Pacific Ridge Exploration (PEX) - Gold Copper Porphyry in BC

Pacific Ridge Exploration is a Canadian copper and gold exploration company focused on its goal of becoming one of the leading copper-gold exploration companies operating in British Columbia. The company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V: PEX) as well as the  American OTCQB stock exchange (OTCQG: PEXZF). The company’s flagship project is the Kliyul copper-gold project, which is located in the Quesnel Trough, approximately 50 km southeast of Centerra Gold Inc Kemess mine.

Matt Gordon met with Blaine Monaghan, President & CEO of Pacific Ridge Exploration.

Company Overview

The company completed its first-ever exploration program at the Kliyul project in 2021, which consisted of three drill holes and 1,500 m of drilling in total. The highlights of the drill campaign included the successful mineralization extension at the Kliyul Main Zone (KMZ) to the west and to depth and the encountering of mineralisation of up to 4.0% copper and 5.8 g/t gold. The completed exploration drilling program also showed the presence of bornite in two of the three exploration holes. The significance of the presence of bornite is its ability to indicate porphyry systems as well as indicate the direction to the porphyry system’s centre.

The company recently acquired a 100% interest in the Onjo copper-gold porphyry project in north-central British Columbia from Orogen Royalties Inc. (TSX-V: OGN). The company believes that the Onjo project has large exploration potential and with the project’s acquisition now sits with four copper-gold projects in its asset portfolio.

Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. reported the signature of an earn-in agreement with Antofagasta Minerals S.A., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Antofagasta PLC, one of the world's leading producers of copper. The agreement entails the option for Antofagasta to acquire a 75% interest in the RDP copper-gold project by spending CAD$ 10,000,000 on exploration over eight years and delivering a NI 43-101 compliant preliminary economic assessment (PEA) report.

The company is led by a dynamic and experienced management team, driven to build Pacific Ridge Exploration to one of the leading copper-gold exploration companies operating in British Columbia.

Management

Leading the company is Blaine Monaghan who is President, CEO and director. Monaghan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Simon Fraser University, a diploma in public relations from the Public Relations Institute of Ireland and an MBA from Royal Roads University.

Monaghan has a record and reputation of creating shareholder value in the mineral and mining industry, with him involved in more than CAD$ 100 million of capital raises for mining exploration projects. Monaghan has been involved in various companies that were subject to mergers and acquisitions including True Gold Mining Inc. which was acquired by Endeavour Mining Corp., Canplats Resources Corp. which was acquired by Goldcorp Inc., Western Prospector Group Ltd. which was acquired by a subsidiary of China Nuclear National Corp. and various others.

Gerald G. Carlson serves as Executive Chairman and director. Carlson has more than 40 years of precious and base metal experience primarily focused on the Yukon and in British Columbia. Carlson has been involved in both junior and major mining companies as a consultant and manager.  He has been awarded both the Ralph Marsden Award for distinguished service and the J.C. Sproule Award for the advancement of geology and mineral exploration in the Yukon.

The task of Vice President of Exploration is assigned to Danette Schwab. Schwab is a professional geologist with  18 years of experience in mining and mineral exploration. She is the Chair of the Vancouver Mining Exploration Group (Vancouver M.E.G) and has previously held the position of senior exploration geologist for Brixton Metals, NovaCopper and Fronteer Gold. Schwab is well versed in exploring for various mineralisation deposit types including porphyry copper-gold, epithermal gold, carlin-style gold, orogenic gold, sediment-hosted copper, and volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) ore deposits.

Salvador Miranda is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. and has more than 20 years of experience working in the administrative and financial departments of publicly traded companies. Miranda has in the past served as CFO for EnWave Corporation, Newstrike Capital Inc. and Exmin Resources Inc.

Arie Page rounds out the team as the Corporate Secretary. Page obtained her law degree in 2004 and was admitted to the British Columbia Bar in 2005. Page also serves as corporate secretary to not only Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. but also Bravada Gold Corporation, Southern Silver Exploration Corp. and Valterra Resource Corporation.

The management team is tasked with the operation and advancement of the company’s project portfolio.

Projects

Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. holds projects in both British Columbia as well as in the Yukon. The company’s Yukon assets are predominantly copper-gold projects and include the Mariposa property, Eureka Dome property, Gold Cap property and the Fyre Lake Project.

The British Columbia assets of the company are the Redton copper-gold project, the Kliyul copper-gold project, the RDP copper-gold project and the newly acquired Onjo copper-gold project.

The Redton copper-gold project

The Redton copper-gold project is a 25% owned copper-gold porphyry deposit, located in the Quesnel Trough, a mineral belt of volcano-sedimentary and intrusive rocks, that hosts various copper-gold porphyry deposits.

The company has the right to earn a 51% interest in the Redton as well as the Kliyul project from Centerra Gold through an earn-in agreement undertaken in 2020. The agreement entails Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. making cash payments in a total of CAD$ 100,000, the issuing of 2.0 million shares and spending CAD$ 3.5 million on exploration by December 31, 2023. The Company also has the right to increase its interest in the project to 75% by making additional payments totalling CAD$ 60,000, issuing 1.5 million shares and completing an additional CAD$ 3.5 million in exploration by December 31, 2025.

