares to Falcon, as part of the arrangement.
Company Highlights
- Falcon Gold Corp is a mineral exploration company focused on exploring, expanding and developing its robust portfolio of highly prospective precious metal projects in prolific mining jurisdictions in the Americas.
- The company operates a robust project portfolio with its flagship Central Canada gold and polymetallic project hosting excellent road access, gold mineralization and strategic positioning near Agnico Eagle’s Hammond Reef gold deposit, which contains a multi-million estimated gold resource.
- In addition to Central Canada Gold Mine, which currently holds an estimated 3.32 million ounces of gold, Falcon Gold holds 15 additional projects in other prime mining jurisdictions, including Springpole West, Burton and Timmins West in Ontario; Spitfire & Sunny Boy and Gaspard gold projects in British Columbia; The Great Burnt, Gander North/South, Valentine Gold South, Victoria West, and Golden Brook in Newfoundland; Viernes and Area 51 Properties in Latin America; and Outarde, HSP south and Hope Advance in Quebec.
- Falcon acquired a 100-percent interest in two battery metals projects in Ontario and Quebec, collectively known as the Timmins West and Outarde Nickel Projects.
- Falcon has completed a spin-out of its Latin American asset, the Esperanza gold project, located in La Roja Province, Argentina.
- The company has a world-class management team consisting of several mining, finance and geological heavyweights with years of experience in a diverse portfolio of related industries.
Key Projects
Ontario
Central Canada Gold & Polymetallic Project
The flagship Central Canada gold and polymetallic project consists of three key claims: the original Central Canada property, Hammond South and Hammond West. The total area spans 10,392 hectares over a historic producer with shaft and mill site capabilities and sits 21.5 kilometers each of Atikokan and 160 kilometers west of Thunder Bay. The project is accessible via highway and road access and leverages mining-friendly conditions.
Central Canada has two geological regimes. Its northern claims contain a greenstone rock underlay dating back to the Archean age. The southern claims of the property are covered by Sapawe Lake and underlain by iron formation and greenstone rock units that host Falcon’s gold and cobalt occurrences. Historical drill intersection results highlight mineral grades upwards of 0.64 percent copper, 0.15 percent cobalt, 1.1 percent zinc and 0.35 g/t gold over a true width of 40 meters.
Falcon has conducted an extensive 17-hole drilling program totaling 2,942.5 meters of core. Every hole successfully intersected a highly altered felsic porphyry rock unit with significant pyrite, arsenopyrite, lead telluride and visible gold mineralization. The company expects to complete more concrete resource calculations and use sampling and logging results to undergo fire assay gold analysis to assess the project’s full potential.
Springpole West Property
The Springpole West Property in Red Lake Ontario covers 13.5 kilometers of a mafic volcanic-sedimentary rock contact representing a property-wide fault zone that is silicified and intermittently gold-bearing. The property is directly tied to First Mining Gold Corp.’s Springpole Gold Deposit, which is reported as one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in Canada, and contains the same geological terrain as that world-class gold deposit. First mining in the property reported an indicated resource of 139.1 Mt grading 1.04 g/t gold and 5.4 g/t silver, containing 4.67 million ounces of gold and 24.19 million ounces of silver as well as an inferred resource of 11.4 Mt averaging 0.63 g/t gold and 3.1 g/t silver, containing 230,000 ounces of gold and 1.12 million ounces of silver.
On June 20, 2023, Falcon announced that the exploration has commenced at its Springpole West property in the Red Lake mining district. Two-phase surface exploration program that will include a GPS-controlled Magnetometer surface survey, and a soil Geochemistry.
Burton Gold Property
The Burton gold property consists of six patented and 16 unpatented mining claims covering approximately 356 hectares in Esther Township, Ontario. The property has an advantageous positioning within the very actively explored Swayze Greenstone Belt renowned for hosting lode gold mines. The property also leverages close proximity to IAMGOLD Corp.’s Cote Lake deposit, which has an indicated resource of 35 million tonnes averaging 0.82 g/t gold. IAMGOLD has 51 percent interest while Falcon Gold holds 49 percent interest in the Burton Gold property.
Historical diamond drill intercepts at Burton include 9.34 g/t silver over an intersection length of 7.75 meters at the main Shaft zone and 12.47 g/t silver over an intersection length of 3.13 meters at the East zone.
