Steven Dean's Artemis Gold Inc. (ARTG) fell 16 cents to $11.24 on 198,000 shares on word that construction has been halted temporarily at its Blackwater project, 160 kilometres southwest of Prince George in central British Columbia, because of a wildfire evacuation order. All non-essential staff and contractors left today with just essential personnel left behind. Everyone is safe, the company says, and your investment should be as well, as Artemis expects to resume construction in the short term.
At last report, the first gold pour at Blackwater was expected before the end of the year. The $750-million cost covers just a first phase of mining, as Artemis has three planned expansion phases over a 17-year mine life that would see mining and processing increase to 25 million tonnes per year. At last report, Blackwater held a reserve of 334 million tonnes at 0.75 gram of gold and 5.8 grams of silver per tonne, a total of eight million ounces of gold and 62.2 million ounces of silver -- with significantly more available as a resource.
The challenge is similar for Randy Turner's Independence Gold Corp. (IGO). Independence, unchanged at 21 cents on 443,000 shares, has evacuated its staff from the 3Ts project because of the evacuation order. (The 3Ts project is 185 kilometres southwest of Prince George, under the same threat as Blackwater, which is 16 kilometres away.)
Mr. Turner, president and CEO, says that his priority was ensuring that everyone was able to make it safely off the site, which was successful thanks to the diligence of his project manager. After lauding the efforts of the locals and the hardworking firefighters, he assures shareholders that exploration will resume "once it is safe to return to the site."
Independence Gold cheered a hit averaging 7.03 grams of gold per tonne across 17 metres in the Tommy vein system at 3Ts in late June, just a week after it had drilled a 23-metre interval averaging 5.85 grams of gold and 152.7 grams of silver per tonne in the Ted-Mint vein system. Based on the encouragement, Independence boosted its drill plan by 1,100 metres to 5,300 metres.
At last report in 2022, the company credited 3Ts with 4.47 million tonnes inferred averaging 3.64 grams of gold and 96.26 grams of silver per tonne, good for a total of 522,000 ounces of gold and 13.8 million ounces of silver in the Tommy and Ted-Mint systems. Roughly half the ounces of gold and silver reside in open-pittable rock, while the remaining ounces require underground mining. An update could add significantly to the ounces, so Mr. Turner and his crew are eager to get back drilling.