Aiming to develop the Galt oil and gas project on the Gaspé Peninsula, Ressources Québec Inc., acting as mandatory for the Government of Québec, and Gestion Bernard Lemaire Inc., has teamed up with Junex Inc. (TSX-V:JNX), agreeing to make a significant investment to advance the Junex project.
Junex estimates $14.0 million for an exploration program at Galt, for which Ressources Québec will kick in 60%, or $8.4 million. In return, Ressources will get a 17.13% undivided interest in the properties comprising the Galt project.
The rest of the interest in the project will be held by Junex (52.87%) and Gestion Bernard Lemaire (30.0%). Junex is and will remain the operator on the project that an independent evaluation in 2015 estimated to have 557 million barrels of oil initially in place.
Historically, exploration and drilling in Eastern Quebec for oil and gas has been very low. Junex is focused on geology it considers very favorable, including its more than 2.1 million acres of land in the Appalachian basin in the Quebec, inclusive of the Galt property and landholdings in the St. Lawrence Lowlands between Montreal and Quebec.
In order to help fund exploration at Galt, Junex in May sold its 25% interest in a Texas project for C$1.01 million.
Traders are happy to hear the Ressources' investment, bidding up shares of JNX from Thursday's close at C$0.40 to C$0.49, representing a gain of 21.0%, subsequent to hitting an intraday high of 54 Canadian cents.
