Silver, along with its sister metal gold, has long been considered a safe haven asset and is widely known for its uses in coins and jewelry, but companies such as Silver North Resources (TSXV:SNAG) are proving that the white metal has far more to it than meets the eye.
With its headquarters out of Vancouver, B.C., Silver North Resources is focused on silver discoveries in the Keno Hill Silver District of the Yukon, including its Haldane Project, where high-grade silver has been identified in drilling at two target areas.
Additionally, the company also holds the Tim silver property in southern Yukon where exploration has identified high-grade silver mineralization just 19 kilometres from the Silvertip mine owned by Coeur Mining.
That said, silver has become a crucial component in industrial use cases, including electronics, clean and renewable energy, chemical production, medicine and more.
In an interview with The Market Herald Canada, Silver North Resources’ CEO Jason Weber explained that the industrial demand for silver has grown, and that the white metal plays a crucial role in everything.
“The industrial demand for silver has grown so much – to the point it’s in almost anything high-tech that we touch these days,” Weber told The Market Herald Canada. “Silver plays a critical role in its production. So solar panels, EVs (electric vehicles), 5G technology, your cell phone … everything.”
In line with this, according to the Silver Institute industrial demand for silver is expected to reach record highs in 2023 with an expected demand of 550 million ounces in 2023 alone.
The firm estimates silver demand will be lifted from gains in vehicle electrification and governments around the world advancing their efforts for green infrastructure.
With less than a month left of 2023 and 2024 looming, Silver North will be ramping up its efforts to meet the growing demand for silver from the industrial sector, making it a company investors won’t want to miss.
Rebrand from Alianza Minerals
In August 2023, the company rebranded itself from Alianza Minerals to Silver North to reflect its focus on silver.
“Rebranding as Silver North Resources Ltd. is a strategic move to focus on silver and align with evolving needs of the global economy, particularly the accelerating demand for silver and its pivotal role in sustainable technologies,” Weber said at the time.
Weber explained to The Market Herald Canada that the company had previously been viewed as a project generator – it had copper and gold interests in Colorado, Nevada and the Yukon – but its most valuable projects were silver targets.
The company essentially saw an opportunity in the silver market thanks to its existing Haldane Project in the Yukon, which is next to Hecla Mining Company’s (NYSE:HL) Keno Hill property thanks to Helca’s acquisition of Alexco Resource back in 2022.
Notably, Hecla Mining is the largest silver producer in the United States, and Silver North felt that Hecla’s return of the Keno Mine to commercial production meant Silver North could also capitalize on renewed interest in the Keno District.
“From that we wanted to make sure we were known as a silver explorer, with a silver discovery right next door to an existing silver mine complex,” Weber told The Market Herald Canada. “That all sort of started to play into what we wanted to be known for and have silver front and centre.”
Weber said this led to the change from Alianza Minerals to Silver North and, in turn, its interest in the demand for silver in industrial use cases.
The Haldane Property
Silver North is the 100 per cent owner of the Haldane Property, which is ideally located in the Keno district that is impressively ranked as one of the highest-grade silver districts in the world.
Notably, according to the Yukon government Minfile, production statistics for the district between 1913 and 1989 indicate 4.87 million tons of silver were mined at an average grade of 1,373 grams per ton silver, 5.62 per cent lead and 3.14 per cent zinc.
More than 65 deposits have been identified in the district although the Haldane property remains underexplored for high-grade silver, with only 28 drillholes ever drilled from surface on the property.
Spanning 8,163 hectares, the property is host to structurally controlled silver veins with the earliest documented work dating back to 1918. At the time, work focused on the Mount Haldane Vein System (MHVS) with mineralized veins over 600 metres on surface. The underground development produced 24.7 tons of hand-sorted ore grading 3,102 g/t silver and 59 per cent lead at the Middelcoff adit.
Image credit: Silver North
Between 1926 and 1927, a total of 2.1 tons at 4,603 g/t silver and 57.9 per cent lead was produced from the Johnson adit.
Image credit: Silver North
Silver North’s most recent drilling was responsible for a new discovery at the company’s West Fault target, where high-grade silver veins have been intersected over a 100 m strike and 90 m of depth so far. Highlights of the West Fault drilling include 3.14 m averaging 1,351 g/t Ag, 2.43% Pb, 2.91%.
One key component of Silver North’s investigation of the property was identifying buried mineralization that the prospectors of the early 1900s would not have detected. Hole HLD19-15 was the first test within a 900-metre-long silver-lead soil geochemical anomaly at the Bighorn target. The hole intersected four separate structures in drilling, with one yielding 2.35 metres of 125.7 g/t silver and 4.39 per cent lead – a significant new discovery proving silver mineralization is more widespread on the property.
