Wallbridge Mining (WM) - Technical Analysis

Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. is an advanced exploration and development company focused on its large land package in the Abitibi greenstone belt of Quebec. The land package, which stretches for 97 km, has access to various infrastructures including hydroelectric power lines. The maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) of the company’s Fenelon Gold project holds 2.67 million ounces of gold in indicated resources and 1.72 million ounces in inferred resources of gold. The updated mineral resource estimate of the company’s Martinière gold project holds 543,700 ounces of gold in the indicated category and 256,200 ounces of gold in the inferred category.

Merlin Marr-Johnson sat down with Attila Pentek the Vice President (VP) of Exploration and Frank Demers the Vice President (VP) of Mining and Projects at Wallbridge Mining Company Limited. to discuss the technical aspects of the company’s flagship Fenelon gold project.

Company Overview

Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. recently announced that it concluded with both a bought deal public offering as well as a private placement. The bought deal public offering consisted of the issuance of 27,300,000 charity flow-through common shares of the company at CAD$ 0.55 per share for the gross proceeds of CAD$ 15,015,000. The non-brokered private placement consisted of 24,611,351 national flow-through common shares and 12,357,000 Quebec flow-through common shares of the company which resulted in further gross proceeds of CAD$ 14,172,570.

The company plans to implement the raised funds towards its planned 2022 drilling program at its projects as well as to conduct various studies necessary for their advancement. The company ended 2021 with approximately CAD$ 40,000,000 in its treasury and expects a further CAD$ 10,000,000 in refundable tax credit from the Quebec government in the near future.

The company recently announced results from its ongoing drill program at the Fenelon gold project, which includes the identification of various new areas of mineralisation. The drill program at the Fenelon gold project is aimed at the delineation of known mineral resources of the project as well as conducting exploration drilling at various targets outside the 2021 MRE mineralisation zone. The results of the 2022 drilling program will support future economic studies as well as an updated resource estimate in 2023. The company has allocated two to three drill rigs for the project’s infill drilling with three to four drill rigs allocated for exploration drilling at the project.

The 2022 exploration program will be split, with 60-65% of the planned drilling targeted at the Fenelon gold project, 25-30% targeted at the Martinière gold project, and the remaining 10% allocated to regional exploration drilling.

Company finances and shareholder base

Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. announced in February 2022, that it had entered into a bought deal financing agreement with BMO Capital Market on behalf of itself and various underwriters. The agreement entails the purchasing of 27,300,000 charity flow-through common shares of the Company at CAD$ 0.55 per charity flow-through common share for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately CAD$ 15 million.

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. participated in the bought deal public offering in order to maintain its existing 9.9% ownership position in the company. The company acquired 6,362,519 common shares in the capital of Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. William Day Holdings Ltd. also participated in the bought deal public offering and acquired 1,612,903 common shares in the capital of Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd.

The company further completed a non-brokered private placement offering. The non-brokered private placement included the issuing of national flow-through common shares and Quebec flow-through common shares for aggregate gross proceeds of CAD$ 14.2 million. The national FT shares were issued at CAD$ 0.37 and the Quebec FT shares at CAD$ 0.41.

The gross proceeds of the bought deal financing agreement as well as the non-brokered private placement of the company have been allocated towards the company’s 2022 exploration program at its projects.

Fenelon project

The Fenelon gold project of the company is an advanced stage exploration project, located 80 km east of the Detour Lake gold mine owned by Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. The project is 100% owned and was acquired by Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. in 2016. The company has conducted over 300,000 metres of surface and underground drilling as well as underground bulk sampling programs since the project’s acquisition. Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. published a mineral resource estimate (MRE) of the project in November 2021. The MRE includes highlights of approximately 2.13 million ounces of gold in the indicated category and approximately 1.47 million ounces of gold in the inferred category.

The project’s gold mineralisation is primarily made up of three gold domains on the property, the Main Gabbro zones, Tabasco and Cayenne, and Area 51 zones. The gold mineralisation of the project is associated with disseminated pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and pyrite, and minor sphalerite, arsenopyrite and marcasite. The company can boast that visible gold is a common occurrence in all the zones of the project.

Martinière project

The Martinière project of Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. is an advanced exploration stage and 100% owned gold project located 45 km east of the Detour Lake gold mine owned by Kirkland Land Gold and 30 km west of the company’s Fenelon project. The project has historically seen approximately 233,852 m of exploration drilling conducted through 519 diamond drill holes.

Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. published an updated minerals resource of the Martinière project in November 2021, which showed 543,700 ounces of gold in the indicated category and 256,200 in the inferred category.

The mineralisation of the project shows good expansion potential according to the company, with various gold occurrences and drill targets identified on the property.

