Sunday, February 20, 2011

Capitalizing on the Yukon Gold Rush 2011

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Capitalizing on the Yukon Gold Rush 2011




“The discovery of gold on Rabbit Creek in the Klondike district by George Carmack, Tagish (Dawson) Charlie and Skookum Jim on August 16, 1896 sparked the world's biggest 'gold rush'.”

- Yukon: Energy, Mines, and Resources


The Yukon is on the verge of a massive boom

Today the Yukon is on the verge of another massive gold rush as high gold prices and recent gold discoveries in the Yukon have brought a bought of gold fever onto those that seek the scarce precious yellow metal. This sickness has brought a new generation of men straight to the Yukon seeking their fortunes with this gold rush shaping up to be the start of a repeat of the famous Yukon Gold Rush in the early 20th century. The Yukon has produced 12.5M oz’s of gold since 1885 with a large portion of that being from placer claims, to date only 3 sources of the placer gold have been verifiably found leaving the opportunity to find several material deposits that could be the source of the placer gold that literally line the beds of every creek in the Yukon.

Recent discoveries of Underworld’s 1.4M oz Golden Saddle, Kaminak’s Coffee Project and ATAC’s Carlin Style Osiris have come together to create the perfect storm and set the table for another unprecedented gold rush to the Yukon that may be labeled one of the greatest of this century and is certainly the biggest and most hyped area play staking rush since the postulated theory of the Carlin Mineralization in Nevada in 1966. The 2011 summer exploration season is expected to be the biggest in history as over 100 companies have staked a piece in this latest rush to the Yukon that is certain to lead to a booming Yukon for years to come. The Yukon is a largely under explored territory and has seen several boom and bust periods since the original gold rush and is largely dependent on high metals prices. With high metals prices here to stay for the foreseeable future, the Yukon is now a lucrative place to be and makes the mineral rich Yukon projects worth billions and worthy of the extra capital cost to develop these opportunities.

The Yukon had been widely overlooked as prime exploration country despite all the placer gold because it has never been easy to locate. Many parts of the Yukon are un-glaciated which makes soil samples a very reliable method for discovery of these regional structures. Unfortunately, over the century since discovery of placer gold, prospectors have not been able to successfully find the lode source through soils. A layer of dirt had blown into the region over the millennia that covered the original soil so when explorers took soil samples; they were unknowingly sampling foreign soil.

A local Yukon prospector Shawn Ryan caught on to this theory and decided to take his samples from a bit deeper in the soil horizon. When he sent these samples in… the areas he was sampling started lighting up like they never had before and these major structures started appearing right before his eyes. The non gold bearing soils had fooled some of the best minds in the business and most had just assumed that the placer deposits had been largely eroded… but then why would you keep getting new placer gold year after year?

Shawn Ryan started locating these huge systems with his new technique and options the property that eventually Underworld drills and voila, Kinross sees a high grade shallow gold deposit that has enormous growth potential and comes in and snaps up Underworld before they can barely get 100 holes in the ground which starts the frenzy in the district. The timing for this discovery in the Yukon couldn't have been better shining a light back onto the Yukon at just the right time. ATC and KAM then follow up Underworld’s discovery in 2010 with Kaminak’s Coffee Project discovery and Atac’s Carlin Style Mineralization discorey near Mayo.

Soils are extremely important for indicating the size of a structure and with discovery after discovery happening within these soil grids, explorers have finally developed a reliable exploration technique that leads to discovery in the Yukon. Over time, a deposit decays, erodes and breaks down into the soil horizon above. Where ever you find gold in the soil, you will usually find gold in the rocks below, especially in areas where the terrain has not been glaciated like large portions of the Yukon and in tropical areas.

Soils are a very important tool to locating significant deposits!!!

When looking at Yukon companies, by far and away the easiest method choosing companies with the best potential are the ones with the most intense soil maps, as they are the ones that will have the biggest systems underneath. There are other variables like the depth of the deposit, location, grade and metallurgy, but soils will time and time again reveal the biggest systems underneath fro early exploration. Soils can also reliably gauge a general width and strike of the structure and indicate the best spots to drill.

Since this new theory has been proven in the Yukon, these very large gold systems are appearing across the Yukon. There is now very real lode mining potential in the Yukon with companies starting to locate the lode source of the placer deposits. There are also several major discoveries and several mines coming online this decade so the Yukon will see an influx of capital of all kinds from infrastructure, to human capital, to financial aid of all sorts. The Yukon is as mining friendly as it gets and is a growing place to be which will see Whitehorse boom over the next 10 years.

The Yukon represents a unique opportunity

It was often thought too remote, no infrastructure and not enough population to support these projects, but in a case where everyone is getting gold fever; if you build it, they will come. Lack of many things may be true now as the there always seems to be a shortage of something in the Yukon, but the cyclicality of the industry itself shows that the Yukon has been subject to several boom and bust periods and the trend is showing that the Yukon is at the beginning of another boom period that could rival Nevada’s Carlin Style discovery and over the next 20 years may be a source of significant global gold production. Combine the recent discoveries with the current super cycle in commodities that we are experiencing and the fact that the climate is generally becoming less harsh in the winter in the north; the Yukon represents an excellent opportunity for growth in many aspects, not just mining. If you continue to see discovery after discovery in the Yukon, the individual towns will start to grow to support the mining industry which is entering into the Yukon in a big way. This will open up many more spin-off business opportunities throughout the Yukon.

The Yukon was thought not much more than just placer deposits whose source had long been spent, but considering placer production in the Yukon has been alive and well for over 100 years, the sources of all this placer gold is out there somewhere. 100 companies have set their sights high on finding the next big gold deposit like Underworld’s 1.4M ounce Golden Saddle which was promptly bought out by Kinross in its infancy. When a company makes a discovery in the Yukon, all it takes is one holes like ATAC to add hundreds of millions to the market cap of a company, Gold Fever has truly struck in the Yukon in a big way.


So how do we capitalize on this opportunity?

The hype this year in the Yukon will be the start of the great hysteria curve and over the next 2 months is the last time you will see these stocks relatively cheap for the hype unitl gold starts to come down. Obviosuly it will be a rocky rdie for many of these explorers, but generally, one can throw a dart at a board this year and will double one's money before any of these explorers sink a drill hole into the ground. The timing is now!!! If you buy now while these stocks are relatively cheap you will make bags and bags of cash in 2011 going forward. That being said, I like to pick quality companies and I will give you a small report on my top Yukon Pick and a brief rundown of few other plays that are portfolio quality.




My #1 Pick for 2011

Golden Predator GPD-T $0.83

Shares Out… 81.8M
Fully Diluted… 118.7M
Market Cap… $67 million

Premium @ $0.64 +$0.19 / 30%


Golden Predator is my top pick going into the 2011 Yukon summer season. After careful review of several companies, GPD-T should be on the top of everyone’s shopping list. When looking at GPD’s market cap, its projects, potential revenue stream, Golden Predator is a unique opportunity in the Yukon that is well financed with quality drill ready projects, excellent infrastructure and million ounce potential that can easily be fast track to production.

They are currently focusing on 2 projects, Grew Creek and Brewery Creek which have seen excellent results in a small fall drill program confirming historic drill holes. GPD has 4 projects that are just off the highway and Grew Creek where the power line runs right over the property and the main highway runs through it for 30km and is 900meters from the drill site. Golden Predator is uniquely positioned with advanced drill ready projects with some of the best infrastructure in the entire Yukon.

