Cartier Resources (ECR) - PEA Coming Soon, Exploration Drilling Ongoing

Cartier Resources Inc. is a Canadian gold exploration company focused on advanced-stage exploration projects with delineated mineral resources in the Abitibi Greenstone belt of Quebec. The company’s flagship project, the 100% owned Chimo Gold Mine project is located 50 km southeast of the city of Val-d’Or in Quebec and holds a land position of approximately 29,523 hectares.  The mine has historically produced just under 400,000 ounces of gold between the 60s and late 90s and holds a mineral resource estimate, published in August 2022, which shows 720,000 ounces of gold in the indicated category and 1,633 million ounces of gold in the inferred category.

Cartier Resources Inc. launched a 25,000 m expansion drilling program in August 2022 at the Chimo Gold Mine project. The drilling program is aimed at expanding the known gold zones of the project within reach of the Chimo mine shaft, with the program consisting of two drill rigs. The expansion drilling program is aimed at delineating the project’s gold resources to 3 million ounces.

The company on the 24^th of January 2023 announced the drill results from its drilling initiatives at the West Nordeau deposit of the Chimo gold mine project. The drill results showed the interception of 2.4 g/t of gold over 23.0 m as well as 2.1 g/t of gold over 14.0 m at the eastern section of the project. The western portion of the West Nordeau deposit has shown mineralisation of up to 2.4 g/t of gold over a mineralisation interval of 5.6 m.

Cartier Resources Inc. plans to publish a preliminary economic assessment of the Chimo gold mine project in Q1 2023.

Capitalising on the gold market resurgence

2023 is set to be a rewarding year for junior mining companies which have been able to continue advancing their projects throughout the downswing in the mineral sector that was 2022. Phillip Cloutier, the President and CEO of Cartier Resources Inc. explains that various investors and analysts have been able to see the potential in junior mining companies, with potential shareholders focused on holding a position in these companies.

“I think it's coming off the fact that I guess a lot of letter writers and analysts are saying, listen a lot of these Gold juniors are at all-time lows, yet a certain group of them have kept advancing their projects, you should be looking at them. We're getting some of those parties that are knocking on our door.” 

Cloutier believes that Cartier Resources Inc. is ideally situated to be able to capitalise on the market resurgence, with the company underway with various activities which may serve as catalysts to its share price.

“Companies such as Cartier with cash in the bank, an asset such as Chimo and the level of advancement at which we are. Well, we're really proud to be where we're at right now and we have news flow coming so it's a good place and good time to be a Cartier shareholder.”

Another contributing factor to the value creation potential of the company is its location in the Val dÓr mining camp, a tier-one mining jurisdiction. Cloutier explains that the intent of the company in 2022 was to continue advancing its Chimo Gold Mine project, believing that the sector would experience an upswing.

“A lot of good stuff got done in 2022 by Cartier and by other companies. I think we have to agree that a lot of that went unnoticed or wasn't rewarded. But the name of the game is just when you have an asset when you have the financial means to keep advancing and keeping relevant while you just have to soldier on and that's what we're doing. Companies or projects that are in premier tier one jurisdictions such as the Val-d'Or mining camp or the Abitibi Greenstone belt, while they're even more relevant to be looking at these days.”

PEA status

One of the initiatives undertaken by Cartier Resources Inc. in 2022 to advance the Chimo Gold Mine project was the company’s undertaking of the creation of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA). The company had throughout 2016 to 2020 been able to conduct approximately 60,000 m of exploration drilling as well as deliver mineral resource estimates. Cloutier explains that the company had expanded the mineral resources of the Chimo Gold Mine project to the boundaries of the project, and at that stage realised that the mineralisation extended past the boundaries of the project.

“By then we had delivered just about 2 million ounces, about 600,000 ounces of Indicated and 1.4 million ounces of Inferred. We really basically had drilled up to the property boundaries so we knew this thing could expand east and west and also at depth but those property boundaries were locking us in.”

At the stage in which the company had extended the mineralisation to the boundaries of the project, Cartier Resources Inc. initiated discussions with O3 Mining Inc. to acquire its  East Cadillac property which is contiguous with the Chimo Gold Mine project.

“It made sense for us to initiate discussions and I think it was November 2021 and we closed the deal by April 2022. So that was rather quick but it was still a good quarter and a half of 2022 to consolidate the land position. So Cartier now owns 40 km of the Larder Lake – Cadillac Fault east of Val-d'Or, and that 40 km includes a 15 km stretch, peppered with Gold indicated showings and deposits which obviously includes the core of the Chimo mine project and the adjoining West Nordeau deposit.”