Detour-Fenelon gold trend properties

The company also has various early-stage exploration projects on the Detour-Fenelon gold trend. The Detour-Fenelon projects of the company include the Casault gold project and the Grasset project.

Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. holds the option to acquire 65% of the Casault gold project from Midland Exploration Inc. The company completed 5,300 m of exploration drilling at the property in Q3 2021, which was aimed at testing a variety of grassroots exploration targets at the project. The exploration drilling focused primarily on the unexplored part of the property north of the Sunday Lake Deformation Zone (SLDZ) and on the mineralisation system that also hosts the Martinière project 12 km to the east. The 2021 exploration drilling conducted by Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. identified gold mineralisation which intercepted 2.0 m of gold mineralisation at a grade of 6.85 g/t gold.

The Grasset project of the company is an advanced stage exploration project located approximately 90 km east of the detour lake gold mine. The project hosts nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum-group metals (PGM) and gold mineralisation and is 100% owned by Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. The company completed 3,200 m of exploration drilling at the project in 2021 and published a mineral resource estimate in November 2021. The mineral resource estimate of the project shows 5.5 million tons of mineralisation at a grade of 1.53% nickel equivalent (NiEq) in the indicated category and 217,000 tons of mineralisation at a grade of 1.01% NiEq in the inferred category.

2022 drilling program

The 2022 drilling program of the company is funded by the gross proceeds of the bought deal financing agreement as well as the non-brokered private placement offerings concluded by the company in early 2022. The company will further implement the CAD$ 40 million in its treasury it ended 2021 with towards the drilling program as well as the expected CAD$ 10 million in 2020 refundable tax credits it is scheduled to receive from the province of Quebec.

The 2022 drilling program will cost CAD$ 70 million and will be conducted at the company’s Fenelon and Martinière gold projects as well as on regional exploration at its Detour-Fenelon gold property. The 2022 exploration program will be split between the projects, with 60-65% of the planned drilling conducted at the Fenelon gold project, 25-30% conducted at the Martinière gold project, and the remaining 10% allocated to regional exploration drilling.

The CAD$ 70 million exploration budget also allows for economic studies and underground maintenance at the Area 51 zone of the Fenelon Gold project. The exploration drilling at the Fenelon gold project will include 35,000 m of drilling focused on resource expansion within the open pit shell defined in the 2021 MRE. The 2022 exploration drilling will also include 80,000 m of exploration drilling which will be aimed at extending the project’s known gold zones as well as testing extensions of the main host rocks.

The 2022 drilling program at the Martinière gold project will consist of 40,000 m of infill drilling aimed at consolidating the project’s mineralisation.

Wallbridge intends to allocate approximately 10% of the 2022 budget to pursue further grassroots discoveries on its extensive land package, which spans 97 km in an east-west direction along the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend.

The regional exploration portion of the 2022 drilling program will focus on the Casault gold property and the Grasset project.

Recent discoveries and activities

Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. announced in April 2022 that it had been able to conclude with an underground development program at its Fenelon gold project. The underground development program provides direct access to the Area 51 zone of the project. The 1,800 m of underground development has enabled the company to see and touch the Area 51 mineralisation for the first time since the zone was discovered in 2019. The underground access to the Area 51 zone will allow the company to further grow the resource and also improve the company’s understanding of the zone’s mineralisation and grade distribution.

The company also reported positive drill results from the regional exploration it conducted. The regional exploration program was able to identify new gold mineralisation at the Grasset property. The new mineralisation includes 42.63 g/t of gold over 0.5 m and 9.98 g/t of gold over 0.6 m. The regional exploration program also discovered a new gold system at the Casault gold property.

Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. also released initial assay results from the 2022 drill program at the Fenelon gold property. The company currently has two to three drill rigs dedicated to the infill drilling of the resource. The infill drilling conducted has shown highlights thus far of 1.73 g/t of gold over 67.70 m, which includes intercepts of 2.64 g/t of gold over 12.00 m, and 7.33 g/t of gold over 6.75 m in the Area 51 zone. The infill drilling also intercepted gold mineralisation at the Tabasco-Cayenne zones which include 49.07 g/t of gold over 1.00 m, 2.71 g/t of gold over 12.40 m, and 22.83 g/t of gold over 2.05 m.

The exploration portion of the 2022 drilling program at the Fenelon gold project is also underway, with the company having allocated three to four drill rigs towards this. The exploration has thus far encountered mineralisation at the project with highlights including 5.21 g/t of gold over an intercept of 5.00 m, which includes 38.00 g/t of gold over 0.60 m at the Area 51 zone. 

To find out more, go to the Wallbridge Mining website