You often hear of ‘location, location, location’, well it is certainly true in Golden Predator’s case. Not only will capital costs of a potential mine be lower than other projects in the Yukon, but GPD can put more holes in the ground per exploration dollar than any other company in the Yukon. The excellent infrastructure close to the highway also gives GPD a leg up on everyone else in the Yukon in terms of being able to drill year round. So when looking at getting the full potential for your exploration dollars, Golden Predator doesn’t mess around and are drilling as o February.

Recent results from Grew Creek include…


  • 146.3m @ 1.72 g/t au (251 total grammeters)
  • 132.18 m @ 1.21 g/t & 31.75m @ 2.08g/t (226 total grammeters)
    • hole bottomed in 9 g/t material
  • 60.85m @ 1.93g/t au & 8.5 m @ 1.89 g/t au (133 total grammeters)

Results from Brewery Creek Include…

  • 50.5m @ 2.79 g/t au - 141 grammeters
  • 56.5m @ 3.2 g/t au181 grammeters
  • 27.5m @ 1.15 g/t au 32 grammeters
  • 38.1m @ 1.48 g/t au56 grammeters

Brewery Creek has small resource of 287,000 oz’s in all categories grading between 1g/t and 2 g/t gold. Drilling on these 2 high priority targets is expected to bring significant increases to the resources on both Grew and Brewery Creek as remodeling of the deposits has shown significant potential to add a lot of tonnage to both projects.

Not only is GPD well financed with quality projects that are set to add material value, GPD currently has a royalty revenue stream of $1M that is expected to grow to $10M in the next 3 years as expected mines come into production from their large 70,000 acre Nevada land package which will greatly aid in funding exploration in future years and keeping dilution to a minimum when making a production decision vs a vending decision.

GPD also has a large pipeline of Yukon projects that should generate new excitement and has one of the largest land packages in the Selwyn Basin near ATC’s recent discovery at Osiris. This is not a drill ready project, but it is an area that saw a major staking rush and is now one of the premiere holders in the area next to ATC. GPD will be aggressively exploring this area and refining targets to the drill ready stage for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Other companies of note in that particular area that have peaked my interest are EXU and NDR.

The Selwyn Basin is much more remote than GPD’s current focus, which is defining potential shallow bulk tonnage targets that can be fast tracked to production. With the excellent infrastructure and initial results from their 2 flagship projects, Grew Creek and Brewery Creek are high priority targets that if continue to yield consistent results will add material value to Golden Predator. Golden Predator is truly a must have stock for the Yukon. They are the first to be drilling, will be the first to deliver results and will lead the pack this year with the excellent projects they have acquired to develop and advance.


Golden Predator is the best Yukon stock to own

  • $10M /yr estimated royalties in 3 years
  • Bluesky discovery potential with Selwyn Basin near the eastern End of ATAC’s
  • Massive project with Gold Dome looking for partner
  • 2 quality lead projects in Grew Creek and Brewery Creek
  • Excellent infrastructure on majority of projects including…
    • 900 meters from highway
    • power line
    • Gentle topography (rolling hills)
  • Drilling year round
  • N43-101 on Grew Creek and Brewery Creek by 3rd quarter 2011
  • LOW RISK / HIGH REWARD PROJECTS



The Rest of Beat the Market’s Yukon Portfolio



Northern Tiger Resources NTR-V $0.48

Shares Out… 83.8M
Market Cap… $40 million

Northern Tiger went on an excellent run last year and then the SP collapsed when results from the Sleeping Giant zone showing that the mineralization pinches off at depth. Fortunately for NTR, Sleeping Giant is the smallest of the anomalies and there are 3 other highly prospective identifiable zones to aggressively target this summer on 3 Ace. The Main Zone on the 3 Ace property showed excellent results last year and should produce more good results as they define this extremely high grade vein structure. With a nugget effect of this system it’s hard to reproduce the surface results, but it shows the extremely high grade nature of the system and I expect NTR to pull some very good results this summer. I expect some spectacular results from 3 Ace this year including some eye dropping high grade intercepts as they hit some big nuggets on 3 Ace.

Their Sonora Gulch project in the White Gold district has also yielded some very excellent gold results, although the buried porphyry target still eludes NTR at Sonora Gulch. That being said, the Titan 24 survey has shown many highly prospective targets that warrant further investigation. Northern Tiger should have another very good run going into next year with 2 highly prospective projects on the go that could lead to a grassroots material discovery.


Ryan Gold Corp RYG-V $2.00

Shares Out… 82.6M
Market Cap… $165 million

The question everybody is asking themselves is… Did Yukon prospector Shawn Ryan save the best for last?

Another question everyone is asking… Can Ryan translate prospecting success and parlay it into a quality exploration company?

I for one am not going to bet against him. How can you not have Ryan Gold Corp in your tier 1 Yukon Exploration Portfolio, considering this is the guy that started this gold rush off?

I do not know much about Ryan’s projects yet, but what I do know is that they have recently defined a very large soil anomaly trending 4 km in a north south direction and a 1km in an east west direction on the Ida Oro Property and recently acquired all of Shawn Ryan and Wildwood Explorations Gold properties. Could Ryan have saved the best for himself? I am betting he probably did as the initial exploration results look like there might a very large system on Ida Oro.

Ryan Gold carries a super huge premium at a $165M market cap, but could be worth it in the end.


Pacific Ridge Exploration PEX-V $0.305

Shares Out… 52.4M
Market Cap… $15 million

PEX’s Mariposa property could be the company maker which covers has some very good undrilled soil anomalies and also covers over 10km of highly prospective Altered Quartz Mica Schist (QMS) structure that is highly prospective for White Gold style mineralization. In addition to the QMS structure, PEX has a large AU-Sb-Bi Cu-Mo soil anomaly rough 2 km north of the QMS rocks. Pacific Ridge has several other highly prospective projects on the go that should generate some excitement.

At a $15 million market cap, this company is dirt cheap.


Kestrel Gold KGC-V $1.10

Shares Out… 26.7M
Market Cap… $29 million

The King Solomon Dome Project in the Yukon is 4050 foot peak that is believed to be the one of the sources of the gold fields that sparked the Klondike Gold Rush. Kestrel’s properties cover 3 main anomalous zones at least 1km in length and varying from 25m to 400m in width with soils grading as high as 0.9g/t au. The property has anomalous arsenic, antimony and lead geochemical signature which is common with other White Gold projects such as Kinross’ Golden Saddle and Arc projects.

Recent trenching of these anomalies have encountered numerous high grade zones including14.7 g/t au over 1.9 meters , 8.1 g/t au over 1.9 meters, and 40.7 g/t au over 0.7 meters and also revealed wider zones of mineralization between 1 to 2 g/t gold. Recently Kestrel located a zone of bonanza grade altered schist that graded up to 51.2 g/t au.


Strategic Metals SMD-V $3.21

Shares Out… 79M
Market Cap… $253

Strategic Metals is basically the best play you should own in the Yukon if you want a hand in pretty much everything. If you can’t decide, buy SMD because they are the Pinetree of the Canadian Northwest. They optioned most of ATC’s properties and Silver Predator among many others and are one of the premiere land holders in the Yukon and have working interests in over 150 projects in the Yukon and BC. They also manage a large portfolio of shares that it has acquired through its various options and sales agreements.


Alexco Resource AXR-T $7.94

Shares Out… 59M
Market Cap… $469 million


You can’t own a piece of the Yukon without owning this company as everyone knows the historic Keno Hill is one of the richest silver projects in the Yukon. If this high grade pure silver Yukon play isn’t in your portfolio, then you need to do more research on the Yukon. Alexco has big plans for the Keno Hill district and putting this historic old silver mine back into production. At still less than $500M market cap, it may seem expensive, but this may be the one larger cap that goes nuts when silver takes off being a pure silver player in the Yukon.


