ValOre Metals (VO) - Uranium, Palladium & Platinum Developers

ValOre Metals Corp. is a Canadian exploration company with a market cap of approximately CAD$ 60 million and is focused on advancing its Canadian and Brazilian projects. The company’s Angilak project is one of the highest-grade uranium projects in the world. The project holds a 66,435-hectare land position in Nunavut Territory in Canada and has an inferred mineral resource estimate of 43.3 million pounds of U3O8. The company’s 100%-owned Pedra Branca project is a 56,852-hectare land package located in north-eastern Brazil and hosts approximately 2.2 million ounces of palladium, platinum and gold (2PGE + Au).

The current economic climate, which has proven to be challenging for various junior mining companies, should not be seen as unconquerable according to Paterson. The climate will, as what has been seen previously in commodity cycles, experience a turnaround. Paterson believes that the most important thing a company can do is to continue advancing its projects.

ValOre Metals Corp. announced at the start of August 2022, that it had added a second diamond drill rig at its Angilak project and that the rig had commenced with exploration drilling at its Angilak Uranium project. The two diamond drill rigs form part of the company’s previously announced 4,500 m core drilling program. The core drilling program is aimed at exploring the project’s Dipole and J4 West uranium targets and expanding the project’s mineral resource base.

The company also on the 3rd of August 2022, released the initial assay results from its trenching program conducted at the Galante East target of its Pedra Blanca PGE project. The company has received the assay results of 6 of the 7 trenches, with all trenches intersecting PGE mineralisation. The highlights of the trenching program include a mineralisation interval of 53 m at a grade of 0.59 g/t of palladium + platinum + gold (2PGE + Au).

Economic climate

Jim Paterson, the CEO and Chairman of ValOre Metals Corp. believes that the current downswing in the mineral resource sector will change. He explains that this downswing is not the first nor shall it be the last in the mineral resource sector with the sector having experienced many such times throughout recent history. Paterson believes that the only thing a junior mining company can do is to continue to advance its projects as the sector goes through the cycle, he states:

“I think when you're in the midst of it, it's sometimes tough to know with confidence that the sun will rise, but the sun does rise. Cycles are cycles and the troughs are very difficult but we do come through them. And I've been in the business since 1997 so I've seen lots of cycles. I felt desperate for sure many times but the confidence that comes with getting through it and knowing that it does and knowing that you need to be brave in the trough.”

Paterson further explains that there is funding available for projects in the form of Bifurcated capital, he states:

“…there is capital available, it's bifurcated capital so only the good projects are getting funded. I tend not to rely too much on cycles. And I do say if you've got a good project, move it forward, as you are able to do with the finance and resources you have at that time.”

Paterson believes that, if possible, a junior mining company must focus on the advancement of its project and continue to make the project as attractive as possible for investors, or in the case of monetisation, to major mining companies, he states:

“…when the market is good, if you are in a position of advancing it and dusted that you have put enough lipstick on the pig, she'll fly in the good market. So we're not in a good market right now but we're driving with exploration to be in a position when those markets return.”

Advancing its projects

The company’s asset portfolio consists of the Pedra Branca PGE project, the Angilak uranium project, the Baffin gold project and the Genesis and Hatchet Lake uranium projects. The Angilak uranium project of the company is a 66,435-hectare land package which boasts as one of the highest-grade uranium projects in the world. The property hosts the Lac 50 trend which hosts a NI 43-101 compliant resource of 2,831,000 tons of mineralisation at a grade of 0.69% U3O8 totalling 43.3 million pounds of U3O8.

Paterson explains that the company strategically delayed advancing the Angilak uranium project until such a point where it could raise the necessary funds to advance the project, he states:   

“We did change our strategy when the Uranium market got hot enough that we couldn't say no to the money. When we had the Angilak property effectively on ice since 2016, we did. And initially, I felt it was premature, let's say in 2017, 2018, 2019, or even 2020 to start working on that property again. The market was creeping back, but I'd been kind of frankly, I've been stung before by a premature Uranium market and didn't want to get stung again.”

Paterson further explains that when the uranium market conditions improved the company raised the necessary funds to advance the project, he states:

“…the market got strong enough in 2021 near the end, that we're able to raise money. So we did change our strategy and did allocate capital to the Uranium project in 2021. I think we've made the right move; we've got 2 rigs there right now drilling, and we've got news coming out in the next couple of weeks. So that's what we do, exploration adding value through exploration.”

The Pedra Branca project of the company is a 100%-owned 56,852-hectare land package which hosts 7 distinct Platinum Group Element (PGE) veins as well as gold veins. The inferred resource estimate of the project consists of 2,198,000 ounces of palladium, platinum and gold (2PGE + Au) consisting of 63,568,000 tons of mineralisation at an average grade of 1.08 g/t 2PGE + Au. The project, before its acquisition by the company, underwent more than USD$ 35 million of historic exploration initiatives, which were conducted by previous owners including companies such as Anglo-American Platinum.

