Back in the mid 1800s, America experienced a boom as gold fever swept the land and helped build a nation. Hopeful prospectors, almost too numerable to count, packed their dreams, their pans and their picks, and headed west, laying claims all the way to the coast. The California gold rush, the Colorado gold rush and the Cariboo gold rush in Canada famously went down in history, but in the din of discoveries that followed Sutter's mill, another important gold mining phenomenon, in a place better known for its potatoes, got lost in the mix.
The Idaho gold rush was no small affair as it produced millions of ounces of the yellow stuff in prolific districts such as the Boise Basin, French Creek-Florence, Silver City and Coeur d'Alene. Yet there is so much more left to explore. It is no surprise then, that with improvements in technology and mining methodologies as well as the introduction of miner-friendly permitting, industrious juniors have once again focused their efforts on the gem state.
Black Mammoth Metals Corporation (TSX-V.BMM), a Canadian-based junior exploration company, is one such example of this trend.
Dustin Henderson, President and CEO of Black Mammoth, as well as the company's VP of Exploration, Mark Abrams, CPG, spent the last five years researching the vast network of historic mines and other gold properties in western United States. They eventually focused on Idaho County, Idaho. Idaho County, the second largest gold producer in the state, is the stuff of legends, hosting gold-rich districts such as Buffalo Hump, Dixie, Elk City, Orogrande, Simpson, Tenmile and Warren-Marshall.
Henderson's and Abrams’ extensive due diligence brought them to settle on the Blanco Creek Gold Property, 27 kilometres southeast of Elk City. Blanco Creek, made up of 40 unpatented federal lode claims, totalling approximately 334 hectares, is home to three historic underground, vein-hosted gold mines: the Hercules, the Pasadena and the Alberta.
This fact is of special significance as mines like these began operation in the early 1900s when horses still towed ore to mills and miners swung picks – a rudimentary production workflow that left much behind. Then, during the second world war, Franklin D. Roosevelt shuttered these same mines when he signed executive order L-208, as gold and silver weren't considered necessary for the war effort.
As a result, many of those mines were left untouched. The relatively low price of gold and silver made them cost prohibitive to bring back into operation. Now that gold is once again on a healthy rise, mid-tiers like Midas Gold with their Stibnite project are making Idaho home and has become one of North America’s premier development stories. And they’re not the only ones stepping in. Revival Gold snapped up both Arnett Creek and Beartrack Gold Projects, Pilot Gold, now Liberty Gold, acquired Black Pine Mine and last but not least, Integra Resources put their hands on the DeLamar Project. The interest in Idaho has definitely surged.
Henderson went on to affirm the tremendous upside for juniors in Idaho, "The permitting process is more efficient now and with its history, Idaho has never been looked at as closely as Nevada, leaving a lot of room for what I like to call, re-discovery of resources. The amount of possibilities here are exciting as there is not only a lot of historic mines in the state, but many are right in Idaho County where we are currently operating and who also share similar geology to Blanco Creek ".
Blanco Creek was a company maker deal for Black Mammoth and the terms are more than generous. Some may say too generous and wonder if the cheap payments also means cheap property value, but Henderson was quick to counter this assumption, "We were fortunate to find a private owner willing to do a reasonable deal on a property that really checks off all the boxes for a property that could be advanced through to development, which includes two high-quality access roads, prior data showing a high grade gold vein system over more than 11,000 feet of strike and prior reports also pointing to a geologic target."
And what a target it is. According to work carried out by two previous operators in the 80s and 90s, the target identified at the Blanco Creek property runs in the order of
1.7 to 2.48 million tons, grading 0.20 to 0.33 oz/ton Au (1.54 to 2.24 million tonnes, grading 6.85 to 11.31 g/tonne Au). These estimates were generated using the assumption of a 150-metre depth. At a 300-metre depth, the geologic target approximately doubles. Both Henderson and Abrams are eagerly looking forward to drill testing the target to see if they can verify the previous operators' historic conceptual data and bring it into NI 43-101 compliance.
That isn't the end to the sweetness of this deal, as Henderson went on to explain, "This is one of those situations where we managed to form a relationship with the owner based on trust and integrity where we are not obligated to a work commitment, because to an exploration company, not losing your flagship property is more important than upside potential."
This doesn't mean Black Mammoth has sat on its laurels. The company just wrapped up a rock chip sample program that's produced some impressive results. Said samples came from quartz veins along the Blanco Creek Shear Zone from three main target areas near the historic mines on the property. They confirmed the historical gold and silver values listed in the historical data acquired with the property in 2016.
The samples showed a level of continuity of precious metal mineralization along the 3550 metre (11,644 foot) strike length of the Alberta-Hercules-Pasadena vein system. They also indicated parallel gold mineralized veins to the main veins on the property.
In the end, gold values soared as high as 27.1 grams per tonne (g/t), while silver values peaked as high as 290 g/t with four of the seventeen samples assayed higher than 5 g/t. Not too shabby. Here's a breakdown of results from
October 24th:
Black Mammoth has also thoroughly reviewed the mountains of data obtained with the property and submitted a Plan of Operation to the USFS in early August. The intention is to facilitate a drill program based on this extensive review using ten drill pad locations with multiple holes from each pad location.
The Blanco Creek Gold Property isn't the only thing to crow about.
Since taking Black Mammoth over in 2013, Henderson worked hard to create an entity that sits above your average junior and he's succeeded. Many small explorers wallow on the market in a loosely-held sea of shares, often above the 100 million mark, but Black Mammoth sits on just 8.5 million shares with approximately 50% of those shares tightly held between insiders, and friends and family.
On top of that, Black Mammoth's burn rate is among the lowest in the industry. Black Mammoth possesses the financing freedom and operational frugality it will require to move Blanco forwards.
Good business practice is vital in exploration, but it's almost useless without the brainpower to back it up. Black Mammoth has both.
Dustin Henderson, who holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Simon Fraser University, has spent the last 14 years expertly handling roles ranging from: President and CEO, CFO, Director and Investor Relations for publicly-listed miners. Currently, he is President and co-owner of IDA Gold Corporation, a private gold-focused Nevada based exploration company. Henderson also has extensive finance experience with 15 years in mutual funds where he owned and operated a branch office of an Independent Fund Dealer.
Mark Abrams also joins Henderson as co-owner of IDA Gold Corporation and has more than 30 years of domestic and international mineral exploration experience, designing, initiating and conducting advanced project evaluations and acquisitions in the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Chile, Argentina, Canada, China and Indonesia.
Recently, Abrams was responsible for exploration and acquisitions in the United States for Golden Predator Corp., and before that, he worked 12 years for Agnico-Eagle (USA) Ltd., where he led his exploration team to a gold discovery in northeastern Nevada. He has also conducted exploration work over 18 years for Placer Dome within the Cortez joint venture and Bald Mountain mine properties, the acquisition of and first exploration work on the Donlin Creek project in Alaska and was responsible for acquiring the lands now occupied by portion of the Pipeline mine and was involved in the early exploration work on the deposit. Abrams holds a BSc. in Geology and a MSc. in Geology from Eastern Washington University.
Black Mammoth Metals Corp. and the Blanco Creek Gold Property look to be perfectly complementary to each other, and with a tight share structure designed for capital appreciation and an expert team poised to verify a high grade geological target, this duo has the potential of generating incredible value for shareholders. Wise investors may want to put this one on their radar.
--Gaalen Engen
FULL DISCLOSURE: The author has been paid by Black Mammoth for this article. As always, due diligence.