Full Metal Minerals FMM-V $0.31

Shares Out… 147.5M
Market Cap… $45 million


These guys aren’t really in the Yukon, being based out of Alaska and have other projects on the go such as their Pyramid Porphyry Project in Alaska, but I have decided to include FMM because they have the Underworld team as well as postulated the theory that White Gold style mineralization runs onto the Alaskan side of the border at their Rolling Thunder Project in the Alaskan White Gold District. Considering geology knows no political borders, I am interested in FMM proving up this theory this summer. They are very close to the Yukon White Gold District located on the Alaskan side of the border and Beat the Market has put FMM into this tier 1 group of stocks.


Taku Gold Corp TAK-V $0.385

Shares Out… 67M
Market Cap… $25

Taku is one of the largest land holders within the White Gold District and their Rosebute property looks highly prospective with a 2.2km long soil anomaly and max values of 0.2 g/t au. They have also defined a second 450 meter long anomaly with values up to 84ppb and a third anomaly that runs 1.1km in length and max values of 0.154 g/t au. Taku has several properties that they will be continuing to explore and advance to drill ready stage, but the 3 anomalies on Rosebute are so far showing the most promise for a large gold system.


Atac Resources ATC-V $6.62

Shares Out… 92M
Market Cap… $609 million

ATC remains a popular bet and a strong buy going forward into the 2011 exploration season with an aggressive drill program designed to delineate ATC’s new discovery in the eastern end of their Rackla Belt. RAU is a couple potential multimillion ounce deposits and the new discovery at Osiris has the market extremely excited for ATC’s prospects. This is a stock for the big boys at its current price, but no portfolio is complete without ATC and its big discovery last summer.


Kaminak Gold Corp KAM-V $3.32

Shares Out… 63M
Market Cap… $209 million

Kaminak is the discovery from last year that still offers pretty good leverage in my opinion. If they continue to expand last years discoveries on the Coffee Project along strike and at depth, Kaminak offers a great risk reward buy at current levels. They have proven they got something in the ground and are still cheap compared to others in the Yukon. This company probably has the least premium of the more advanced Yukon explorers.






Christopher Skidmore


Reporter for Beat the Market Stock Picks




Beat the Market offers an in-depth strategic feature company service for the above mentioned companies in the Yukon. Beat the Market is not a reporter for hire.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Calibre Mining Corp

Beat The Market

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Bringing you undervalued, high growth opportunities...



Calibre Mining Corp CXB-V


warrants & options = $21.4M cash @ average $0.26
Share Price… $0.175

Market Cap… $21 million

Shares Out… 122.5M
Fully diluted… 204M



Mmgt & Insiders… 13%
Sun ValleyGold… 10%
Yamana Gold… 10%













Developing a World Class Gold Camp in Nicaragua




Covered in Premium Edition @ $0.125 + $0.05 / 40%


Every once in while in mining, events come together to create the perfect opportunity for a low risk home run. An opportunity so good, you just can’t pass it up. An opportunity that provides unlimited upside while offering substantially reduced risk at current valuations. Opportunities don’t come along every day that present a chance at a former prolific gold region, a chance at joining one of the brighter teams in the business and a chance at a ground floor opportunity in the redevelopment of an industry in a country starved of foreign investment for years. A company with projects so good that they show gold across the entire camp scale properties. So much gold, that the hardest task isn’t finding the gold, but choosing which projects to develop. A company with gold projects so compelling that it’s 100% interest in two of three past producing mines in the district, made up the core of production that helped tiny Nicaragua become the 15th ranked gold producer at the height of production during the mid 20th century. An historic gold camp with mines that went out of production not due to depleting reserves, but social and political instability due to a civil war and to this day remains undervalued due to the misconception that Nicaragua is still an unsafe place to do business.


That opportunity is Calibre Mining

Calibre Mining is centered at the heart of the historic Golden Triangle in Central America. This once famous past producing gold region helped Nicaragua become the 15th ranked gold producing nation globally in the mid 20th century until internal strife forced the shut down of the entire sector during the 80’s. Nicaragua has a rich gold mining history, but whose mining industry was driven into the ground when it was nationalized after the civil war in 1979 -81. By 1988 there was virtually no mining industry left in Nicaragua as the Nicaraguan Civil War had decimated the country and had left it poverty stricken, disease ridden, polluted and without any infrastructure or investment to rebuild. Only in the past few years has investment come back into the country.

Nicaragua is a former prolific gold producing nation that went into decline, not because of depleting reserves, but loss of infrastructure and investment after 1979 and only since 2001 has anyone decided to think about investing in Nicaragua. The mining sector did not fully open up until 2001 when the government passed new mining laws that made foreign investment in the sector in Nicaragua profitable for foreign enterprises. The industry had only recently (1997) made owning a concession legal and since has slowly seen investment in the sector increase in the past decade. From 2000 to 2008, foreign direct investment in mining sector grew almost a thousand percent from only $4.4 million to $39 million. One reason explained for the slow development of Nicaragua, is a common misconception that country is still communist. Nicaragua has been adopting capitalist policies regarding private ownership and made huge strides in the last 10 years in adopting policies that make them one of the more attractive developing nations to invest in today in the western hemisphere.

Nicaraguais now an attractive place to invest

Since 1990 Nicaragua has seen four peaceful government transitions, but is still largely misconceived as an unsafe place due to the very public and graphic nature of the civil war including the public murder of a US news reporter and the fact that the communists won the war and there has not been insurrection since. Current conditions would describe investor’s misconceptions as completely false as Nicaragua is now one of the safest emerging markets to invest in. Communist rule fell in 1990 and since that time have slowly adopted policies in the country aimed at attracting foreign investment. Nicaraguans have realized that without foreign investment to help rebuild their country, it will never become the place of manicured front lawns and paved roads that 1930 - 50’s produced in Nicaragua.


Some key investing facts in Nicaragua…

  • Investors have the same rights as private citizens,
  • Right to ownership
    • Convertible currency
    • Freedom to expatriate all capital and profits
  • Fair mining tax regime
  • 3% NSR
  • 30% net profits
  • Special tax laws which give incentives which allows any investment with an industrial focus and is export oriented to operate without taxes in Nicaragua for 10 years and can be renewed for another 5 years.
  • Fair mediation system to bypass potential corrupt judicial system that uses private mediation run by international renowned companies that appoint impartial judges for mediation which gives investors much more assuredness of objectivity
  • Companies doing business in Nicaragua include… Kraft, WalMart, Target, Pizza Hut and Gap


Caliber has a camp size position in the Prolific Golden Triangle

The Borosi Concessions make up 2/3 of the Golden Triangle

Calibre Mining is truly one of the best positioned gold companies in Nicaragua to capitalize on this unique opportunity in an underexplored prolific gold region. Considering Nicaragua has been underexplored for more than 30 years with mines that were at the height of production when they went out of production at the time of the civil war, CXB is well positioned for a material discovery. They have acquired a commanding land position at the heart of a historic producing gold camp called the Golden Triangle. Calibre’s Borosi Concessions cover 867km of highly prospective land that straddle a regional fault running northeast to southwest.

.

