Bonterra Resources (BTR) - NEW Strategy Delivers Gold Production Sooner

Bonterra Resources Inc. is a Canadian gold exploration company, with a large portfolio of exploration projects, anchored by a central milling facility in Quebec, Canada. The asset portfolio of the company consists of the Gladiator, Barry and Moroy deposits and also the 100% owned Bachelor Mill. 

Matthew Gordon spoke with Marc-Andre Pelletier, the new president and CEO of Bonterra Resources Inc. (TSX-V:BTR) to discuss the company’s recent activities. 

Company Overview

The assets of the company collectively hold 1.24 million ounces of gold in the measured and indicated category with 1.78 million ounces in the inferred category. The Bachelor Mill of the company is the only permitted and operational gold mill in the region. The company is currently underway with the permitting process to expand the mill's capacity from 800 to 2400 tons per day.

The company recently announced drill results from its drilling program at the Barry project. The exploration drilling results expand on the project’s mineralisation near the surface in the North-East sector of the project and at depth in the project's southwest sector. The highlights of the exploration drilling results include 7.1 g/t of gold over 7.6 m, including a 20.1 g/t intercept over 1.4 m and 13.2 g/t over 1.4 m. Hole MB-21-410 of the project showed mineralisation of 146.0 g/t of gold over 0.5 m.

Bonterra Resources Inc. is underway with the creation of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the open-pit operational scenario of the Barry project, which will be based on the project’s 2021 mineral resource estimate. The company aims to publish the PEA by the end of Q2 2022, which it believes will demonstrate the potential for restarting the mining operations of the project in the near future. The pre-feasibility study, as well as the feasibility study of the Barry project, is envisioned to occur in the second half of 2022, with the open-pit mining operation construction by Q1 2023 and with pre-production and production by Q3 2023 and Q1 2024 respectively.

The company aims to have all necessary permits in place as well as have conducted all upgrades to the Bachelor mill and tailings facilities to be able to process the envisioned products from the pre-production and production phases of the Barry project in Q3 2023.

Management

The company is led by the newly appointed president, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director Marc-Andre Pelletier. Pelletier joined Bonterra Resources Inc. in January 2022, after serving as CEO of Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. He is a professional mining engineer with over 25 years of experience in predominantly underground gold mining operations.  Pelletier was in his time at Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. instrumental in the production re-start of the Kiena Mine, located in Val d’Or. The mining operations were restarted within five years of the project’s high-grade Deep Zone under the leadership of Pelletier. Pelletier also contributed to the increase of production at the Eagle Mine of Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. to nearly 100,000 ounces per annum through various optimization initiatives. Pelletier served as Vice President (VP) of Operations at St Andrew Goldfields Ltd. before his tenure at Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd., where he successfully put three underground mines and one open-pit mine into production in less than five years.

Johnny Oliveira serves as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company. Oliveira has more than 20 years of experience in accounting, with vast amounts of experience in audits, tax regulation, financial management and reporting and corporate finance. Oliveira has served as the CFO, corporate secretary and financial reporting manager for various junior mining companies in the last 10 years of his career

Cesar Gonzalez is the Executive Chairman of the company’s board. Gonzalez started his career at Lehman Brothers in the private equity group where he primarily focused on investments in energy master limited partnerships. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, and previously served as the VP of Corporate Development as well as director for Mako Mining Corp. Gonzalez has experience in the permitting, financing, construction and commissioning of mining operations through having done so at the San Albino and La Trinidad gold mines. Gonzalez is also currently the co-founder, CEO and director of Sailfish Royalty Corp.

Akiba Leisman, Matthew Happyjack, Normand Champigny, Peter O’Malley and Anik Gendron serve as directors for Bonterra Resources Inc. Leisman holds an MBA from New York University and a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Leisman is also the CEO and director of Mako Mining Corp. 

Matthew Happyjack is currently the President of Air Creebec, a regional airline based in Val-d’Or, Québec. Happyjack has previously held positions in the financial, management and accounting fields, whilst through it all remaining actively involved in the economic development of The Cree First Nation of Waswanipi.

Normand Champigny is a geological engineer with extensive experience in the operation of both public and private companies globally. He holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from École Polytechnique in Montreal, a master's degree in geology from the University of British Columbia and a specialised diploma in Geostatistics from the Paris School of Mines.

Peter O’Malley has over 29 years of experience as an investment banker in the international natural resources and technology sectors.  He has executed over CAD$ 500 billion in transactions across multiple jurisdictions and disciplines and has served as the head of Natural Resources Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank

Anik Gendron holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics and an LLB from the University of Montreal. She has vast amounts of experience in corporate and commercial law, securities laws, compliance and ESG issues.  Gendron is known for her business acumen and has served as general counsel and advisor for various publicly traded mining companies.

The experienced management team of the company led by Pelletier is charged with advancing the company’s projects. The company’s assets are located within the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Quebec and consist of the Gladiator, Barry and Bachelor-Moroy projects as well as the Bachelor Mill and tailings facilities.