Kliyul copper-gold project

The Kliyul copper-gold project is a 60 km2 (6,000 hectares) land package located 50 km southeast of the Kemess mine of Centerra Gold within the Quesnel Trough. The project has access to mining roads and power lines. The project also forms part of the earn-in agreement the company has with Centerra Gold.

The project’s main zone, the Kliyul Main Zone (KMZ) has been intensively explored since 1974 with more than 5,500 m of exploration drilling having been conducted. The company conducted a 1,544 m exploration drilling program at the Kliyul copper-gold project in 2021, with highlights including the successful extension of the mineralisation deposit at the KMZ, with mineralisation remaining open to the west, south, southwest, southeast, northeast and to depth.

Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. encountered significant copper-gold mineralisation in each of the three holes drilled during the exploration drilling program, with the mineralisation visible in every hole according to Blaine Monaghan:

“We knew that we had intercepted porphyry gold mineralisation in every hole. We could tell that visually by the mineralisation, and then it was just simply a matter of waiting for the drill results.”

Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. also encountered mineralisation of up to 4.0% copper and 5.8 g/t gold as well as the presence of bornite in two of the three exploration holes. The significance of the presence of bornite is its ability to indicate porphyry systems as well as indicate the direction to the porphyry system’s centre.

The company plans to conduct a further minimum of 5,000 m exploration drilling program in 2022, with it anticipating the initiation of the program by early July 2022. The primary aim of the exploration drilling program is the expansion of the KMZ along strike and depth, with the company also planning to test the mineralisation at the Kliyul East and West targets, which have never been drill tested before.

RDP copper-gold project

The RDP copper-gold project is located 40 km west of the company’s flagship Kliyul project and is a 10,000 ha land package within the Stikine Terrane.

The company has recently signed an earn-in agreement with Antofagasta Minerals S.A., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Antofagasta PLC, one of the world's leading producers of copper. The agreement grants Antofagasta PLC the option to acquire a 75% interest in the project by spending CAD$ 10,000,000 on the exploration of the project over 8 years and delivering a NI 43-101 compliant preliminary economic assessment (PEA). In the case where either party’s interest in the project falls below 10%, that party’s interest will be converted to a 2% net smelter return (NSR) royalty. The other party may then purchase half of the NSR from CAD$ 4,500,000.

Monaghan believes that the earn-in agreement with Antofagasta PLC enables the company to be able to advance its other projects whilst keeping an interest in the RDP project, he states:

“That’s why it made sense for us to bring in a partner. With our other projects, they’re earlier stage than both Kliyul and RDP, so I think it would make more sense for us to do a little bit more work to further refine targets, and in the meantime, if someone were to come along that was an appropriate partner that wanted to structure the right kind of deal. We’d be open to it.”

The Onjo gold-copper project

The newly acquired Onjo property of the company is a 9,700 ha land package located 10 km west of Centerra Gold’s Mount Milligan Mine. The company believes that the project has the potential to host copper-gold mineralization in a porphyry-style deposit. The company believes that past operators encountered the upper level of the porphyry system and bases this assumption on the interpretation of historical drill program results in conjunction with nearby skarn occurrences. The company is planning to undertake a surface exploration program including mapping, sampling, and possible geophysical surveys to define targets for future drill testing later this year.

The company acquired 100% of the Onjo property in February 2022 from Orogen Royalties Inc. The acquisition is subject to a 2% net smelter return (NSR) royalty held by Orogen Royalties Inc. and the payment of CAD$ 50,000 in cash and the issuing of 750,000 common shares of Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. to Orogen Royalties Inc. The company also holds the option to purchase one-quarter of the NSR, or 0.5%, at any time for USD$ 1.5 million in the future. Blaine Monaghan believes that the agreement is beneficial to both parties and states:

“Orogen Royalties Inc.’s modus operandi here is that really, we (Orogen) have this project, we’re not going to advance it, we want royalties, so if we can strike a deal with you where you can own it 100% and we can put royalties on it then that works for us.”

Plans for the future

Looking towards the future, Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. plans to continue acquiring copper-gold projects as well as search for more joint venture opportunities. Monaghan states:

“I think we have an early-mover advantage. If we can continue to make good acquisitions, we’ll do so. I’m looking at this almost right now like Monopoly; acquire as much property as you can because it’s just going to continue to become more valuable as we continue to move forward”

The company further plans to search for a corporate strategic investment partner, which will enable it to circumvent the next round of fundraising with the partner being able to fund the planned exploration drilling program at the Kliyul project. Monaghan however states that should they not be able to find a strategic partner, they will follow the route of institutional investment.

Monaghan is confident that the planned exploration drilling program at the Kilyul project will commence in 2022, with him stating:

“I know it’s not going to be an issue of raising the money, it’s just going to be a matter of where that money is going to come from.” 

To find out more, go to the Pacific Ridge Exploration website