Exploration initiatives and results at Pedra Branca

ValOre Metals Corp. on the 28th of June 2022, announced assay results from the Tróia target of the Pedra Branca project. The assay results showed the interception of significant mineral intervals at the target for 6 out of the 7 trenches. The highlights of the trenching samples include 42 m of mineralisation at a grade of 0.878 g/t of palladium, platinum and gold (2PGE + Au), and included a 10 m interval at a grade of 1.72 g/t 2PGE + Au. The assay results further included 28 m at 0.87 g/t 2PGE + Au which included a mineralisation interval of 1.72 g/t 2PGE + Au.

The company on the 11th of July 2022, announced that it had intercepted high-grade PGE mineralisation at the Trado target of the Pedra Branca project. The auger drilling showed highlights including an 8 m interval at a grade of 2.05 g/t 2PGE + Au, which included a 3 m interval at a grade of 4.70 2g/t 2PGE + Au. The auger drilling further intercepted a mineralisation interval of 6 m at a grade of 3.60 g/t of 2PGE + Au, which included a 4 m interval at a grade of 5.00 g/t 2PGE + Au.

The company’s rationale regarding conducting shallow Auger drilling instead of deeper exploration drilling at the project is the ability of the auger drilling to not only extend the project’s resource base but that it is also a more cost-effective approach, Paterson explains:

“The Palladium project, very slow burn down there in terms of costs, what we're finding is a lot of shallow mineralization. Shallow mineralization is actually much cheaper to find than deep mineralization. That sounds like such a, you know, a simple statement but drilling a 700 m hole is way more expensive than drilling a 10 m auger hole. What we're doing down in Brazil is just we've got this really effective, productive crew and they're basically knocking out of the park those shallow exploration programmes.”

ValOre Metals Corp. also released trenching results for the project’s Galante East target. The assay result of the trenches shows PGE mineralisation in 6 of the 7 trenches conducted, including 53 m of mineralisation at a grade of 0.59 g/t 2PGE + Au, including a 6 m interval at a grade of 1.07 g/t 2PGE + Au. The assay results also included a 31 m mineralisation interval at 0.83 g/t 2PGE + Au as well as 4 m at 3.86 g/t 2PGE + Au.

Angilak project drilling

ValOre Metals Corp. announced on the 27th of July 2022, that it had commenced with a diamond drilling program at its Angilak uranium project located in Nunavut Territory, Canada. The diamond drilling program will be conducted at the project’s Dipole and J4 West targets and is envisioned to consist of 4,500 m of drilling, with 3,000 m of drilling planned at the Dipole target and 1,500 m planned at the J4 West target. The diamond drilling is aimed to expand the project’s mineral resource estimate.

The company on the 1st of August announced that it had added a second drill rig at its Angilak project, with both rigs operational at the project’s Dipole target. The first drill hole was able to intercept multiple shallow zones of strong radioactivity. The company has found in previous exploration programs that the radioactivity levels of a sample, directly correlate to its mineralisation grade. The highlights of the diamond drilling assay result include radioactivity levels of 12,000 CPS at a vertical depth of 56 m as well as 9,361 CPS at a vertical depth of 98 m.

Future

ValOre Metals Corp. will continue its exploration initiatives at its Pedra Branca and Angilak projects in the future, with the company aiming to update the mineral resource estimate of both projects. Paterson explains that the Pedra Branca project, will in the future, be driven by ESG factors. The biggest use of palladium and platinum is in the catalytic converters of automobiles, which decrease the environmental impact of the exhaust fumes, he states:

“I think that the substitution may or may not be inevitable down the road, there'll be different uses for useful metal though. And in terms of actual ESG, a catalytic converter does real ESG, it cleans up the environment, and cleans up noxious fumes. So at this point in time, it is ESG a catalytic converter and which is what Platinum and Palladium for the most part for industrial uses are used. “

The Angilak project of the company also enjoys great potential, due to the shift in public perception the nuclear fuels industry is currently enjoying, he states:

“…on the Uranium side, we were watching to see what the EU would do in terms of whether nuclear was green or not. And quite frankly, if you know anything about the nuclear sector you know it is and it's actually one of the safest and best-run businesses, I believe in the world. They are very careful, they're like a Swiss watch personified and it is an amazing source of energy. So I think nuclear has a real place and particularly, I think people are coming to the realisation even of the mainstream media. It's like, you need baseload power, you don't need intermittent power if you want to have a real economy. “

To find out more, go to the ValOre Metals website