Follow-up trenching approximately 250 metres south of HLD19-15 returned additional silver mineralization. No sulphides remain but sampled oxide mineralization from a 2-metre chip sample returned 32.7 g/t silver. This particular structure has now been identified in drilling and in surface trenching over 525 metres of strike length, but indications are that there is at least 1,400 metres of strike potential.
What is next for the Haldane property?
Looking ahead at Haldane, Weber said the company’s main focus is preparing for a drill program that will happen sometime in late spring or early summer 2024 depending on weather. He explained that winters are harsh in the Keno District, and starting too early, before the project access roads have thawed and dried out, can be prohibitively expensive.
“We’ll wait until we’ve got a good working environment there with good access and much of the snow gone, to start a drill program that we envision going most of the summer,” Weber told The Market Herald Canada. “If we feel we want to drill later into the year, we can properly set up for winter programs.”
He added that the company will target a couple of areas, including the West Fault which is one of the company’s most recent discoveries. The goal will be to grow the known extents of high-grade silver mineralization that has been outlined over 100 metres in strike length and 90 metres depth.
Just a few kilometres away is the Big Horn discovery, which Weber said the company intends to follow up on silver mineralization intersected in the only hole drilled there to date.
“The Big Horn target is still very high on our priority list, and being that it’s a brand-new target, with only one drill hole in it, so it’s an exciting one for us to follow up on,” he said.
Weber added that the bulk of the program would be drilling those two targets, although there are other targets that the company will be working towards getting drill ready. This would include groundwork such as mapping and geochemistry and the potential for a geophysical survey.
In terms of how many holes will be drilled, Weber said that depends on budget but that it will start with a first phase program of six priority holes that will influence the direction of follow-up holes.
Partnership with Coeur Mining
In addition to its Haldane property, Silver North also has a partnership with Coeur Mining for the Tim Property in the Yukon. The Tim Property includes 72 mineral claims located 72 kilometres west of Watson Lake and 19 kilometres northeast of the Silvertip deposit.
Previous exploration at the Tim Property has identified silver-bearing oxide mineralization four to 30 metres wide in trenches on surface over 1,700 metres of strike length. Meanwhile, Trench sampling results include 365 g (about 12.87 oz)/t silver and 7.5 per cent lead over 3.7 metres of chip sampling of oxide material.
Coeur Mining has the option to earn up to an 80 per cent interest in the property by funding $3.55 million in 2024 exploration expenditures and making cash payments of $575,000. Coeur Mining will also complete a feasibility study by the eighth anniversary. A five-year mining land use permit is also in place at the project, which will be used to conduct trenching and drilling.
The management team
Jason Weber, CEO
Jason Weber is a geologist with mor than 25 years of experience in mineral exploration. Before his role with Silver North, Weber held the position of president and CEO of Kiska Metals, a company focused on exploring and developing the Whistler gold-copper porphyry project in Alaska. Weber has also held the title of president and CEO of Rimfire Minerals between 2007 and 2009 when Rimfire merged with Geoinformatics to create Kiska. Weber has also served as a director and advisor to numerous junior exploration companies.
Rob Duncan, Vice President of Exploration
Rob Duncan has more than 30 years of mineral exploration experience, having worked with a wide range of companies such as Rio Tinto and Inmet Mining and junior explorers. Duncan has also held senior management positions at several junior explorers. Duncan also has more than 10 years of management experience specifically with prospect generator companies, having held the position of exploration manager at Rimfire Minerals and vice president of exploration and project development at Evrim Resources.
Winnie Wong, Chief Financial Officer
Winnie Wong is vice president of client services at Pacific Opportunity Capital, a firm Silver North retained to provide financial management and accounting services. Wong is a graduate of Queen’s University and has worked with Deloitte & Touche where she earned her chartered accountant designation.
Wong also currently acts as CFO and corporate secretary of a wide range of TSX Venture Exchange companies and has notably acted as CFO of Rare Earth Element Resources and Animas Resources.
Mark T. Brown, CA-CPA – Executive Chairman
Mark Brown obtained his chartered accountant designation in 1993 while working with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Vancouver. Brown has led the financial aspects of Silver North Resources Ltd. (formerly Alianza Minerals) since 2007, including financing, regulatory and reporting issues. Before Silver North, Brown was the controller of two operating gold mining companies with operations in northern Canada and South America.
Brown leads a team of eight people in the Vancouver office of Pacific Opportunity Capital Ltd., a financial consulting and merchant banking firm active in venture capital markets in North America and sits on the board of other public companies.
The investment opportunity
Now that Silver North has shifted its focus entirely to silver, the company is well-positioned in the Yukon and near top silver producers such as Hecla Mining.
As it currently stands, the company has a market cap of C$4 million and a share price of $0.16, with 31.88 million shares outstanding.
With the company gearing up to begin a drilling campaign at the Haldane Project next year, investors will be keenly watching for what results the company will yield next summer and beyond.
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