Ontario might be Canada’s top gold-producing province, but right behind it is Quebec at just over 1,904,793.9 ounces produced in 2022, and companies like Goldflare Exploration (TSXV:GOFL) are poised to be part of a new generation of gold exploration.
With its headquarters out of Piedmont, close to Montreal, Quebec, the company primarily specializes in gold exploration in Quebec. Goldflare Exploration is also the sole owner of the Aiguebelle-Goldfields, Syenite Condor, Ranger, Windfall, Agar and Mountain properties and holds a 50 per cent interest in the Destorbelle property.
Notably, the company is currently focused on the Goldfields property, which sits adjacent to IAMGOLD’s (TSX:MG) Iamgold Fayolle open pit mining operation.
(Source: Goldflare Exploration)
Goldflare Exploration has reported some notable results from the property in 2023, having drilled a total of 15 drill holes for a total of 2,848 metres completed, and released significant drill results.
So why should investors be paying attention to this junior mining company? Below we’ll dive into what the company has been up to in the past year, what its future outlook is and, of course, what makes it a unique investment opportunity.
The Goldfields property
Located roughly 35 kilometres northeast of the town of Rouyn-Noranda, the property includes six mineral claims in the township of Aiguebelle, Quebec.
Located along a newly identified Porcupine-Destor Fault extension, the property includes a deformed sequence of mafic and ultramafic volcanic rocks injected by a suite of alkaline intrusions known to host major gold deposits and prospects in the Abitibi. It holds similarities with the Holt and Holloway mined out deposits located about 70 km westward on the Porcupine-Destor Fault. In the course of its exploration, Goldflare is expecting results of 3 to 5 g/t gold over 5 to 10 metres true width from stacked structures. The property includes a high density of historic drilled gold showings hosted along the extension of the Porcupine-Destor fault.
The company anticipates targeting 500,000 ounces of gold as an objective to reach.
Notably, the Goldfields Property is centered on a corridor of carbonatized rocks and intrusions which include the Fayolle deposit. Meanwhile, a re-interpretation of the Goldfields model identifies unexplored N-S to NNE auriferous shears possibly repeating along a 4 km trend going westward to the Condor gold showing.
The company has been busy at the Goldfields property over the past year, having released two notable sets of results in May and in November.
In May, Goldflare Exploration reported results of three dill holes from a seven-drill hole program totaling 1,816 metres. The program’s objective was to understand the geometry of known mineralization. The program was successful, intercepting the highest grade known from the property with 15.36 g/t gold over 7.05 metres including an interval of 103.86 g/t gold over 1 metre from hole AIG-23-13.
“This is the highest gold result documented to date on the property. We are analyzing whether this type of result could be part of a particular enrichment axis in the known area. If the hypothesis is true, we could benefit from this factor which would increase the average grade of Goldfields. The next steps for Goldflare will be to rework the interpretation and plan a new round of drilling,” CEO Ghislain Morin said in a statement.
(Source: Goldflare Exploration)
By November, the company had announced new gold results on the Goldfields property, noting that seven drill holes for a total of 640 metres have been completed to date. The best result obtained from the first four holes is 1.24 g/t over a length of 8 metres in borehole AIG-23-21, while a value of 5.27 g/t over 1 metre included in an interval of 0.65 g/t over 13.7 metres was obtained in drilling AIG-23-19.
The company said the four holes all interested the mineralized structure less than five metres from the surface of the bedrock.
“There’s a lot of similarities between the Goldfields property and well-known deposit with good track records of exploration and production performances like Agnico Eagle’s Macassa Mine in Kirkland Lake and Pan American Silver’s subsidiary Lake Shore Gold’s project in Timmins Lake, which all share similarities,” the company said in an interview with The Herald Canada.
“Three km further west, the Condor property hosts a large intrusion where first pass of drilling on surface gold anomalies delivered as best result 1 g/t over 7 metres included in a large gold bearing halo of 0.285 over 40 metres. The favourable geological context observed corresponds to four square kilometres of target ground to explore.”
The company also noted in the interview that the company bets on the geological continuity of the discovered mineralized zone and consistency of the grade obtained so far, while expecting other higher-grade concentrations. Going further with the treatment of geophysics data, the company expects to identify additional parallel targets in the Goldfields property environment and beyond.
In line with this, the company has only done minimal exploration on the top of the original gold showing discovery but plans to follow up with deeper drilling where there is another target which Goldflare Exploration said it will be looking for in future campaigns.
(Source: Goldflare Exploration)
Future outlook
With 2024 just beginning, the company will be continuing its efforts on the Goldfields property. Notably, Goldflare Exploration said in an interview that it will be working on the size of the gold system as well as demonstrating that the structure identified not very far from the Fayolle pit shows continuity and consistency.
“The company has to demonstrate that it can reproduce the discovery using other techniques, using geophysics or geochemistry going westward along the Porcupine Break. We think we’ll be able to identify the parallel structure inside a two-kilometre strike.” Martin Demers p.geo, independent consulting geologist for Goldflare, said.
The company additionally explained that there’s “a lack of historical exploration coverage” on the property and that it is essentially starting from scratch.
Goldflare Exploration said it will be concentrating its drilling effort during the winter because it’s easier for the drills to get access, and one of the reasons why the region hasn’t previously been explored.
“The progress made to date will allow us to confirm mineralized lenses near the surface and possibly to extend mineralization at depth, like what has been the case for other known deposits along the Porcupine-Destor fault. The company is also evaluating the best exploration approaches to test towards the west the presence of mineralized structures in a corridor of more than three kilometres,” Morin said in a statement.
The management team
Ghislain Morin, president and CEO
Ghislain Morin has extensive mining experience, having been involved in mining at Metanor Resources between 2002 and 2007 as CEO. Prior to his role at Metanor Resources, Morin was also involved with Allican Resources between 1997 and 2004. Morin will also serve as president and CEO of Typhoon.
Serge Roy, vice president of strategy and business
Serge Roy has worked in the mining industry for over 25 years and has a wide range of experience with strategic acquisitions and financial aspects related to the sector. Roy founded Metanor Resources in 1999, which was an exploration company until 2006 when it became a commercial producer in 2008. Roy acted as chairman and CEO of Metanor Resources between 2003 and 2014 and president of the board of directors from 2003 until 2017.
David Corbeil-Heneault, chief financial officer
David Corbeil-Heneault holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from UQTR and the title of financial planner from the IQPF. He graduated with the best cumulative average of his cohort and quickly rose through the ranks of two Canadian financial institutions during the first 10 years of his career.
He has held several roles in consulting, management, market development as well as wealth and retirement planning. He has since focused on the financial markets.
The investment opportunity
As it currently stands, Goldflare Exploration has a market cap of C$2 million and a share price of $0.020, while there are 113.10 million shares outstanding.
While markets have been tough over the course of 2023 – with half of the company’s share price dipping over the year – optimism remains for 2024.
Goldflare Exploration will undoubtedly be a company in the gold space to watch in the new year and throughout 2024 thanks to its Goldfields Property and ideal location near top companies such as IAMGOLD.
With most of the Goldfields Property remaining underexplored, there is potential for new discoveries that will not only benefit the company but investors, too – if they’re willing to be patient.
Considering its location, results to date, upcoming prospects and experience, Goldflare Exploration might prove to be one of the best plays of 2024 in the Canadian junior gold mining sector.
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