The Golden Triangle is named after 3 former past producing mines on either side of this fault system named La Luz - Siuna, Rosita, and Bonanza. These 3 mines have historically produced 5 million ounces of gold. Calibre’s claims cover 2 of the historical producers, (La Luz – Siuna and Rosita) that have a combined historical production of 2.5M ounces of gold, 4M ounces of silver and 305M pounds of copper.

In the last two years CXB has spent well over $3 million in exploration work on the Borosi Concessions including 140 line km of soil sampling, 1160 meters of trenching and 5200 meters of diamond drilling and is now positioned to reap the benefits of 18 months of groundwork.


Some Golden Triangle facts…

Historical Production Historical Resource
Mine Gold (oz) Copper (lb) Silver (oz) Gold (oz) Copper (lb)
La Luz Siuna 2,273,000 672,210 820,000
Rosita 177,737 305M 2,630,000 320,000 328M
Bonanza 2,626,533 611.131
*Resources are historical in nature and do not comply with NI43-101 standards

There are 2 main types of mineralization on the Borosi Concessions, low sulphidation epithermal systems and gold and copper skarn associated with porphyry mineralization. The area is cut by a regional fault that divides the claims geographically between east and west and within these camps there is the west side containing the Bonanza and Siuna camps and the East side of the fault containing the Eastern Epithermal and Rosita camps. From the production stats of Bonanza, it’s the epithermal targets that look to be providing the most reward and upside in the Golden Triangle. Low Sulphidation Epithermal Systems generally tend to run 300 meters to 600 meters deep and on the Borosi concessions, the veins have been mapped for miles.


Borosi East

The east side of the Borosi Concessions is what has got B2Gold involved and interested in Borosi with a $8M dollar 51% option over a five year period with Calibre having completed year one of the option and are currently in year two. Calibre believes there is another 3 million ounce low sulphidation epithermal system similar to the camp potential of Bonanza on the east side of the fault and the option covers most of the east claims. Since the option was signed, CXB acquired the former producing Rosita Mine and the highly prospective Riscos de Oro which are 100% Calibre in the east Borosi concessions. CXB recently announced a high grade discovery at Santa Maria(BTO jv) which sent the stock soaring up over 50% with the stock holding those gains since. Extremely high grade rock samples confirmed a soil grid that shows a very large strike on this epithermal vein and possible splays and open along strike in both directions.

Riscos de Oro

Riscos de Oro is an epithermal gold / silver deposit that has tons of promise as it was a former underground mine from ’77 – ’81. It looks like it was a promising new start up mine in the region when the civil unrest ultimately forced its closure in 1981 when locals ransacked the mine and burnt out the workings. The deposit is open along strike and at depth. Riscos is apart of a vein system of multiple parallel veins that trend for 7kms and are mapped out over a cumulative strike of 15km. Historical trenching 4km from Riscos returned12.4 g/t over 2.4 meters confirming that these veins are part of a larger system that run for miles. The underground workings at Riscos de Oro were driven over a strike of 450 meters and to a depth of 100 meters so there is lots of ore left in this deposit. The recent drill program tripled the known depth of Riscos to 300 meters and extended the strike to 600 meters in length.



Some better results at Riscos de Oro…


  • 8.53m @ 11.34 g/t au eq
  • 4.1m @ 18.45 g/t au eq
  • 7.5m @ 13.13 g/t au eq
  • 6.62m @ 12.44 g/t au eq
  • 3.79m @ 17.71 g/t au eq



The gold equivalent grades are very good at Riscos de Oro pointing to an excellent opportunity at an underground gold / silver mine that could be in production for years with a very good depth profile over a material strike. If the Civil War hadn’t hit Nicaragua, Riscos might be in production today with this profile. 2,500 meters of HQ drilling is planned at Riscos de Oro in February to continue to expand on this highly prospective target.

Riscos has million ounce potential

Within the current dimensions of Riscos, which certainly needs a lot of infilling, the current holes average 36.6 grammeters over 15 available holes and if multiplied over the 300 * 600 meter dimension could easily end up with half a million ounces considering a standard tonnage factor of 2.6 for a quartz vein. I am not considering true widths in this calculation, but just want to give you an idea of how much gold is in the ground if these veins remain consistent along this 7km mineralized trend. With standard depths going to 600 meters in these types of deposits, it is easy to count a million ounce potential within a 1km strike at Riscos. Within the dimensions of 1 km strike and 400 meter depth at an average of 30 grammeters… gives you 1 million ounces.

Santa Maria(49% CXB, 51% B2Gold)

All the excitement in the share price has been about Santa Maria. Without question the samples confirmed the high grade nature of this very large vein system and the multi element soil anomalies indicate that CXB may be on the verge of a material discovery at Santa Maria. Santa Maria has a gold, copper, zinc, lead multi-element soil anomaly that so far extends for 1km in strike, is open at both ends and looks like it has possible splays.

Santa Maria is on a hill so could be a potential low cost underground operation driving an adit horizontal into the hill and dropping the ore down. The vein has been confirmed over 600 meters within an overall inferred 2km strike and represents a high priority target that will move up the priority list with the very high grades discovered at Santa Maria.

Quartz vein samples along a 600 meter strike of this vein graded very rich…
Gold (g/t) Silver (g/t) Copper (%)
64.1 109 0.211
9.59 9.2 0.106
20.4 56.1 0.276
20.9 109.0 0.096
12.6 13.5 0.125
22.3 26.4 0.280
11.0 66.0 0.513
14.05 93.1 0.413

I cannot stress how important soils are in defining mineralized systems. Without soils, an explorer or prospector is completely blind as to how big the system is or where it is most intense providing key clues where to drill, especially in unglaciated terrain. Santa Maria is an exciting new discovery that gives B2 its first bona-fide prospect in the triangle.

This target may be drill ready in the summer according to Calibre’s on site geo.


Borosi West

On the west side of Borosi(100% Calibre), the claims surround the low sulphidation epithermal deposit Bonanza to the north which is the only other operational gold mine in the country other than B20 Gold’s two mines. Calibre’s recently announced discovery Northeast Bonanza, is the discovery of the Bonanza vein system striking onto Calibre’s claims to the northeast of the Bonanza mine. To the south the claims also cover La Luz – Siuna which is a high grade skarn system with a historical resource of 820,000 oz’s gold. CXB has recently acquired 2 claims (Asa and Pis Pis) between these targets that make the concessions contiguous.

La Luz – Siuna

La Luz – Siuna is a high grade gold skarn at the south end of the property which is at the intersection of two major fault structures making it highly prospective for a major gold deposit. Past production includes over 2.27 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 4 g/t au. Drilling at La Luz- Siuna has identified mineralization along a 1.5 km strike length. Historical drilling at La Luz – Siuna has outlined a historical resource in excess of 800,000 of gold. This mine was a producing open pit that was flooded out when a damn burst. La Luz – Siuna has two targets.

The Cerro Potosi prospect was where past open pit production was focused. There is a large body of wide mineralization on the east side of the deposit not mined and the whole target may represent expansion to the open pit. Highlights of past drilling include…
  • 32 m @ 2.5 g/t au
  • 16.2m @ 4.18 g/t au
  • 15m @ 1.78 g/t u

The Cerro Aeropuerto prospect is a very high grade target 500 meters in length at the south end of La Luz – Siuna that hit multiple high grade zones including…
  • 3m @ 19.72 g/t au / 24m @ 5.75 g/t au
  • 2m @ 25.08 g/t au / 2.2m @ 16.94 g/t au
  • 4.95m @ 2.5g/t au / 5m @ 7.23 g/t au / 2.5m @ 6.56 g/t au


Together these 2 targets make up La Luz – Siuna and provide Calibre with a low risk / low cost opportunity to add material ounces to the inventory on the Borosi Concessions and a potential open pit target that could easily be out on the fast-track road to production as long as dewatering the pit presents no problem. You certainly don’t want to drill just to add inventory. You drill to gather enough information to mine, but considering La Luz – Siuna was in production at 4 g/t and there is still a substantial resource historically indicated as well as expansion potential, La Luz – Siuna is an excellent opportunity to add shareholder value.


