Every once in a while I find myself scanning through a company’s website or press releases and then I have to pause for a moment and go back and re-read something. Instead of the usual content you expect to see, something jumps off the page and you have to make sure you read it correctly and that your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you. Today’s junior mining stock had me doing this a couple of times for several different reasons. The company is unusual (in a good way) and not simply because Eric Sprott beneficially owns 25% of the outstanding shares (even more if warrants are exercised). It also had nothing to do with its location, Newfoundland & Labrador, although that’s why I was looking at it in the first place as I just happen to enjoy reading and writing about this special part of Canada.
The first thing that jumped off the page for me was “Approximately 48,000 metres remain to be completed in the current 100,000 m drill program”. For a junior miner anywhere, that is a giant volume of drilling, which also means there has to be plenty of cash around as well. How about a treasure stocked with C$13 million? Seems like enough to undertake such an enormous exploration program and as the Company states “sufficient funds to undertake all the exploration activities planned for 2022”. The last thing that stood out was the number of projects being actively explored – 5. Most junior mining companies don’t have more than 2 or 3 properties to pursue, often only 1, and even more rare is the resources to be working on all these projects over the next 3-6 months.
Needless to say, I was hooked. I had to find out more about Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SIC | OTCQB: SICNF), and let me tell, there is a lot more to learn. The Company’s primary focus is its portfolio of gold projects; flagship Moosehead Gold Project, Crippleback Lake (optioned to Trans Canada Gold Corp.) and East Alder (optioned to Canterra Minerals Corporation) along the Central Newfoundland Gold Belt, and the district-scale Fleur de Lys project in north-central Newfoundland. The Company also recently entered into a strategic alliance with Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX) through three, large-scale, joint-venture properties including Grey River, Golden Hope and Kepenkeck in Newfoundland. Sokoman controls, independently and through the Benton alliance, over 150,000 hectares (>6,000 claims – 1500 sq. km), making it one of the largest landholders in Newfoundland, in Canada’s newest and rapidly-emerging gold districts. The Company also retains an interest in an early-stage antimony/gold project (Startrek) in Newfoundland, optioned to White Metal Resources Inc., and in Labrador, the Company has a 100% interest in the Iron Horse (Fe) project which has Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) potential.
I’m still trying to figure out what metal or minerals Newfoundland & Labrador doesn’t have as it seems the region has an abundance of everything. Along those lines, the Golden Hope JV with Benton made the first high-grade lithium discovery in Newfoundland in September, 2021. The first assay results from the drilling program that tested the Kraken pegmatite field returned an average of 0.95% Li2O over 8.40 m with grades as high as 1.76% Li2O. Not bad when you are looking for gold. The Alliance has proposed a C$3 million budget for a summer drill program testing as many of the known pegmatite dykes as possible, with up to 30-40 holes planned. Camp setup and drill mobilization are expected in mid-June.
But as interesting as this is, for today I think will focus on where the bulk of the drilling is being done, and that’s the Moosehead Gold Project where visible gold has been intersected in drilling over a 2 km strike length. From 2018-2021 Sokoman completed ~73,000 m of drilling with ~360 holes, leading to the discovery of 4 significant zones, all of which remain open. Highlights from these zones rival some of the findings from their neighbors to the east, New Found Gold Corp. (TSXV: NFG | AMEX: NFGC) another Eric Sprott backed gold miner in Newfoundland:
Western Trend • MH-18-08 • 1.05 m @ 207.5g/t Au from 8.5 m; and 2.28 m @ 42.36 g/t Au from 33.1 m
Eastern Trend • MH-18-01 • 11.9 m @ 44.96g/t Au, including 5.65 m @ 93.56 g/t Au from 115.2 m
75 Zone • MH-21-23 • 44.8 m @ 17.56g/t Au, including 2.75 m @ 30.59g/t Au from 44.75 m
South Pond • MH-20-12 • 35.0 m of 26.87 g/t Au, including 2.15 m @ 60.59 g/t Au from 47.0 m
Heading into 2022 is where things get really exciting. Results last week, some of the first holes from the 100,000 m 2022 program, expanded the 75 Zone and essentially linked it with the main Eastern Trend/Footwall Splay mineralization (see picture below). In addition, MH-22-418, completed last week (assays pending) intersected the deepest occurrence of visible gold to date on the property at a downhole depth of 352 m.
Source: Sokoman Minerals May 19, 2022 Press Release
It would appear there will be a steady stream of drilling results coming from Sokoman Minerals over the following weeks and months, not only from Moosehead, but Golden Hope and Grey River with JV partner Benton Resources Inc. There is a lot going on at this well funded, junior gold (and now lithium) explorer. With a market cap of C$66 million it’s not hard to imagine plenty of upside when one of your comparables is New Found Gold at a market cap of C$1.2 billion.