Timmins West
The Timmins West Property, located 20 km northwest of Timmins, Ontario, comprises five mining claims that cover a total of 1,940 hectares within the Kamiskotia Gabbroic Complex (KGC). The KGC is an intrusive mafic to ultra-mafic body, varying from gabbroic to anorthositic, and is known to contain nickel-copper-cobalt mineralization. A grab sample from an outcrop in 2004 reported concentrations of 0.44 percent nickel, 0.64 percent copper, and 0.033 percent cobalt within 10 percent pyrrhotite. The property is situated 40 kilometers southwest of the Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Project, currently under development by Canada Nickel (TSXV:CNC).
British Columbia
Spitfire and Sunny Boy Property
The Spitfire & Sunny Boy property spans 502 hectares in south-central British Columbia, 16 kilometers east of Merritt. The property boasts excellent infrastructure and access with narrow but high-grade veining and gold mineralization.
Sampling from 1974 revealed the main showing, Master Vein, hosted high-grade gold mineralization up to 1,433 g/t gold. 2020 work program and channel samples have returned upwards of 122 g/t gold over a meter and 59.8 g/t gold over 2.2 meters. The asset has the potential to host additional vein structures downslope from the Master vein, which Falcon intends to explore in future development programs.
The company’s 2021 backpack drilling results highlighted samples that averaged 59.8 g/t gold (1.74 oz/ton gold) over 2.2 meters which included a 1-meter interval assaying 122 g/t (3.56 oz/ton) gold. The Cliff Vein was discovered downslope from the Master Vein, approximately 25 meters lower in elevation. A grab sample of the Cliff vein assayed up to 22.8 g/t gold.
Gaspard Gold Project
The Gaspard property covers 7,969 hectares in the Clinton Mining District of central British Columbia. The property has year-round access with a robust network of active logging roads and favorable positioning nearby Williams Lake’s regional supply center for mining, logging and ranching.
The property is located approximately 26 kilometers south of the Blackdome gold mine project, which reportedly has indicated resources of 144,500 tonnes grading 11.29 g/t gold and 50.01 g/t silver. Gaspard has the potential to mimic this widespread mineralization and high-grade precious metal yield with its prospective anomalous grades of stream sediment samples.
Quebec
Outarde Property
The Outarde property located Northwest of Baie-Comeau in Quebec is a nickel-copper-cobalt project consisting of 93 claims covering 5,138 hectares. The property forms part of the De La Blanche Mafic Plutonic Suite, a large folded gabbro-norite suite of rocks. Grab sampling has produced results of 1.28 percent nickel, 1.38 percent copper and 700 ppm cobalt.
HSP South Property
Falcon Gold acquired the HSP nickel-copper PGE project covering 22,302 hectares of strategic ground approximately 135 kilometers of prospective contact of the Havre St. Pierre Anorthositic Complex (HSAP) where Go Metals Corp recently announced the discovery of “wide intervals of nickel and copper sulphides”. The most westerly block of the Falcon Gold claims covers the southwest extension of the anorthositic complex, on a prospective fold nose structure and is located less than 2.2 kilometers from prominent airborne TDEM anomalies identified by Go Metals and host to the nickel-copper mineralization.
Falcon is one of the largest mineral claim holders in the HSP area. The company plans airborne EM surveys to cover the entire land position including claims contiguous to Go Metals HSP discovery project.
Hope Advance Property
Comprising 76 claims (approximately 33 sq. km.) in the Nickel North area of Quebec, this area has been in the news recently with the announced option agreement between 1844 Resources and Nickel North Exploration. 1844 Resources has the option to acquire from Nickel North, 100-percent interest in the Hawk Ridge Property by paying $6 million in cash and issuing 10 million shares over the term of the five year option agreement.
Portions of the Falcon Property are located 4 kilometers along strike from the Falco 7 historical resource and 2 kilometers along strike from the Hopes Advance historical resource. Highlights of the Hope Advance include a historical drill hole located on the Falcon property and about 4 kilometers west of the Falco 7 historical resource intersected 10.4 meters of 0.51 percent copper and 0.16 percent nickel.
The Falcon Gold Property contains numerous electromagnetic anomalies that have not been investigated by previous drilling.
South America
Viernes Property
The Viernes property in Antofagasta, Chile is located within a world-class cluster that’s been extensively developed by Yamana, BHP-Rio Tinto and Antofagasta Minerals, among others.