Northeast Bonanza

Northeast Bonanza is an exciting discovery because it extends the Bonanza vein system on to Calibre’s concessions. They recently released results of a trenching program with highlights of 7.3 g/t au over 4.7 meters and 1.35 g/t au over 10.90 meters. Trench results confirm that Bonanza mineralization extends at least 600 meters and soils extend the vein an additional 800 meters for a total inferred strike of 1.4 km. Northeast Bonanza is a set of ne trending parallel veins that give Calibre another exciting target that is on trend and contiguous to the Bonanza Group of Mines operated by the private company Hemco. If CXB can present enough economical veins surrounding Bonanza, CXB’s superior capital position may represent an opportunity for both parties for ramped up expansion at Bonanza which currently produces 42,000 oz’s of gold a year. Most of the region surrounding Bonanza, the gold mineralization is related to topographical highs and if this geographical/mineralization feature remains consistent, then the claims surrounding Bonanza to the north and east have high chance of hosting extensions of the Bonanza mine.


Calibre has identified 4 priority targets on Borosi

The Borosi Concessions have four priority targets ready to be advanced. Two targets are at drill ready stage, and two targets are at discovery and will be delineated for potential drilling later in the year. In addition to these exciting gold targets, there are many regional prospects with multiple gold showings and active artisans. Calibre has identified a systematic approach to exploring this gold rich area and has targets at all stages of the exploration pipeline. Whether it is an initial regional stream sediment sampling program for the recently acquired Asa and Pis Pis concessions, to soils and trenching programs or finally drilling, Calibre is adding value to all its projects at all stages.

CXB has the gold rich targets, is in the right area, and the systematic approach to get it done in evaluating this once prolific gold camp. 2,500 meters of drilling at Riscos de Oro will kick off the glitzy part of Calibre’s first half exploration program for 2011 in February, but it is the groundwork that leads success which Calibre has already laid the foundation to. Calibre’s Borosi Concessions will yield up a pipeline of high quality gold targets for years to come as modern day exploration techniques and theories are applied to this underexplored, but once prolific gold region in Central America.

Good things come in pairs
  • Calibre’s Borosi Concessions cover two former prolific producing mines
  • Have two advanced, drill ready 1M oz targets (100% Calibre)
  • Have two recently announced discoveries
  • Acquired two additional claims that complete a large portion of the West part of the Borosi Concessions.
  • The concessions are regionally split in two along the fault
  • Are looking for Bonanza’s 3 million ounce twin.


The Right Partner in B2Gold

B2Gold has partnered with Calibre for the chance at an elephant on the other side of the fault opposite Bonanza. This discovery of an epithermal vein system at Santa Maria could be part of a very rich multi-element vein system if initial samples are any indication of the vein beneath. The market gave ‘a big thumbs up’ and reacted extremely positive towards this announcement. The theory is that these large gold systems usually are deposited on either side of these regional faults and that Bonanza’s twin is somewhere on the east side of the fault.

The deal with B2Gold is an initial 51% interest in most of Calibre’s East Borosi concessions for $8M in exploration expenditures over 5 years as Calibre as the operator. To date Calibre has completed $2.9M in expenditures on the joint venture properties. B2Gold has the option to increase the interest to 65% on a specific deposit by funding a prefeasibility study. The option is deposit specific and Calibre has the reciprocal right to deposits on the jv property.

B2Gold operates the only 2 gold mines in the country other than Hemco which operates the 42,000 oz per year Bonanza and have made a serious work commitment to the East Borosi Concessions. B2Gold is committed to Nicaragua and developing the gold mining industry in the country and committed to Calibre as a premiere exploration company that has one of the best land packages of any gold explorer in the country. Considering the heavy investment made and B2Gold’s commitment to Nicaragua and the highly prospective nature of the properties, B2Gold is the best partner one could have and is the only legitimate miner in the country. Their finance, expertise, and commitment to Nicaragua can only help CXB move the Golden Triangle properties forward and back into production and have put a huge vote of confidence in Calibre’s management to do this.

The chance at discovery of another Bonanza type mine that can be in operation for decades has got B2Gold very interested in the East Borosi concessions funding a rich exploration program. Calibre has an ongoing soil survey program in the joint venture properties with sampling and mapping to be initiated again in late February, followed up with trenching this spring.


Top ‘Calibre’ Management

When it comes to investing in the resource sector, top management is vital in bringing a successful project along. A quality deposit will stay just that without the right people in place to develop the deposit, secure financing, bring value to shareholders and be a leader in creating great relations in the communities they are operating. Calibre has management that covers all aspects of a premiere exploration company preparing its projects for future development.

Calibre’s CEO Rob Brown is one of the best and brightest minds in the mining industry and is proven by has rapid ascent in the community now leading a highly prospective exploration company with projects that have the potential to be put in production in a quick timeframe. Rob is very astute at identifying early stage projects. He took Barrick’s $5 million small cap exploration portfolio and turned into a small fortune worth over $100 million as the company’s exploration manager.

In addition to an up & coming young CEO who has had success in all aspects of his career, the Featherstone guys are behind Calibre Mining in a big way. Featherstone is a premiere financier to the resource industry. Having representation from Featherstone shows that this project is highly prospective and indicates they have a high degree of confidence in Calibre’s Borosi Concessions. Featherstone just doesn’t pick any company to load their people on to.

Hon. John Reynolds is also a member of the board who is a member of the Queens Privy Council and is the person you want on your side in a diplomatic dispute. The honorable Reynolds has played important roles in mediating conflict disputes in the past including helping resolve the disputed iron ore claims near Ungava Bay in Quebec. Hon. Reynolds sits on the board of Oceanic Iron where they are now moving forward with the iron ore project at the north end of the Labrador Trough.

CXB has the management with the key qualities to make a successful gold company in this historic gold region. Management with a track record of identifying quality projects and developing them, management that has the right industry partners in B2 Gold and Featherstone, and has one of the best representatives a board could have in the Honorable John Reynolds. CXB has all the key components in management to position a gold company for future success.


Calibre is a Leader in Social & Environmental Responsibility

Calibre has made it a corporate policy to be a positive social influence in the communities they are serving. Social responsibility was one of the first things management mentioned when I sat down and interviewed Rob, and Calibre is determined to be a community leader in social responsibility, health and safety practices, and environmental policies similar to those in place in Canada. This is especially important in jurisdictions like Nicaragua where a company could abuse lack of policies that help sustain the communities where they are operating. Over the long run, having such policies will only impact positively in the community and help sustain the community. These policies will bring community support when it comes to developing a project into a mine. Calibre plans on being a mining presence in Nicaragua and policies like these will make Calibre a friend to the community. As a part of Calibre’s commitment to the community they having an ongoing program of helping keep the local hospital supplied with the basic essentials that they were lacking before.


Low Hanging Fruit

Columbia was a country with low hanging fruit. Nicaragua is the same.

