This company chose strategy over luck in exploring B.C.’s ‘Golden Horseshoe’

British Columbia’s Toodoggone region is gaining traction as a new “Golden Triangle” with less exploration and less extreme terrain.

Sun Summit Minerals Corp. (TSXV:SMN) is a dynamic mineral exploration company focused on the expansion and discovery of district-scale gold and copper assets in British Columbia. With a diverse portfolio of projects, including the 520-square-kilometre Buck Project in central B.C., and the 150-square-km JD Project in the north-central part of the province, Sun Summit is positioned as a key player in one of Canada’s most resource-rich areas.

For investors looking for an entry-level opportunity into an underexplored, but proven region, Sun Summit offers a lot of potential worth getting excited about.

Exploring the ‘Golden Horseshoe’ region

The “Golden Horseshoe” is a prolific and proven area in B.C. that is shaped like a wide horseshoe extending from the “Golden Triangle” in the west to the Toodoggone region in the east. It truly is golden, being home to numerous known gold deposits, as well as numerous copper and silver deposits.

The Toogoddone is a well known copper-gold belt, drawing parallels to the northern B.C.’s producing ”Golden Triangle.” Like its more famous counterpart, the Toodoggone region is host to similar geological features, including rocks of the same age and geochemistry, but yet less explored, making it ripe for discovery.

Of note, Sun Summit’s new acquisition, the JD Project, is host to high-grade, epithermal-related, gold-silver mineralization and porphyry-related copper-gold mineralization. It has seen significant historic exploration, allowing rapid advancement of highly prospective targets, while allowing blue-sky discovery potential on its multiple under-explored grassroots targets.

The project is close to active exploration and development projects, such as Thesis Gold’s (TSXV: TAU) Lawyers and Ranch projects, TDG Gold’s (TSXV:TDG) Baker-Shasta projects, Centerra Gold Inc.’s (TSX:CG) Kemess East and North/Underground projects, and lies just north of the past-producing Kemess open pit copper-gold mine.

The JD Project is located 450 km northwest of Prince George, and 25 kilometres north of the Sturdee airstrip. It is proximal to existing infrastructure in place to support the past-producing Kemess mine, including roads and a hydroelectric power line. Recent exploration activities have seen an improvement in access along this corridor.

The Sun Summit team has been reviewing historic data from several targets across the JD Project. The most advanced target is the Finn Zone. The Finn Zone saw significant drilling in the 1980s and ’90s with around 270 drill holes, mostly in the hanging wall of the structurally controlled system. The Finn Zone has been noted as being open along strike while the foot wall has not seen much drilling at depth. The Finn Zone extends to the west along an under-explored corridor to the Creek Zone. This zone has seen limited drilling but still boasts similar high-grade drill intercepts as the Finn Zone. The Finn to Creek corridor, about 3 km, contains many gold and silver anomalies from surface geochemistry and has seen little drilling.

Historic drilling a little more than a decade ago at the Finn Zone intersected a copper porphyry at depth, which ushered in a new kind of deposit style for exploration. In addition, many surface samples in the McClair Creek area, east of Finn, reported anomalous copper grades.

An ongoing comprehensive review and compilation of property-wide historical exploration data has resulted in the definition of multiple new target areas, including identification of extensions to previously drilled near-surface high-grade gold and silver mineralization within the Finn and Creek Zones (Feb. 1 and Feb. 12 news releases). Results from historical drilling highlighted the high-grade gold potential of structurally controlled sulfide-rich mineralization at both zones.

The structural controls on high-grade mineralization at the Finn and Creek zones remain unknown. Planned drilling, as well as surface geochemical and geophysical surveys, will aim to investigate the orientation and extent of the high-grade mineralization, as well as target high-grade veins within the zone.

In a news release, the company’s President, Sharyn Alexander, said the fact that most historic drill holes were selectively sampled, leaving large gaps in assay data, limits the team’s evaluation of the true scale and potential of these targets.

“We therefore plan to aggressively explore the Finn and Creek Zones this year with a program consisting of diamond drilling, induced polarization (IP) geophysics and targeted mapping. Further details of the upcoming field program will be announced as the data compilation and target generation progresses.”

While there has been an IP geophysical survey at the Finn zone, this had been done on the Creek zone, which will be conducted along with sampling, mapping and prospecting work throughout the whole property.

Underexplored potential

Despite its geological richness, the JD Project remains largely underexplored, presenting a compelling opportunity for Sun Summit.

In an interview with The Market Online, Alexander explained some historic exploration, including drilling, surface geochemistry and geophysics, had been carried out on the property, however the project area is largely underexplored.

Apart from the Finn zone, very limited drilling has been completed on the property. In addition, much of the historic data has not yet been compiled, and in some instances, only exists as hand drawn maps in old reports. The exercise of digitizing historic data and creating a robust project database is essential in target selection and prioritization.

