iMetal Resources Inc. (TSX-Venture: IMR)is focused on the acquisition and exploration of prospective resource properties. Currently, the Company is focused on advancing its flagship Gowganda West Project in Ontario, Canada. The project, located in the famous Abitibi Belt, is home to a litany of prolific mining camps, and believed to have yielded more than 180 million ounces of gold since the early 20th century.
Coincidently, iMetal’s Gowganda West Project appears similar in geology to other gold-producing operations within the district, including the gold-rich Kirkland Lake and Timmins gold camps.
Kirkland Lake. Timmins. Val-d’Or. These are mining camps that are forever recognized when Canadian mining history is the conversation. It was the Kirkland Lake and Porcupine Gold Rushes that drove most of the settlement in northern Ontario in the early 20th century and mining operations are still ongoing today.
For instance, Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) (TSX:PAAS) is active with its Timmins mines located near high quality gold operations, including Newmont Goldcorp’s (NYSE:NEM) (TSX:NGT) Porcupine mine and Detour Gold’s (TSX:DGC) (OTC:DRGDF) Detour Lake mine.
Despite the existence of significant mineral reserves in a number of prolific mining-friendly jurisdictions, there are parts of the region that remain largely unexplored. For iMetal Resources, there is a dedicated path to prosperity by focusing its efforts on exploration ground which exhibits characteristics of these historically proven areas.
The Vancouver-based company has multiple properties in Ontario, including the large flagship project called Gowganda West. iMetal owns more than 145 square kilometers of contiguous claims located 17 kilometers west-south-west of Gowganda, Ontario and 90 kilometers southwest of Kirkland Lake.
The project is located in the famous Abitibi Belt that is believed to have yielded more than 180 million ounces of gold since the early 20th century. The Abitibi Belt is home to a litany of prolific mining camps, including Timmins, Val-d'Or, Kirkland Lake, Malartic, Noranda, Matachewan, Matheson, Detour Lake and Casa Berardi, to name a few.
iMetal would like nothing more than to have Gowganda West be recognized as a prolific mining camp, sometime in the near future. In order to do so, management has been methodically checking the boxes of mineral discovery, conducting sample and channel programs and completing initial drilling, identifying targets through a VTEM (Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetics) study and, most recently, the completion of an extensive Induced Polarization (IP) geophysical survey.
All this on a property that has seen very little work historically, other than some trenches that appear to have been worked almost 100 years ago. But that has now changed, and Gowganda West work activities suggest that the area is quiet no more. This could be an exciting frontier exploration story in a well-recognized prolific greenstone belt.
On that note, the Company just announcing after the market close today that its first-ever diamond drilling program has commenced at Zone 3 in the Company's Gowganda West Project.
iMetal intends to assay this drill hole for gold, base metals and other elements.
Johan Grandin, iMetal President and CEO, commented: "We are delighted to commence our first-ever drill campaign at Zone 3. The recently completed IP program has identified several high priority exploration targets at Zone 3 and we look forward to seeing initial diamond drill hole results. In addition, a new drill program targeting the IP anomalies identified at depth at Zone 1 South is also currently being finalized. We look forward to providing the market with further updates."
Investors are encouraged to read the potentially market moving press release in its entirety here.
There has been a common theme in the data collected from the diligent work performed thus far. Indications suggest that iMetal’s property appears similar in geology to other gold-producing operations within the district. The altered and jasper rocks appear similar to what is found in the gold-rich Kirkland Lake and Timmins gold camps.
The pieces of the exploration work conducted thus far, support the thesis that there is a strong possibility of a gold discovery for iMetal. In addition, the confirmation of a hydrothermal system being present, after a maiden drill program earlier this year, generated a strengthened belief that the geology could span for 7km in length and 2 km in width.
The program consisted of five holes totaling 1,258 meters in Zone 1 of the property, all of which intersected the Archean-aged lithologies as hypothesized they would. Notable intersections included 2.5 meters grading 2.95 g/t gold; 0.9 meters averaging 1.55 g/t gold; 4.6 meters at 1.43 g/t gold and 6.65 meters grading 1.07 g/t gold, all at shallow depths.
This data reinforced earlier channel sample data that returned 1.0 meters grading 9.64 g/t gold and 0.4 meters at 16.6 g/t gold. That was on top of chip samples from late in 2018 grading up to 39.3 g/t gold.
What’s particularly important to note is that the high-grade surface samples and drill results from Zone 1 South at Gowganda West are within very close proximity to Pan American Silver’s Juby deposit (~500 meters away).
Early this month, Abitibi Geophysics completed a 46.5 line kilometer IP survey for iMetal, analyzing Zone 1 South and Zone 3A/3B at Gowganda West. Again, the results pointed to strong mineralization, while helping to define upcoming drill targets. Multiple sizeable chargeability anomalies have been identified, which extend locally from surface to a vertical depth of approximately 500 meters and lateral width extents of up to 1.2 kilometers in Zone 1 South and 1.4 kilometers in Zone 3A/3B.
P. Geo. and Qualified Person Dave Gamble serves as Senior Consulting Geologist at iMetal. He is integral to a team of seasoned mining and capital market vets led by President and CEO Johan Grandin. Most recently, the company brought on Gary Grabowski to bolster its advisory board. Grabowski was the district geologist for the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines for more than 35 years, is currently a director of both the Northern Prospectors Association, the Ontario Prospectors Association and a Fellow of the Geological Association of Canada.
With four decades in the industry under his belt, Gamble is well respected in the mining space, particularly in the eastern part of Canada where he has large discoveries to his name. He was directly responsible for the original discovery of the Grevet Township Cu-Zn-Ag massive sulfide deposit near Lebel sur Quevillon, Quebec in 1978 for Selco Mining Corporation Ltd. and was also directly responsible for the volcanogenic Cu-Zn-Co-Ag massive sulfide discoveries at the Potter Mine in Munro Township in Northeastern Ontario in 1997-2008.
So, when Gamble says that the IP results from Gowganda West were “well beyond expectations,” it should make investors take notice. Anyone that has been around mineral exploration for any length of time knows that geologists, especially accomplished ones like Gamble, are about as low-key as it comes with respect to showing any signs of excitement.
If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a video is worth much more. Gamble takes the time to break down data that has been collected from the IP survey and put it into different formats (plan view, block models,3D, etc.) to provide an easy-to-understand visual of the potential that exists in the anomalies seen in the 3D Block Model of Zone 1 South and the 3D Block Model of Zone 3A/3B.
It is clear from the video that both Zone 1 South and Zone 3A/3B have a number of anomalies and that some are of significant size. The deployment, completion and interpretation of the IP Survey has enabled the company to delineate drill targets and provide a greater level of confidence for a potential discovery. It was also clear in the video that the short maiden drill program missed intersecting any of the big anomalies, but just barely intersected one.
Remember, that the Zone 1 survey covered 1.2-kilometres square and 500 metres vertical depth and the Zone 3A/3B survey covered 1.4-kilometres square and 500 metres vertical depth. Since the project is 145 square kilometres in totality, the company has merely scratched the surface, so to speak. More surveying, drilling, assaying, etc. is necessary to really begin to better gauge what iMetal has on its hands, and what the potential could be. In particular Zone 3 anomalies appear to be open to the West and South and may represent a very large system.
The company is fortunate to be in a location where work can be performed year-round.
Based on our understanding of the company thus far, any significant success with respect to drill targets, could propel the company into a different category.
Trading at seven cents with a market capitalization of only $7.8 million CDN, iMetal with one or two significant news releases, could garner a greater market awareness and with it, potentially a higher share price.