The property is highly prospective and is adjacent to the epithermal vein-hosted gold-silver producing El-Peñón mine in which Viernes may host similar geochemical and structural features. Yamana’s latest 43-101 compliant resource and reserve estimates published in March 2021 states total proven and probable mineral reserves of 921,000 ounces of gold and 29.2 million ounces of silver.
Area 51
Area 51 comprises 4,000 hectares of exploration claims located in the Inca Del Oro mining district, Atacama Region, northern Chile. The Inca Del Oro mining district is situated along Chile's Paleocene Age mineral belt, known to host multiple porphyry, skarn and epithermal mineral deposits. The project benefits from road access, proximity to infrastructure, and existing mine operations as well as year-round working conditions. Multiple mining and exploration projects in the vicinity include the Inca de Oro porphyry Cu-Mo-Au-Ag deposit (460 million tonnes grading 0.40 percent copper, PanAust, 2012, S&P Global ) and the Delirio deposit (17.4 million tonnes grading 0.47 percent copper, 2021 Santiago Metals, S&P Global).
The Area 51 exploration claim group is surrounded by other exploration and mining companies including Freeport McMoran, Newmont, Solaris Resources, and Mirasol Resources. The project has potential for copper and gold mineralization evidenced by the occurrence of multiple historical mine workings exhibiting mineralization, and hydrothermal alteration footprints over volcanic calderas.
Newfoundland
Golden Brook JV
The Golden Brook is a large land package hosting crustal-scale structures. Falcon has formed a strategic partnership with Marvel Discovery Corp. with the goal of exploring prospective claims recently acquired in the Hope Brook and Baie Verte Brompton Districts. The combined total of both projects covers 115,170 hectares and will be explored together on a 50-50 joint venture basis.
The Hope Brook Zone is 10 kilometers away from Sokoman-Benton’s new high-grade lithium discovery. The 35 grab and chip samples noted in the Sokoman-Benton NR (September 16th, 2021) were collected over a 2-kilometer distance. Initial permits for the first phase of exploration on the company’s Hope Brook project include high-resolution magnetic gradiometry surveys and prospecting crews to the area.
The Baie Verte Zone is linked to more than 100 gold prospects and zones and is located near the Four Corners Project held by Triple Nine Resources. The Four Corners Project consists of iron-titanium-vanadium mineralized rock which has been outlined for 3,000 meters in strike with intercepts 200 meters wide and 600 meters vertically. The project contains sufficient tonnage and grades to warrant developing a world-class mineral resource.
Great Burnt Property
The 2,275-hectare Great Burnt Property is hosted within the Great Burnt greenstone belt. The Great Burnt greenstone belt is host to the Great Burnt Copper Zone with an indicated resource of 381,300 tonnes at 2.68 percent copper and inferred resources of 663,100 tonnes at 2.10 percent copper. Drilling in 2020 by Spruce Ridge Resources reported 8.06 percent copper over 27.2 meters (TSXV:SHL press release dated March 18, 2021). The Great Burnt greenstone belt also hosts the South Pond A and B copper-gold zones and the End Zone copper prospect within a 14-kilometer mineralized corridor.
Gander Zone (North-South)
The Gander Zone properties consist of the two claim groups within Gander North and one claim group as Gander South totaling 412 claims covering 10,150 hectares. The Gander North property covers 406 claims totaling 10,150 hectares located 25 kilometers due East of New Found Gold’s Queensway Project and is contiguous to Gander Gold’s Project. Exploration by Gander Gold on their Gander North Project has returned spectacular results from soil geochemistry sampling surveys as evidenced in recent published results of 1,432 ppb gold in northeast-trending zones. The Gander South property is hosted within the Exploits Subzone of the central Newfoundland gold belt and is proximal to major structure, the Dog Bay-AppletonGrub Line fault system, a crustal-scale fault zone that extends from the north coast of Newfoundland, southwest through Gander. These structural corridors are intimately associated with recent gold discoveries including New Found Gold’s Queensway project.
Valentine Gold South
The Valentine Gold South consists of 605 claims covering 15,300 hectares contiguous to Marvel Discovery Corp, Matador Mining, and Tru Precious Metals Corp (TRU). and lies within the Cape Ray-Valentine Lake structural corridor which hosts Marathon Gold Corp.’s Valentine Project with reserves and resources of 7.1 million ounces of gold. The Valentine gold deposits include 3.09 Moz gold measured and indicated: 54.9 NT @1.75 g/t gold and 0.906 Moz gold inferred and 16.77 NT @1.78 g/t gold.