The acquisition of the property led to the company postponing its preliminary economic assessment, with the aim thereof being to consolidate both NI 43-101 resources under its control. The consolidated mineral resource estimate has enabled the company to again commence with the creation of a preliminary economic assessment. Cartier Resources Inc. plans to publish a preliminary economic assessment of the Chimo gold mine project in Q1 2023.

“We had initiated the PEA on the Chimo mine project but when we saw that we were going to acquire the East Cadillac project of O3, we put a pause on that, so for those out there thinking that we've been at the PEA for a full year, no, we had to stop the PEA and wait for the incremental resource from West Nordeau. Now we've just recently taken off the handbrake of the PEA and yet we're going to deliver that by the end of the first quarter.”

Exploration drilling initiatives

Cartier Resources Inc. launched a 25,000 m expansion drilling program in August 2022 at the Chimo gold mine project. The expansion drilling program is aimed at delineating the project’s gold resources to 3 million ounces. Cloutier explains that the 25,000 m drilling program is aimed at expanding the known gold zones of the project within reach of the Chimo mine shaft, with the program consisting of two drill rigs.

“We launched the programme with two machines, our target is 25,000 m strictly targeting the extension of non-Gold zones within reach of the Chimo mine shaft in underground drifts. We're not prospecting here, so obviously, by the time the PEA comes and as seen in the recent press releases, the ounce count at Chimo is already growing. In the next few weeks, you'll see additional drill results from the West Nordeau area and the East Chimo mine sector.”

The company on the 24^th of January 2023 announced the drill results from its drilling initiatives at the West Nordeau deposit of the Chimo gold mine project. The drill results showed the interception of 2.4 g/t of gold over 23.0 m as well as 2.1 g/t of gold over 14.0 m at the eastern section of the project. The western portion of the West Nordeau deposit has shown mineralisation of up to 2.4 g/t of gold over a mineralisation interval of 5.6 m.

Cartier Resources Inc. has been able to effectively conduct its exploration drilling, with an average exploration cost of CAD$ 7 per ounce discovered. Cloutier explains that the reason for this is due to the project’s past-producing nature, with diamond drilling having been conducted in the past and those results guiding the company’s initiatives.

“Our drill programs, the design of it has been greatly aided by the fact that there are over 4000 diamond drill holes in the past producing Chimo mine area, so we have a very good handle on the structural pattern there. Our hit-and-miss ratio has been excellent. If you've done the metrics, just under 60,000 m, CAD$ 13 million invested plus the acquisition, we're talking about CAD$ 7 per ounce…”

The company plans to in the future conduct underground exploration drilling initiatives, with Cloutier stating that the drill initiatives will be led by the findings of the in-process PEA.

“We're hoping that the next phase of exploration might include an underground phase if so recommended by the PEA to take it from that to the Feasibility or Pre-Feasibility. But most likely, with the new resource estimate that will follow this drilling, we'll probably have to upgrade the PEA once again. We're trying to engineer the next exploration phases at Chimo to be as performant as the previous ones and more rewarding than the ones so far.”

Future Initiatives

Cartier Resources Inc. will in the coming year have a two-fold approach towards the advancement of its Chimo Gold Mine project. The first part of its approach will be to continue proving the mineral resources of the project as well as to better understand and determine the optimal mining techniques to be implemented.

“We're seeing with this drill program that the West Nordeau area is already rewarding us beyond expectation. Once we wrap up this drill program, we will most likely continue drilling in that general area, because those ounces are building up faster and that's where we have to pay attention because ultimately, it's going to impact the centre of gravity and the mine design.”

The second part of the company’s approach regarding the advancement of the Chimo Gold Mine project will be to further de-risk the project through conducting underground exploration as well as retrieving bulk mining samples which will be used in processing studies.

“I think at this point, people understand the value of potentially dewatering the shaft, getting back or driving in a ramp and conducting a more thorough, closer to the ore diamond drill program and that shifts and then you could do some bulk sampling, then you could do more refined ore sorting tests to establish the right cut-off and trade-offs with all these other things, and start testing how you are going to approach mining this.”

Cartier Resources Inc. believes that the publishing of its PEA in Q1 2023, will serve as a catalyst which will allow a gold-focused investment fund to enter as an institutional investor in the company and further the Chimo Gold Mine project to a pre-feasibility or feasibility stage.

“We're seeing that some of the investment funds, Gold focused investment funds are looking to occupy that space and to arbitrage through funding or participation in the next steps. It so happens that their trigger is not a resource estimate but documents such as a PEA or Pre-Feasibility. That's where they get involved and they say well, we could put our weight behind this and we will become that institution that will take you from a PEA to a Pre-Feasibility or Feasibility which sometimes requires CAD$ 50 million to CAD$ 100 million worth of additional work.”

To find out more, go to the Cartier Resources website