Lack of promotion of Nicaragua’s rich natural resources, stable political environment, safe jurisdiction and favorable tax laws have led to this country being left largely undiscovered while billions of investment dollars pour into Nicaragua’s neighbors. This lack of promotion is a good thing for investors as it represents a ground floor opportunity to get into a former prolific gold producing nation acquiring prolific gold properties at a bargain basement price and at the beginning of the investment cycle in Nicaragua. Calibre is at the heart of this historic district where it all started way back in the 1930’s and is well positioned for discovery in the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle has been vastly underexplored for the last 30 years and represents a country with low hanging fruit. Nicaragua has a gold rich history and literally several projects that are worthy of production at gold prices five years ago, never mind today.

Nicaragua has all the same fundamentals that Columbia had a few years ago. It is a cheap place to invest due to prior civil unrest and has been relatively underexplored for years by modern techniques because of lack of investment which creates opportunities for discovery. Investment went into Columbia 5- 8 years ago and now you are seeing the product of those investments with multibillion dollar gold discoveries like Ventana Gold Corp’s La bodega Project or the creation this year of Continental Gold developing the extremely high grade Buritica Project. Nicaragua is part of the same geological greenstone belt, and whose political, economic, and social conditions are virtually the same as that of Columbia today although have not seen close to the same exploration dollars despite the rich gold history.

Companies like Calibre and B2Gold who are laying the ground work in Nicaragua are going to be the beneficiaries of discovery in gold rich Nicaragua over the coming years. Calibre has already extended the Bonanza veins north and now has this new high grade target in Santa Maria as well as Riscos and Siuna, both million ounce targets that could have been put in production 5 years ago. Nicaragua is a country with low hanging fruit and Calibre is now set to pick some of that low hanging fruit. Considering CXB can easily define a million ounces at two separate targets in Siuna and Riscos… Calibre is set to reap the benefits of Nicaragua’s low hanging fruit.


Calibre is Positioned for Exploration & Development Success in Nicaragua

The task is big, methodically exploring and choosing the best targets to delineate for potential producing mines in Nicaragua, but CXB has the odds in their favor developing projects that were shutdown due to external forces and not due to depleting reserves or low gold prices. CXB has an up and coming mining mind in CEO Rob Brown when it comes to identifying early stage material targets for advancement. They also have the finance people to back them up. Both Sun Valley and Yamina have significant positions in Calibre and are watching CXB’s progress very closely in this gold rich region. When Calibre does make that big discovery or brings a project along to the point where it looks like a lucrative producer, there will be very keen interest in CXB. Nicaragua represents a place of easy production ounces and would be potentially a country where a major could easily ramp up production. With the investment climate increasing, and social and political climate in Nicaragua stable for the past decade, now is the time to get into this country on the ground floor that is beginning to grow in leaps in bounds.

Calibre is literally sitting on one of the best and most prolific undeveloped gold camps in the world. The Golden Triangle has already yielded 5M ounces and chances are there is at least another 5M easy ounces before you even think about looking deeper in the camp. In such an underdeveloped gold camp that will yield a pipeline of quality gold targets with a potential production profile lasting decades, Calibre is truly an undervalued and hidden gem ready to be brought out and dusted off as they start to advance these highly prospective projects towards production decisions.

Calibre’s Golden Triangle has rich vein systems that literally run for miles and is sitting on a unique geological sequence that forms this gold rich area known as the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle is truly one of the last places in the world with low hanging fruit as Nicaragua’s gold projects were put on ice while the rest of the world’s deposits were depleted at a much lower price. Nicaragua had gold projects that competed with projects a generation ago. The bottom line, the quality of Calibre’s projects is just that much better than those in the rest of the world, being left virtually untouched for the last 30 years. Calibre is sitting on a world class >10M ounce high grade gold camp just waiting to be defined and put back in production with 2 projects that have 1 million ounce potential and new and exciting discoveries being announced all the time like the high grade discovery at Santa Maria. CXB is set to add material value in the 2011 exploration year.

Calibre is rated as a very strong buy with both early stage grassroots discoveries and high potential historical targets.

MGMT = 5 stars
Value = 5 stars
Growth = 5 stars




Christopher Skidmore



Reporter for Beat the Market Stock Picks

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Gold Canyon Resources

BEAT THE MARKET

INVESTMENT NEWSLETTER

Bringing you undervalued, high growth opportunities...



Gold Canyon Resources

Working on a 10M oz Monster in Red Lake


Gold Canyon Resources GCU-V

SP Jan. 25, 2011… $2.15
Shares Out… 89M
Fully Diluted… 117M
Market Cap… $187 million

Insiders and Mgmt own 39%
Mgmt... 6%
Sprott... 20%
Pinetree... 13%



Initial Coverage Aug ’10 @ $0.41 +$1.74 / 424%


GCU is an early stage gold development story at with 10M oz potential at Springpole, Red Lake

Gold Canyon Resources is a company that has gone on an incredible run since August after announcing initial results of drilling at The Springpole Lake Project in the Red Lake District, Western Ontario. GCU has continued to deliver impressive results throughout the fall season in their initial attempts to define a very large gold zone called The Portage Zone at The Springpole Project. The market has rewarded Gold Canyon shareholders with a 1000% share price increase from trading in the $0.20 cent range in early August to the $2 range in December after a drill program that exceeded everyone’s expectations. Gold Canyon is quickly going from explorer of a prospective 1.5M oz historical deposit, to an up & coming development story in Red Lake defining a potential 10M ounce gold deposit that has both open pit and underground mine potential at depth.

Gold Canyon’s name appropriately describes the subterranean view of the Portage Zone as it is a greater than 1km sheared zone of intrusive alkaline porphyry rocks that dip close to near vertical between 70 and 80 degrees and as of yet has untested depth potential below the 400 meter level due to drill rig limitations. Based on the geology of the deposit and the continuity of the mineralization, this deposit is expected to run at least 500 to 600 meters deep with the potential to have a typical depth of other deposits in the area which could be in excess of 1,000 meters.

Springpole was the focus of high grade mineralization typical of Red Lake and past operators outlining a modest high grade historical resource at the north end of the project and the very large Portage Zone to the south. The Main Zone was the focus of drilling last year where GCU outlined 45,000 high grade oz’s M & I and another 197,000 ounces inferred a grade in excess of 4g/t au which was a nice base high grade resource starter pit and work from there. GCU is confident that they can confirm 400,000 ounces of gold in the Main, SPROG and EE zones, in addition to defining the massive Portage Zone that extends underneath Springpole Lake to the southeast from the Main Zone. The majority of the historical resource was in the lower grade Portage Zone at just over 1 g/t so previous operators never gave the Portage Zone more than a passing glance.

Drilling at Portage in 2010 outlined some key findings…

  • Grades are consistently higher than historical averages at 1.36 g/t gold.
    • GCU using HQ sized holes which gives a more accurate sample reading with more assay material and is confident testing continuity to surface will yield consistently higher grades than historical averages.
  • The mineralization is rich with silver credits… so far averaging 5.95 g/t silver.
  • Drilling has confirmed that all the zones are related. The alkaline porphyry rocks being the intrusion with the high grade core area being the epithermal blowout event.
    • Considering the upper Portage in the north area pinches near surface it lends credence that this area came under extreme pressure with the Main Zone being the blowout event
  • Recent holes indicate that Portage opens up underneath the main zone from 53 meter width to 250 meter and most likely dips underneath the Main Zone suggesting the zone may be open to the north as well, certainly at depth.


