Gold Terra Resource Corp (YGT) - "High-Grade Projects Do Better"

Gold Terra Resource Corp. is a junior gold exploration company, focused on the advancement of its 800 km2 Yellowknife City Gold project located in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The project is located 10 km away from the City of Yellowknife. The Campbell shear of the project has in the past produced more than 14 million ounces of gold.

The company recently attended the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention, which was hosted in Toronto. The company attended the convention with the aim of promotion but also aligning with its shareholders. Gold Terra Resource Corp. believes that in the current gold market, high-grade projects do better. The reasoning behind this is that high-grade projects can provide large returns at very low risk. The company further believes that in a difficult market the most important thing for a junior mining company to do is to raise funds and continue with its exploration initiatives such as exploration drilling. The drilling as well as allocation of funds however must be done conscientiously to ensure maximum return and value creation through its allocation.

Gold Terra Resource Corp. recently announced assay results from three drill holes, which formed part of its winter drilling initiatives. The intention of the drilling was the expansion of high-grade mineralisation at the Mispickel Area of the Yellowknife City Gold project. The results include 31.89 g/t of gold over 3 m, which includes a 1 m intercept at 69.4 g/t. The conducted 6,011 m of exploration drilling has delivered at least 10 drill holes with visible gold within them, with the assay results of 11 holes still pending. The company will continue to focus on testing the continuity of the mineralized zones within the Campbell shear of the project in 2022.

Gold Terra Resource Corp will also aim to publish a mineral resource estimate (MRE) of the Campbell shear by September 2022.

Creating value in difficult markets

Gerald Panneton, the CEO and Chairman of the company’s board explains that in a difficult market, to create shareholder value, a company must continue to raise funds and advance the project, he explains:

“The most important thing is to create shareholder value in a difficult market. It's to keep raising the dollars and not stop the job but be careful about the way you're spending it. So for example, when you have tons of money, you could move faster, you can add more drills, you can have more targets.”

Panneton further believes that drilling should be done concisely and smartly. He refers to how Gold Terra Corp., after his joining removed helicopter surveys from its exploration initiatives and through that decreased exploration and drilling costs from CAD$ 300 to CAD$ 200.

“I brought the cost of drilling from CAD$ 300 a metre to CAD$ 200 a metre since I joined the company by cutting off the helicopter. The helicopter alone was like CAD$ 50 a metre in cost. So I said we are drilling in the winter, on the ice for CAD$ 200 a metre.”

Panneton explains that to create shareholder value in a difficult market, a company must be able to prove to the investor community that it has a valuable operation, which can only be done through drilling initiatives, he states:

“Drilling is how you create shareholder value, not in going around with investor relations. Telling you have the best story and you never drill it.”

The Yellowknife City Gold project

The Yellowknife City gold project of the company is an 800 km2 land package, immediately north, south and east of the city of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The project has access to various necessary infrastructures which include all-season roads, air transportation, service providers, hydroelectric power and a skilled workforce.

The Project lies on the Yellowknife greenstone belt and also hosts both the Con and Giant past-producing gold mines. The past-producing mines, which form part of the Campbell shear have in the past produced more than 14 million ounces of gold.  The Giant mine historically produced 8.1 million ounces of gold at an average mineralisation grade of 16.0 g/t gold and the Con mine produced over 6.1 million ounces of gold at an average mineralisation grade of 16.1 g/t gold.

The company has conducted approximately 60,000 m of exploration drilling at the Crestaurum, Barney, Sam Otto and Mispickel gold deposits of the project. Gold Terra Resource Corp. published a mineral resource estimate (MRE) of the four deposits in November 2019, from which it updated the MRE in March 2021.

