It’s one of the most ruggedly beautiful places on earth. For more than 150 years, a region of Canada steeped in mining history and colourful lore. In many respects, a land that time forgot.
The Cariboo-Chilcotin is an area that covers more than 70,000 square kilometres of BC's Central Interior, roughly the size of the Czech Republic. Now, one innovative mining company is offering investors “the potential to generate near-term cash flow from ‘renting’
placer claims to other placer miners.”
Green River Gold Corp. (CCR) (
CSE.CCR,
Forum) was founded in the summer of 2017 by a group of investors who had experience in placer mining in the Cariboo Mining District of British Columbia through a private corporation. The Company’s executive saw near term cash flow potential in the placer mining industry and also recognized the great potential for hard rock gold discoveries based on the rich mining history of the Cariboo District. With the assistance of locally based geological consultants and miners with many decades of combined experience, the Company set out to find both placer and mineral properties with good potential.
Here’s how it works. CCR’s unique business plan is to generate income from renting out placer mining claims and providing services and equipment to placer miners. The Company currently holds almost 2,000 hectares of placer mining claims, along with 8,200 hectares of mineral claims. The typical placer mining claim is about 20 hectares in size, which is about the equivalent of 40 CFL-sized football fields. Placer mining is pretty much self-isolation for fun and profit.
Placer mining consists of separating gold nuggets, flakes and dust from the surrounding gravel using gravity separation. The process can be as simple as panning for gold in a creek, or using a small pump and a highbanker, all the way up to large industrial scale operations using excavators, rock trucks, and large trommels or wash plants.
Some of the large operations can process well over 100 cubic yards of material per hour while a manual operation using a small pump and highbanker might only process 2 or 3 cubic yards of material per day. Green River Gold Corp. holds placer claims that are permitted for large scale operations as well as claims that are only available for non-mechanical operations at this time. Any operation that is going to use more than a 1 ½ inch pump or any other mechanical equipment to mine will require permits and permits can take a few months to receive. Bonding for the potential cost of reclaiming the mine sites must be posted for any mechanical mining operation but is not required for hand mining.
(A highbanker, also called a power sluice, is a piece of equipment that uses a pump to force water through a sluice to mimic the natural flow of a stream. Photo courtesy Green River Gold)
Placer mining has been taking place in the Cariboo Mining District since the original Cariboo Gold Rush in the late 1800’s but much of the area was not really accessible until recent years as more logging roads opened up new areas for prospecting. Many of the areas that were mined at surface have never been mined with mechanical equipment and much of the high-grade alluvial gold is closer to bedrock. That bedrock can often be down 60 to 100 feet so very little of it was accessed via the shafts and tunnels dug by the early miners who were armed only with picks and shovels.
And with the COVID-19 outbreak wreaking havoc on the economy and employment across Canada, there could be ‘gold in them thar hills’ for potential summer prospectors…big or small. In conversation with Stockhouse Editorial, CCR’s President and CEO, Perry Little, explained the value and opportunity he believes the Company has uncovered for investors and placer miners in an area that he says is still largely untouched:
“There’s lots and lots of gold still out there. We are there to accommodate the small prospector/hand miner who just wants to try his luck with a small pump, highbanker, shovels and pans. We can set them up on a claim and equip them with everything they need for well under $2,000.”
“We also have claims that are already permitted for larger mechanical mining operations for this season. We will take care of the bonding for those larger operations. The operator will be responsible to ensure that the property is reclaimed to our satisfaction before they leave. The rental price for the larger operations is a cash rent based on a percentage of the gold expected to be recovered over the season and the current price of gold. If the operator recovers more gold than anticipated, or if the gold price rises above the current price, those benefits all accrues to the operator. Our monthly rent is set at the beginning of the season. We reserve the right to monitor the operation at any time to ensure compliance with the mining regulations and our renters can count on regular visits. The idea is to make sure that everything and everyone remains safe, productive and in compliance with all regulations.”
“Our people have a lot of experience in permitting, reclamation, and placer mining. We know first-hand how difficult it is and we want to see miners succeed. They have enough start up costs to contend with without having to purchase a claim and put up the bonding. We can save them that part of the initial cost. Our affiliate also builds large wash plants, feeder hoppers and other specialized equipment. Leasing is available for qualified applicants through a relationship with a third-party lender. Again, that can help to defray some of the start up costs.”
“All the miners have to really do is just go in and do the mining. They go in, mine, and pay us the rent. And that’s it.”
Lastly, the CEO explained that there has been a huge increase in people asking about placer mining because of the massive number of workers being displaced from their jobs because of the CV-19 pandemic.
And with the attractiveness of mining when gold is at an all-time high (now over $2,400 Canadian per ounce), it doesn’t sound like a half bad summer job.
What Placer Mining is All About
Placer mining may sound like a relic from the distant past, but it offers a number of advantages for potential miners and investors alike. The amount of income generated can be controlled while assets are accumulated. The gold mined from production can be inventoried and it does not become income until it is sold. Thus, gold sales can be made when it is advantageous to do so. Other placer mining benefits include:
All production costs and exploration expenses can be written off against income.
Royalties on gold production paid to the Canadian government are exceptionally low – approximately 40 cents per ounce of gold produced. The royalty rate is only 22 percent, based on gold valued at $15 per ounce, the value of gold at the time of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. Canadian laws do not restrict the export of gold.
Unlike hard rock gold mining, placer mining projects can be put into production within a year or as little as a few months.
The amount of capital required to start a placer mining operation is also relatively low. The result of these two factors is that placer mining projects can generate cash flow within a short time frame.
Thus, it is financially feasible for individual retail investors and less capital intrusive for small companies to own a producing placer gold mine.
The BC Government’s Ministry of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources details how easy and inexpensive it is to start up a small scale placer mining operation
here.
And all they require is something called a
Free Miners Certificate which can be easily obtained from the province online.
About Green River Gold Corp.
CCR is headquartered in Edmonton Alberta with an office and retail mining supplies store in the heart of the Cariboo Mining District in Quesnel, British Columbia – or as they like to say at the corner of Gold Mining and Gold Mining.
CCR’s focus is on the acquisition and development of placer mining claims and mineral claims. The Company has claims available for sale or “rent” and provides everything that a do-it-yourself placer miner requires. A one-stop miner’s shop, Green River Gold is also involved, through an affiliate, in manufacturing large equipment for the placer mining industry.
In addition to its placer related businesses, the Company controls over 8,200 hectares of mineral rights situated 12 kilometers southwest of Barkerville in the Cariboo Mining District of British Columbia, Canada. The Fontaine Gold Project straddles an 18-kilometer length of the Barkerville and Quesnel Terranes and is contiguous to Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd.’s Cariboo Project (formerly Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd.) and adjacent other past producing mine sites. The Company is currently raising money to explore the hard rock gold potential of the property.
The Company’s diverse operations allow for year-round employment for local residents. Placer mining is a seasonal business that typically runs from May through September or October. And being able to offer year-round employment allows the Company to keep skilled employees for the long-term. All the Company’s employees and consultants are residents of the Quesnel area. Operations are centred in the North end of the town of Quesnel, close to the junction of Highway 97 and Highway 26, the famous Barkerville Highway.
Recent News
On April 23rd, CCR announced that it had purchased the placer rights to an additional 135.87 hectares along the Willow River approximately 12 kilometres by road from the town of Wells. Click
here for more details.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.