What makes Gold Canyon’s Springpole Project even more enticing, aside from the potential of Portage hosting a 10 million ounce deposit, is that Gold Canyon has mapped the rock structure containing the Portage Zone another 5km of strike and are extending the zone a further 500 meters this winter along this highly prospective rock structure. The porphyry structure was thought to veer off underneath the main body of the lake but re-interpretation is putting Portage more at SE heading. In addition to such a long continuous, highly prospective rock structure, these rocks have been map on other parts of the property hitting extensive intervals of low grade gold between 0.2 g/t au and 0.3 g/t au confirming the theory that this is not an isolated geological event giving Gold Canyon’s Springpole a very good chance of hosting another very large ‘Portage-like’ gold bearing structure in the area.


Springpole: A Unique Canadian Shield Deposit

Springpole is a unique Canadian deposit in the sense its geology is much more similar to a deposit like Anglo Ashanti’s 30M+ Cripple Creek in Colorado or Barrick’s 28 million ounce Porgera in Indonesia being an alkalic type precious metals deposit with mineralization associated with hydrothermal and epithermal activity. Most Canadian Shield deposits are typicalCanadian Archean Greenstone deposit types where mineralization is hosted in quartz-carbonate veins, especially typical of gold deposits found in Red Lake. These deposits are typically very high grade and run deep.

The Portage Zone mineralization is hosted in a sheared zone of high level potassic stock in an intrusion of alkaline porphyry rocks. This puts Gold Canyon’s Springpole Project under unique classification for an eastern Canadian gold deposit whose mineralization is typical of some of the largest gold systems in the world.

With mineralization that is very consistent and geology that is similar to that of the biggest systems in the world, having drilled the formation over 1km strike and to a depth of close to 400 meters; Gold Canyon may be sitting on a world class deposit at Springpole Lake that could rival a recent Canadian discovery like Osisko’s Malarctic. When comparing an investment type story, GCU is on target to be the next big mine in Ontario and could follow a similar investment type path as an emerging development story similar to Osisko. Once they have added the ounces at Springpole this spring, the investment community will see this as a legitimate contender to being the next big gold mine in Canada. There are not very many stories that have a chance at defining 10M ounces and more and GCU is one of those stories, although it is still in the early innings of this ball game.


Multi-million Ounce World Class Potential

Recent drilling at Springpole’s Portage zone has so far exceeded expectations and is pointing to a world class multi-million ounce deposit in Red Lake with mineralization averaging widths of 90 to 150 meters and certain parts of the zone opening up to as wide as 250 meters at depth at the north part of the zone. So far drilling has suggested a depth of more than 370 meters and the gold zone being traced along a strike of up to 950 meters. GCU has suggest a 3 –5 million ounce gold target within the current defined strike to a depth of 300 meters which is more double the depth of the 1.5M oz historical resource.

Combined with an increased grade from around 1 g/t to 1.36, additional silver credits and an extension of the strike another 250 meters, it is easy to see where GCU is going to attain such a large initial resource for the Portage Zone. In addition to Portage, GCU estimates 400,000 – 500,000 ounces with inclusion of all the work at the Eastern Extension and Camp Zones into the resource. EE drilling hit decent shallow low grade intercepts of 54 meters @ 0.64 in a hole that had an aggregate of 63.4 gram-meters and hit some decent intervals in the camp zone which is a transition zone from the Main to the Portage of 21.5 meters at 1.31 g/t and 41 meters at 1.08 g/t au.

Unlimited depth potential

Recently drilling has confirmed the Portage Zone to a depth of 370 meters at the southern extent and to 300 meters at the north end which more than doubles the open pit depth potential. With the depth being tested in excess of 370 meters and it is safe to assume that Portage Zone extends to depth to at least 400 meters, one can infer the Portage Zone 4M to 5.5M ounce resource. In my conversations with Quinton, the demonstrated continuity of the mineralization and geology of the area infer that the Portage Zone runs to depths in excess of 500 to 600 meters which he estimates would be the maximum open pit depth for a project like Springpole. Quinton believes that the depth of the Portage zone porphyry structure could extend well in excess of 1,000 meters.

GCU will bring in a rig this summer that is capable of testing the depth beyond 400 meters. Another 200 – 300 meters of depth will double the project from the anticipated spring resource calculation.

Virtually Untested Strike

The strike of the zone has also been increased with a greater degree of confidence by more than 30% with some of the best intersections to date coming right at the end of the zone at 950 meters. This winter GCU is testing the strike of the Portage Zone to the southeast another 500 meters where they are confident it extends with a good degree of certainty. Historical estimates had put Portage more to the southwest instead of where it is currently projected to lie a bit more to the southeast, because of this, historical testing of the strike of Portage intersected extensive intervals of 0.6 to 0.7 g/t au which is typical of fringe Portage Zone mineralization. Gold Canyon believes that a couple well placed holes should hit the Portage Zone with the same type of continuity that has been defined to the north.

The furthest hole south hit 225 meters at 1.48 g/t au, which is one of the project’s best right at the south end of the defined strike including a 47 meter zone averaging 3.47 g/t au. This bodes very well for continued expansion of the Portage Zone along strike this winter with mineralization giving no sign of tailing off. The high grade zone continuing to the end indicates the zone will extend further south for a material distance. The grades in this type of orebody will gradually deplete as opposed to abruptly ending.

With the style of mineralization very continuous and likely to give signs that the zone is weakening well in advance with depleting grades, the Portage Zone can conceptually be looked at as being 1,500 meters in strike and persisting to depths of at least 400 meters and beyond. Just by looking at tonnage, it is easy to see how a 1.5M ounce 20Mt – 30Mt project balloons into a massive 8 – 10M ounce 100Mt – 200Mt project at Springpole Lake. Extend the project another 500 meters along strike with comparable grades and widths and the size of GCU’s Portage Zone becomes one of the biggest unmined gold deposits in Ontario.


Springpole Project: A Bulk Tonnage Open Pit Mine

Springpole Lake is showing potential for both a low cost bulk open pit mine and underground mine potential.

If there ever was a guaranteed deposit that will one day become a mine based on geological merits, Springpole is it. It has been thought to have world class potential for decades but because of the atypical style of mineralization when compared to a typical Archean Greenstone deposit, especially those in nearby Red Lake, it was often ignored for more pervasive high grade deposits in the area. If this deposit had been in Quebec along the Golden Highway, it would have been developed years ago. Springpole was always a project that had merit at much lower prices in gold, but since gold prices have risen dramatically over the last decade, a project like Springpole becomes very lucrative with the consistent grade and the shear scale of a project.

Current drilling has revealed a much higher grade than historical at the current 1.36 g/t au vs. historical 1 g/t estimate. (Some historical estimates actually estimated an even lower grade below 1 gram). The higher grade assays is attributed to the fact that Springpole has never been tested with HQ sized drill holes which allows for a much larger sample base and grades can be estimated with much more confidence. GCU has tested for silver and assays an average of 5.95 g/t which provides another 0.10-0.15 g/t credit to the grade of the project and brings Springpole an inferred average grade of around 1.5 g/t gold eq from current drilling program.

In addition to increased grade and silver credits, Springpole’s shear size gives it economies of scale with an eventual +200,000 oz per year producer possible as a future bulk tonnage mine operation with both open pit and underground potential. Even though Portage sits underneath a lake and might be considered more an underground operation like Agnico-Eagle’s Goldex Mine in Quebec, the lake is very shallow at no more than 27 meters depth and narrows at 2 critical points and is not much more than 10 meters deep in these sections. The part of the lake the Portage sits under can easily be dammed and drained into the main body of Springpole Lake further south.