The updated MRE of the Crestaurum, Barney, Sam Otto and Mispickel gold deposits of the Yellowknife City Gold project. The updated MRE was based on the 2020 exploration drilling initiatives of the Sam Otto and Crestaurum deposits, each undergoing 7,648 m and 9,622 m of exploration drilling respectively. The updated MRE shows 21.8 million tons of mineralisation at an average grade of 1.25 g/t totalling 876,000 ounces of gold contained in an open-pit constraint inferred resource. The underground inferred mineral resource of the project equates to 2.55 million tons of mineralisation at an average grade of 4.04 g/t gold for a total of 331,000 ounces of contained gold. Panneton explains the project's potential and its envisioned operation as follows:

“So underground, 3 m, small tonnage, but with a very good grade. Exactly what you want to go through a tough time. You don't want to spend too much money on a low-grade deposit which requires too much investment. Due to costs and CAD$ 1.5 billion to build 10 years ago. How much do you think the total cost is CAD$ 2.5 billion? So, we're talking about investing CAD$ 300M to build a 5000 t/day mill, and have some high-grade from Mispickel. The Crestaurum pit is 6 g, for the first 5 years and we mined 6 g over a period of 5 years to go along with 10 g from underground. You're looking at almost 200,000 ounces of gold a year.”

Recent exploration activities

Gold Terra Resource Corp. released assay results of the exploration drilling conducted at the MP-Ryan zone of the project’s Mispickel area at the start of May 2022. The assay result of the four drill holes was able to extend the high-grade MP-Ryan Zone of the area. The exploration drilling initiatives in the area consisted of 19 drill holes for a total of 6,011 m of exploration drilling conducted. Out of the 19 drill holes, 10 show visible gold, with the highlights of the drill holes including 3.59 g/t of gold over 7 m which includes a 2 m intercept of 8.02 g/t gold.

The company further published assay results of the 19-hole exploration drilling program at the start of June 2022. The drilling results continue to extend the high-grade MP-Ryan zone of the project. The highlights of the assay results include 31.89 g/t of gold over 3 m, which includes a 1 m intercept at a grade of 69.4 g/t. The results further show 7.63 g/t of gold over 3 m, which includes an intercept of 22.5 g/t of gold over 1 m and 4.17 g/t of gold over 6 m including 11.35 g/t of gold over 1 m.

Panneton states that the assay results of the Mispickel exploration drilling will continue into the summer, with the results of 11 of the 19 drill holes conducted still to be released, he states:

“We had some very good success; we still have half of the results pending on that programme. So we're going to have a flow of news that will carry on all the way to summer until the resource update. And we expect to go back to Mispickel next winter if money is there with a couple of drills again.”

Gold Terra Resource Corp. released assay results of two drill holes at the Yellowrex Zone of the project in the middle of May 2022. The drilling was conducted to test a gap in the drilling and confirm two high-grade zones of the deposit. The highlights of the assay results include 8.00 g/t of gold over 11 m, which includes a 4 m intercept at a grade of 18.70 g/t. The assay results also show mineralisation of 14.42 g/t of gold over 4 m, which includes a 2 m intercept at a grade of 27.75 g/t.

2022 Exploration initiatives

Gold Terra Resource Corp. aims to conduct a total of 40,000 m of exploration drilling in 2022, with the objective of the 2022 exploration drilling initiatives to delineate a high-grade gold mineral resource to add to its current mineral resource estimate of 1.2 million ounces of gold in the inferred category.

Panneton explains that the exploration initiatives will be conducted until the end of July 2022, he states:

“The Campbell Shear we are still waiting and we're still drilling but you have to have a cut off which probably is going to be at the end of July.”

The 2022 exploration drilling program at the Campbell shear consists of 2 drill rigs operating at the Yellowknife City Gold project. One drill rig is targeting the Campbell Shear at a depth of approximately 1,000 m below the surface and a spacing of 200 m, with another drilling north of the Yellowrex Zone of the project.

Cash position and future plans

Gold Terra Resource Corp. has a cash position of approximately CAD$ 2 million in its treasury. The company plans to publish a mineral resource estimate of the Campbell shear by September 2022, which will be based on the drilling endeavours conducted at the project since March 2022. The company aims to raise additional funds after the publishing of the updated mineral resource of the project, from which it will continue to conduct a pre-feasibility study (PFS).

Gold Terra Resource Corp., will however release the pre-feasibility study of the Yellowknife City Gold project depending on the market of the time. The company is initially aiming to publish the PFS by the end of 2023.

Gold Terra Resource Corp. will continue its exploration initiatives at the Yellowknife City Gold project, with the end goal being to expand the mineral resource estimate of the project to 2 million ounces of gold.

To find out more, go to the Gold Terra Resource website