(Image via Blue Star Gold Corp.)
Gold investors have had a successful 2020 so far, with the commodity’s price sitting firmly above $1,850 (USD) and experts predicting bigger things on the horizon. Many Canadian companies in this market have seen their stock value elevate in recent months, including Blue Star Gold Corp. (TSX-V: BAU, OTC: WPCZF, Forum).
The Vancouver-based gold and silver Company recently acquired the Ulu Gold Property, an advanced gold and silver project
in Nunavut, Canada.
BAU also owns the highly prospective 8,015 ha. Hood River gold concessions located contiguous with the Ulu mining lease. The Hood River property is held through a renewable, 20-year Mineral Exploration Agreement with
Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI).
Together with the Ulu and Hood River Gold Properties, Blue Star controls nearly 9,000 ha of prospective mineral claims. To date, a significant high-grade gold resource has been defined at the Flood zone on the Ulu property, and more than 40 high priority gold occurrences occur throughout the extensive Ulu and Hood River landholdings.
A
7,600-metre drill program at the properties is just winding down, with the
first assay results now available. A period of very active news flow will follow over the coming days as the balance of the results from the program are released.
BAU shares have nearly doubled in value since last year, but at $0.10 are still a more than reasonable buy for investors.
(Blue Star Gold Corp. stock chart – Sept. 2019 – Sept. 2020. Click to enlarge)
The Company is under the new leadership visitation of Grant Ewing, who was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in
August 2020.
An accomplished mining executive with a strong technical foundation and solid business acumen, he is a professional geologist by background and has over 25 years of experience in the mineral industry and the last 10-plus years in senior executive roles.
Now he takes time out of his busy schedule to talk with Stockhouse Editorial about the exciting developments going on with the Company ….
Thank you for joining us today Grant. To kick things off, your background is quite deep in both geology and business, can you tell us what key aspects about Blue Star Gold and its projects really stood out to make you want to join the Company’s leadership team?
One of the most attractive attributes of Blue Star is its quality asset base, including the Ulu and Hood River projects in Nunavut Territory. We have identified a significant high-grade gold resource at the Ulu project (Flood zone), and the exploration potential for resource expansion at both the Flood zone and regionally is very good. Over 40 high quality targets have been identified, with many of them lined up for initial drill testing this year and next.
In addition, Blue Star has a high-quality technical team that is well versed in conducting exploration in the north, and the Board of Directors is very committed to the Company’s success.
Let’s talk about the news people are eager to hear more about - the excellent assay results you’ve recorded from the Ulu property, what has the Company uncovered?
Our current ~7,600 metre diamond drilling program represents the most significant exploration program conducted at the Ulu and Hood River projects in over a decade, and the first drilling campaign completed on the Ulu project since its acquisition by Blue Star. The results reported today indicate the strong potential to increase the scale of our high-grade gold resources and shows the excellent potential for new discoveries on our extensive landholdings. Thirty-eight holes have been drilled during the current program, which will lead to a very active news flow period as we report the balance of the assay results over the coming days.
Can you bring our readers up-to-speed on the Ulu property and highlight the key points to the background on this project?
The main zone on the Ulu project, called the Flood zone, was discovered back in the 1990’s by BHP. BHP (and others) conducted extensive drilling campaigns; the Flood zone now hosts an M&I resource of 605,000 ounces of gold (2.5MT @ 7.5 g/t) and an Inferred resource of 226,000 ounces of gold (1.26MT @ 5.6 g/t). There is excellent discovery potential at the Flood zone, both down-plunge of the known zones, and on trend to the north.
The Ulu fold structure that hosts the Flood (and Gnu zones) trends north from the Ulu project for several kms (Robb trend) onto the north Hood River project. At least seven zones have been identified to date along this structure, including the NFN zone. Excellent potential for resource expansion exists along this highly prospective and very underexplored trend.
There were two drill rigs active during the program. What targets were tested on the Hood River property, and what geological characteristics do you expect this area will contain?
The ~7,600-metre drilling program focused on both the Ulu project (Flood and Gnu zones) and the Hood project, with ~½ of the program dedicated to testing targets on the Hood project.
(Hood River map. Click to enlarge.)
The Hood project is contiguous to the north and east of Ulu. The north end of the Ulu fold extends on to the north Hood property, and several zones are being tested in this area, including the NFN zone.
Approximately 4 kms east of the Robb trend are several gold showings (Penthouse and Crown…) on east Hood River that line up in an area where other gold trends may occur. This area of the Hood project shows excellent potential for new discovery, as many high-grade gold samples have been returned from surface sampling programs, with only limited drill testing conducted.
What are some upcoming milestones that you expect to achieve in the near-term?
We have several important upcoming milestones that could positively impact our share price:
- Drilling Results – ~7,600m drilling program just wrapping up – very active news flow period as results released from Sept. through Dec.
- Flood Zone – Following-up on historic high-grade intercept of 14.9 g/t over 7.7m that is ~100 m below M&I resource blocks
- Potential New Zones – Testing numerous priority targets outside of known deposits on Ulu and Hood River properties
- Resource Update – Update resource based on 2019/2020 drilling programs during the coming months; gold price and exchange rate positive impacts since last estimate in 2015
- Winter 2020/21 – Re-supply camp with fuel and upgrade camp, potential to drill test lake-based targets off ice (~1,500m)
- Aggressive 2021 Program – Planning 12,000 – 15,000m drilling program (4 rigs) in 2021; update resource following program
- Economic Studies – planning economic studies following 2020/21 programs
Gold prices and mining stocks have seen substantial growth this year, in your experience, where do you predict this trajectory will head for the rest of the year?
We are bullish on the outlook for gold. The gold price recently broke out of a long-term sideways trading pattern that occurred during the 2014 to 2019 time period, and with all the social, political and economic factors affecting society today, gold should continue to benefit over the coming months and perhaps years.
Can you tell us more about your Mineral Exploration Agreement with NTI on the Hood River project, and speak to the importance of collaborating with local communities?
We have a 20-year renewable mineral exploration agreement with NTI on our Hood River property that provides the Company with the exclusive right to explore and acquire a production lease.
The Ulu project is held under a renewable mining lease.
We are committed to a collaborative and cooperative working relationship with all stakeholders, including the communities and regulators in our project area, and the Company follows best practices guidelines with respect to health, safety and environmental considerations at our operations at all times.
Thank you again for taking the time to speak with us, anything further you’d like to add?
We believe that now is one of the best opportunities for investors to consider Blue Star, as the Company is at the beginning of a very active news flow period as it releases assays results from the current drilling program. Over 30 drill holes have been completed, with some holes targeting the Flood zone and others testing high-grade gold showings.
We believe Blue Star has excellent potential for a re-rating in its share price as we achieve the important milestones discussed above.
For information on the Company and its projects, please visit our website:
www.bluestargold.ca.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.