Gold Canyon’s Portage Zone already represents a very large open pit project with the current dimensions of a 950 meter strike and a depth of 300 meters. The total dimension of the project to date is 1350 meters with another potential 500 meters making a massive open pit that could easily include 500 – 600 meter depth with a strike of 1850 meters. If the project continues along strike beyond that then Springpole could end up a mega open pit project like Newmont’s Twin Creeks in Nevada which is a series of massive open pits that follows a +5km mineralized strike. Twin Creeks is currently the largest open pit in Nevada.

The shear size and grade of the project supports building a mill and on site processing instead of shipping ore to Red Lake which will decrease costs at Springpole and every meter of strike and depth added to the deposit further supports this theory with economies of scale and a long mine life. What is also very good is GCU renegotiated the 5% NSR and had it reduced to 3% which can be further reduced to 1%. With the way the mineralization is situated, any open pit would have a very low strip ratio. Gold Canyon is just in the initial stage of metallurgical testing, but the core is often soft and broken and shows qualities of ore that will be very amenable to conventional milling processes. The upcoming prefeasibility study should be very positive.

Initial results at Springpole are very appealing and point to great economics supporting a potential open pit mine with underground development to follow. Current drilling points to a 100,000,000Mt open pit project if conceptualized to a 400 meter deep open pit. The current drill program’s average grade is 1.36 g/t au with additional silver credits averaging 5.95 g/t which indicate $65 to $70 per ton rock at current metal prices which is very nice rock when you have 100Mt’s of it. GCU has also been drilling HQ sized holes which gives plenty of samples for met work which is being completed this year for the prefeasibility study. The continuity of the mineralization is a bonus for mill throughout and with the nature of the mineralization being quite soft and broken, should making milling and recoveries very positive. These are all key points that point to mining at Springpole. Even at much lower prices. Currently Gold Canyon has these targets for Portage…
  • 950m strike * 100-150m width * 300m depth = 3M – 5M oz deposit
  • 1500m strike * 100-150m width * 300m depth – 5M – 6M oz deposit
  • 1500 m strike + Infer depth to 400+ meters… an 8M – >10M oz deposit

Gold Canyon will add material ounces to the upcoming NI43-101 resource calculation of at least 3-5M oz’s. Portage looks more and more like a 10M ounce open pit project if the strike is successfully extended. Springpole grows dramatically at that point if they extend depth and could be well in excess of 10M oz’s if the depth is successfully extended a materially distance.


The Winter Drill Program Set to Add Material Value

For GCU to confidently report a resource for Portage, they need to drill the middle portions of the zone as well as test the zone to surface, which is a major goal for resource definition and a prefeasibility study is soon to follow. GCU will be drilling 10,000 meters this winter and have 3 rigs on the property, 2 rigs are infill drilling the middle portion of Portage and testing the zone to surface while 1 rig tests Portage’s strike up another 500 meters this winter. This program gives GCU a two pronged strategy of growth by developing a very large already identified gold zone as well as stepping out and materially expanding the strike of this zone this winter.

When you have a zone that is 400 meter deep, is 100 to 150 meters, every 50 - 100 meters of successful step holes along strike provides material potential expansion to future calculations to the resource base. In addition to another 500 meters of strike, the long term viability of Portage will be viewed with its depth potential. If Portage keeps continuing to impress at depth, there will be some big buyers who will be very interested and willing to invest in this project having the potential for an extended mine life.

If Gold Canyon defines a gold zone at Portage that extends another 500 meters then that will put GCU’s Springpole Project a close rival to Osisko’s Malartic’s at 9M – 10M oz’s of gold. Obviously that is a big if and an initial resource calculation for Portage is needed to provide a base for future development, but considering the nature of the geology, abrupt changes are not expected and chances are that GCU will successfully step out this winter assuring Springpole of a +5M ounce gold deposit. Springpole is the first Canadian Gold company to come along in a long time to have real 10M ounce discovery potential since Osisko!!! In a proven district like Red Lake, GCU just needs to keep defining this monster gold zone and someone will come knocking.


Demonstrated Substantial resource expansion

The summer and fall drilling programs at Springpole indicating a substantial increase in the resource, much more than historical estimates indicate. Drilling has confirmed historical results, increased the grade, and expanded Portage at depth (double) and along strike (40%) with some of the best holes to date.

Some Springpole Facts

  • Highly contiguous throughout the entire zone
  • Consistently higher grades than historical plus silver
  • Extended the strike to 950 meters
  • Confirmed depth to 370 vertical meters
  • Zone width averages 90 – 100 meters
  • North end of the zone opens up to a 250 meter width at 300 meter depth
  • Open pit style to potential scale of Newmont’s Twin Creeks in Nevada
  • Soft and broken nature of mineralization point to good recoveries for milling
  • Continuous mineralization points to very good throughput
  • Deposit style points to low strip ratio.
  • Underground potential similar to that of Agnico Eagle’s low cost Goldex mine in Quebec if mineralization extends to depth.
  • New Resource Calculation and Feasibility Study


Reasons to invest…

  • Significant resource increase… 3 to 5M ounces gold upcoming resource calculation
  • Potential for >10M oz gold resource with Red Lake type depth potential.
  • Over million shares of insider buys in November / another 500,000+ by Sheldon Inwantesh in December
  • Winter program will add material value defining and adding ounces
  • New resource calculation after winter drill program
  • Pending prefeasibility study
  • Potential excellent open pit / underground mine potential
    • Deposit shows excellent continuity
    • Increased gold grade at depth + silver credits
    • Geological environment suggests underground depth potential in excess of 500 meters
  • Geological environment suggests world class potential in the scale of Cripple Creek and Porgera. (30M ounce gold deposits)
  • Proven mining district in Red Lake / Safe jurisdiction
  • Project scope suggest dedicated processing facilities
  • Well financed with a strong shareholder base
  • Excellent management track with history of managing shareholder value.
  • Management has a long history with company
  • Insiders own 39%
    • Sprott 20%
    • Pinetree 13%
    • Management 6%


GoldCanyonRates High as an Early Stage Development Story

When looking at current projects to compare GCU. GCU compares favorably to other early stage development stories including low grade names such as Volta, Trelawney, and even East Asia Minerals when it was still early. Gold Canyon has a chance to rival Osisko’s Malartic in the long run. Gold Canyon has announced some of the best, most continuous results along a 1km strike from surface to depth that rival some of the best early stage low grade development projects in the world and at initial glance looks like it could be a low cost producer from both open pit and underground scenario’s for a years to come. Add the fact that it is in our own backyard in Red Lake, Ontario. This is one of the best development projects to come along in awhile.

Springpole shows the best potential for significant multi-million ounce expansion along strike and at depth because of the continuity of the mineralization and the type of geology demonstrated. Springpole so far is remarkably contiguous and will compare very favorably to these projects as a bulk tonnage open pit mining operation and will easily end up being a +100Mt project containing +5M ounces of gold.

The big prize is that Gold Canyon may be on a 10M oz deposit at depth which would mean Gold Canyon shareholders are sitting on what may be one of the most coveted prizes in the Canadian gold sector since Osisko and Rainy River. Both companies did it on their own because the majors didn’t believe… Will Gold Canyon be another Canadian in-house success story or will the majors wake up and realize the potential of these massive low grade projects?

Either way, Gold Canyon is set to develop one of the biggest gold projects in Canada.

Gold Canyon is rated as a strong buy at $2.15 and I am confident they will continue to deliver on their theories and demonstrate that Portage is indeed a World Class Deposit that will rival some of the best producing mines anywhere in Canada one day.



Christopher Skidmore


Reporter for Beat the Market Stock Picks

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