Gladiator project

The Gladiator project is an under-explored deposit with a strike length of 1600 m and depth of 1100 m. The project holds a NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate (MRE) which boasts over 1 million ounces of combined gold resources. The MRE consists of 91,000 ounces of gold in the indicated category as well as 989,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category. Bonterra Resources Inc. is currently underway with a drilling program at the Gladiator project with additional drilling planned to expand and further delineate the project’s mineralisation.

Barry Deposit

The Barry project of the company is a shear-hosted gold deposit with multiple parallel and sub-vertical shear zones. The gold mineralisation of the project consists of disseminated sulphides within the shear zones, with the project’s mineralisation veins showing visible gold. The deposit remains open to expansion even after being delineated for over 1.4 km along strike and 700 m vertically.

The project holds a NI 43-101 accredited mineral resource estimate for both underground and open-pit operational scenarios. The combined MRE boasts 690,000 ounces of gold in the measured and indicated category and 688,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category.

Bachelor-Moroy project

The Bachelor-Moroy project of the company is a past-producing gold mine with both a milling plant as well as tailings facilities. The Bachelor-Moroy deposit holds a NI-43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate of 161,000 ounces of gold in the measured and indicated category and 104,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category. Bonterra Resources Inc. aims to expand the project’s surface and underground resources through exploration drilling as well as identifying targets within development reach of the current underground infrastructure

The Bachelor mill of the project is the only permitted mill in the region, with it holding an 800 ton per day production permit. The mill has access to the provincial power grid, high-speed Internet and cell phone service as well as an all-season camp for workers. The mill expansion works are planned to include the removal of the existing rod mill, ball mills and 40-foot thickener. The company plans on adding a SAG mill to the milling facility as well as two ball mills, a gravity circuit, a 75-foot thickener and five leaching and absorption tanks.

Recent Activities

Bonterra Resources Inc. announced in March 2022 that it had concluded with a brokered private placement offering. The offering consisted of the company issuing 6,405,000 common shares of the company at CAD$ 1.21 per common share and 8,383,500 common flow-through (FT) shares of the company at CAD$ 2.06 per FT share. The private placement offering culminated in aggregate gross proceeds to the company of CAD$ 25,020,060. The company will implement the proceeds of the offering towards the furthering of its exploration initiatives. 

The company released results from its ongoing exploration program at its Gladiator project recently. The exploration program is aimed at expanding the deposit as well as enabling an update to the project’s mineral resource estimate (MRE) which was published by the company in June 2021. The results of the exploration program include highlights such as 69.5 g/t of gold mineralisation over an intercept of 2.2 m at the project's North Dipper zone. The intercept includes mineralisation of 305 g/t gold over 0.5 m. The exploration drilling further intercepted mineralisation of 28.1 g/t gold over 2.9 m, which includes 162 g/t of gold over 0.5 m and 13.1 g/t gold over 1.5 m, which includes 37.7 g/t gold over 0.5 m at the project's North zone.

Bonterra Resources Inc. also released drilling results from its ongoing drilling program at its Barry project. The drilling program aims to enable the creation of an updated and expanded mineral resource estimate for the project. The drill results include highlights such as a 7.6 m intercept of mineralisation with an average grade of 7.1 g/t gold which includes 20.1 g/t of gold over 1.4 m and 13.2 g/t of gold over 1.4 m. The drilling program further intercepted mineralisation of 17.4 g/t of gold over 4.4 m, which includes 146.0 g/t of gold over 0.5 m, as well as 10.8 g/t of gold over 5.1 m, including 23.1 g/t of gold over 1.4 m.

The company is currently conducting exploration drilling at an average rate of 7,500 m of drilling per month at its Gladiator and Barry projects.

Future

Bonterra Resources Inc. is currently underway with the creation of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Barry project which will be based on the project’s open-pit mineable resources. The company is aiming to complete the PEA by the end of Q2 2022 through which it hopes to demonstrate the potential for restarting mining operations in the near future. The pre-feasibility study, as well as the feasibility study of the Barry project is envisioned to occur in the second half of 2022. The company aims to commence with the construction of the open-pit mining operation at the project by Q1 2023, with pre-production and production scheduled for Q3 2023 and Q1 2024 respectively.

The company further plans to initiate infill and definition drilling at the underground portion of the Barry project. The drilling at the underground portion of the project is aimed at evaluating and better understanding the potential for underground mining operations.

Bonterra Resources Inc. is also underway with the permitting of the mill and tailings management facilities of the Bachelor Mine. The Company expects to provide additional information by the start of Q3 2022, with the COMEX permit expected by the end of 2022, from where provincial permits will follow. The company aims to have all necessary permits in place as well as have conducted all upgrades to the Bachelor mill and tailings facilities necessary to accommodate the pre-production and production phases of the Barry project in Q3 2023.

Bonterra Resources Inc. believes that with its current exploration, permitting and various study initiatives coupled with the leadership and experience in the restarting of mining operations of Marc-Andre Pelletier, the future will soon hold gold.

To find out more, go to the Bonterra Resources website