Victoria West
Victoria West consists of 166 claims or 4,150 hectares) and is contiguous to Marvel Discovery Corp, Benton Resources, Buchans Minerals Corp., and a significant land package staked by Shawn Ryan. In 2011, Buchans Minerals and Benton Resources completed prospecting activities in the immediate area that identified abundant mineralized quartz vein material containing trace to several percent sulphides. Analytical results of the grab samples assayed between 1.65 to 18.24 g/t gold and between 5.4 to 87.1 g/t silver in subcrop samples. Grab samples from outcrop assayed up to 8.52 g/t gold and 30.7 g/t silver.
Management Team
Karim Rayani - Chairman and CEO
For the past 15 years, Karim Rayani has focused on financing domestic and international mineral exploration and development. Most recently, Rayani was head of Bloomberry Capital Group, a Vancouver-based merchant bank and capital advisory firm. He worked independently as a management consultant and financier. He is currently chair of R7 Capital Ventures Ltd; director of Fiber Crowne Manufacturing Inc., chair of District 1 Exploration Corp. Rayani has developed an extensive network of contacts throughout North America and Europe, focusing on corporate development and finance.
Brian Crawford - Chief Financial Officer
Brian Crawford holds a B. Com. from the University of Toronto and has extensive experience as a senior financial executive with public and private companies and as a partner in a national firm of chartered professional accountants. Crawford founded and/or co-founded several companies currently listed on the TSXV or the CSE. Crawford currently serves as a director, corporate secretary, and/or CFO of several TSX Venture Exchange or Canadian Securities Exchange listed companies including Colibri Resource Corporation, Searchlight Resources Inc., CBLT Inc., and Tempus Capital Inc.
James Farley - Director
James Farley has been involved in the capital markets for over 25 years, initially as a financial advisor and subsequently as a private businessman. He is currently a business consultant for the mining and oil and gas industries, specializing in health safety and environmental management.
Michelle Suzuki - Director
Michelle Suzuki has spent the last 25 years as an advisor with a focus in publishing and media relations. She has managed investor communication campaigns for Canada's largest digital content providers for hundreds of C-Suite clients throughout North America, from life sciences, and technology to mining companies.
In the Canadian markets, she is widely known for her experience in these fields working with many top CEOs, senior investor relations executives, investment broker-dealers and newsletter writers on digital syndication helping educate on the importance of mining and the future of the industry.
Ian Graham - Geological Advisor
Ian Graham is an accomplished mining executive with over 20 years of international experience exploring and developing mineral deposits. He has spent over half of his career working for major mining companies, including roles at Rio Tinto and Anglo-American. Graham possesses industrial mineral experience and is well known for his successes within the diamond sector.
From 1990 to 1994, Graham acted as principal geologist in exploration for Anglo-American and partner in De Beers Group’s South Africa division. In 1994, he joined Rio Tinto in Canada as the evaluation manager for the Diavik diamond mine, then went on to become chief geologist for diamonds with Rio Tinto’s Project Generation Group. During his 15 years at Rio Tinto, Graham was involved with the evaluation and pre-development of several projects, including the Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories and the Resolution copper deposit in Arizona.
Glayton Dias - Exploration Manager
Glayton Dias is a geologist with 12 years of experience both domestically and internationally, developing, managing and exploring mineral deposits from early-stage to mine development and 3D ore estimation. Most recently his work has been focused on the Spences Bridge Gold Belt, having been posted as a project manager for the Shovelnose Deposit currently developed by Westhaven Resources with a resource of 791,000 ounces of gold and 3,894,000 ounces of silver Indicated (Reference below). Prior to being a Project Manager for Westhaven, he worked as a consulting geologist for Ximen Resources on its multi-metallic Treasure Mountain deposit, exploration manager for Avant and Gdgeo, leading projects in world-class deposits as Andrade (Arcelor Mittal), Germano (Samarco) and Serra das Eguas (Magnesita SA).
Dias knowledge and experience in precious and base metal projects on high-grade epithermal low sulfidation including porphyry copper-gold geology will be value add as we start up operations again at both Spitfire-Sunny Boy, Gaspard projects in B.C., and our South America projects.
Figure 1: Plan view of El Quillay copper trend, showing multiple zones of potential parallel mineralisation
Figure 1. Miramar’s Eastern Goldfields projects in relation to existing gold mining operations.