Furthermore, intermittent drill hole sampling has left gaps in knowledge. “In the ’80s and ’90s, [operators] only selectively sampled [drill holes], and I think that might be a sign of the times, maybe they ran out of money. It was around that time where markets were turning, they just were sampling where you saw visible mineralization,” she said. “But even just drilling a hole right next to a historical hole that had been selectively sampled, the chance to find continuous mineralization is very strong, considering the gold doesn’t stop just because you haven’t sampled it. I think in the Finn to Creek zones, where we are targeting drilling in the first year, we are going to get some really high potential drill results and have some drill targets that would lead to some pretty good verification of some of this historic drilling.”

Advancing the Buck Project

At the Buck Project in central B.C., the team is planning to return to conduct field exploration later this year.

The company is planning an initial mineral resource estimate on Buck Main, an epithermal gold-silver system which is where most of the drilling has been completed. The mineralization at Buck Main is open laterally and at depth, and additional drilling could trigger a future update or expansion to the planned mineral resource estimate.

Last year, the company acquired the neighbouring CR Project, a known copper porphyry, from Teck Resources Ltd. (TSX:TECK) and amalgamated it into the Buck Project, expanding its land position in this prospective region. Positive exploration results from the previous field season has led to the development of several new targets at CR, where the company plans to return this year for additional boots-on-ground exploration.

Modern approach to exploration

Sun Summit has adopted a modern approach to mineral exploration, leveraging cutting-edge technologies and digital methodologies to unlock the full potential of its projects.

Through innovative techniques such as drone-basedgeophysics, cutting-edge databases and 3D modeling, the company aims to extract valuable insights from existing data, pushing the boundaries of exploration and discovery.

In a recent interview, Alexander emphasized the importance of evolving exploration methods to maximize results, highlighting the company’s commitment to harnessing technology to drive project advancement and differentiation in a competitive landscape.

“We’ve tried a lot of new technology, in terms of geophysics, assaying, digital databases and 3D modeling, which I think you really need to do, especially since both the Buck and the JD projects have had significant historical exploration. You don’t want to keep doing the same thing over and over. You do the same thing, you’re going to get the same results. You want to take this data, look at it a new way, model it and put it through your programs,” she said. “I think taking this existing data and trying to find new information from it is really how we can advance these projects that have seen previous exploration, because there are not a lot of projects nowadays that haven’t seen any exploration. These grassroots discoveries have never been sampled or drilled beforeare becoming more rare. Or artificial intelligence (AI), for example, machine learning, and really advancing those projects and finding what the others couldn’t just based on technology at the time.”

Meet the team

Sun Summit’s leadership team brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the table. Sharyn Alexander, a seasoned geologist with extensive experience, serves as President. Long time director, Brian Lock, serves as Executive Chairman, replacing co-founder “Tookie” Angus, a notable figure in the industry, who laid the groundwork for Sun Summit’s success. Former CEO and co-founder, Bob Willis, now Senior Advisor, also provides strategic insights to the team.,

Ken McDonald, Sun Summit’s VP of Exploration, brings a wealth of experience in mineral exploration and mining, from grassroots to feasibility stages, honed through years of experience in permitting and project development. Christopher Leslie, the company’s Technical Advisor, lends his expertise in exploration, having played a pivotal role in the discovery of the Blackwater Gold Mine and having recently worked on the JD Project.

Tight share structure

The company has recently completed a 3-to-1 share consolidation, which has led to a tightened share structure.

Alexander clarified that when the JD Project came up for option last fall, one of the requests of the vendors was that they undertake a share consolidation.

She described a competitive bidding process for the project, but they thought it was worth the aggressive deal in the way they would be able to get some near-term catalysts and solid high grade results right off the bat.

Investors’ corner

The Sun Summit team sees tangible value on these existing assets, giving them a renewed lease on life, guided by industry veterans.

Alexander notes the company’s appeal to new investors, driven by the promise of the JD story and a tight share structure. At a market capitalization of just under C$5 million, Sun Summit presents an undervalued opportunity for investors seeking exposure to British Columbia’s burgeoning mineral exploration sector.

As Sun Summit embarks on its exploration journey, backed by a solid financial foundation and a dedicated team of experts, the company is well-positioned to capitalize on the vast potential of its projects, delivering value to shareholders and stakeholders alike.

Alexander offered these final thoughts: “We’ve spent a lot of time re-tooling the strategy, as you need to in changing markets. First, we’re focusing on near-term value creation through rapid project advancement on JD. There is a significant opportunity here to explore and test a highly prospective project with high grade potential. Next, we’d like to create tangible value on our Buck Project with the initial mineral resource estimate, as ounces in the ground will move the company away from being an early exploration play. Finally, we’re leaving room for significant blue-sky potential with our grassroots targets, advancing them to the drill-ready stage and open for discovery. The next year is very much focused on wealth creation and returning shareholder value, and we hope to do that through solid project planning, continual newsflow, and near-term catalysts.”

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