Falcon Gold ramps up acquisitions, eyes maiden resource estimate at Central Canada gold project

2021.05.07

Falcon Gold (TSXV:FG, Frankfurt:3FA.G, OTC:FGLDF) continues to make excellent progress at its flagship Central Canada gold project, located 21 km east of Atitokan, and 160 km west of Thunder Bay, Ontario. In addition, the company has acquired a gold-silver-copper property in Argentina, and a trio of mineral claims in central British Columbia near the town of Clinton.

Central Canada

In 2020 Falcon completed an inaugural 17-hole drill program totaling 2,942.5 meters of core and acquired by staking 4,477 hectares of mineral claims south and northwest of Agnico Eagle’s Hammond Reef property. Falcon Gold has the largest land position in the Atikokan gold camp — bested only by Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM) and its 32,070-ha Hammond Reef exploration project, bought by AEM in 2018.

Open pit measured and indicated (M&I) resources at Hammond Reef are estimated at 4.5 million gold ounces.

The Central Canada gold mine has an interesting history. Between 1901 and 1907, a shaft was sunk to a depth of 12 meters and 27 ounces of gold from 18 tons were mined using a stamp mill. During the 1930s, the shaft was deepened to 40m with about 42m of crosscuts, and a 75 ton-per-day gold mill was installed. Diamond drilling by Anjamin Mines in 1965 returned a 0.6-meter intersection of 37 g/t Au. Another hole assayed 44 g/t Au over 2.1m.

A more aggressive drill program in 1985 saw Interquest Resources punch in 13 holes @ 1,840m, the highlight being a 1.1-meter intercept of 30 g/t Au.

In 2012, diamond drilling was completed by TerraX Minerals, consisting of three holes totaling 363m, spaced 55 meters apart to test a 110m strike length of the main Central Canada structure. The first TerraX hole, CC12-01, cut 10.61m averaging 1.32 g/t Au, including 1.82m of 4.77 g/t Au. 

A 7-hole, 1,055m program completed by Falcon Gold in July 2020 featured a 3-meter interval of 10.17 g/t Au, @ 67m down-hole. Falcon also intersected a new mineralized zone, untested by previous operators, at 104m depth, which sampled 18.6 g/t Au over 1m.

Fast forward to the March 19, 2021 news release. The company has delivered 168 samples to be assayed and these samples are the last batch from the 2020 drill program (5 holes completed since last July). Holes CC20-15, 16 and 17, summarized in the table below, were completed in December, and followed two holes in November, of which hole CC 20-12 reported visible gold. 

Highlights included:

• In hole CC 20-15, the interval from 29.7m to 34.0m averaged 0.75 g/t gold with the first 0.5m grading 5.77 g/t Au. The 4.1m interval beginning at 59.5m returned a grade of 1.35 g/t Au with the last 0.8m assaying 3.95 g/t Au.
• In hole CC 20-17, collared 100m west of the shaft, three zones of gold mineralization were intersected between 9.8m and 40.1m and appear to correspond to the Central Canada main gold zone. These results add continuity to the 275m strike length and depth >160m of the mineralized trend that has been intersected by the 2020 drill program.

Karim Rayani, Falcon’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are very pleased with the results of the first round of drilling on the Central Canada gold project. The mineralization is proving to be quite robust — existing over a respectable strike length [275m]. Our next job will be to determine what geological structures control the high-grade sections and what may be the potential for the broad porphyry-hosted gold zones to be incorporated in the resource estimations.”

Surface level plan view of the 2020 drill program showing the Falcon, TerraX and Anjamin drill holes. Gold intercepts define a mineralized trend that includes the historical shaft. Note Falcon’s hole CC 20-17 results show an encouraging trend to the west.

Falcon Gold outlined its 2021 exploration plans in a March 2 news release, first explaining that the Central Canada property hosts two types of targets — the high-grade gold zones the 2020 drill campaign focused on, and copper-cobalt sulfides associated with massive iron sulfides and oxides hosted in the Quetico fault. The company anticipates collaring up to 20 drill holes targeting the gold mineralization in the Central Canada gold mine shaft area; and testing other gold zones such as the mineralized quartz-feldspar porphyries and the Northern (No. 2) vein.

Notably, Falcon Gold management believe they may be ready for a preliminary resource estimate following analysis of the 2020 core samples and digital modeling, as well as the sighting of areas for additional drilling.

Esperanza

Zooming out from Central Canada, Falcon Gold has been busy on the acquisitions front.

On March 11 the TSX Venture Exchange approved the company’s option to acquire a 100% interest in the Esperanza gold, silver and copper mineral concessions located in La Rioja province, Argentina.

This was followed six weeks later by an announced spin-off, whereby Falcon Gold LatamARG S.A. (LatamARG) will manage the day to day operations headed by country manager Juan Carlos Navas Díaz, a Venezuelan national with permanent residence in Argentina.

A senior executive with over 25 years experience in corporate finance, management and mining/ energy operations, Carlos Navas Díaz was country manager Argentina in CruzSur Energy and president of Alianza Petrolera Argentina S.A.

“I’m pleased to welcome Mr. Navas to the Falcon team. Having a local presence in Argentina will help streamline operations as we prepare the necessary permitting to begin our first phase of exploration in the coming weeks,” said Falcon Gold’s CEO, Karim Rayani.

Under the option agreement, Falcon Gold will issue the vendors a series of shares and warrants over four years, along with minimal expenditures on the property amounting to US$350,000. This will give Falcon an 80% interest. The remaining 20% may be earned by issuing another 2 million shares and paying US$1.5 million, which includes a 1% NSR (net smelter returns) buyback with the vendors retaining 1%.

Comprising 10 mineral concessions covering 11,768 hectares, Esperanza is within the Sierra de Las Minas district, where there are a number of past-producing gold and silver mines.

High-grade gold mineralization was first discovered in 1865 at the Callanas occurrences, which was followed by limited mining on a gold-copper-silver zone. Nine hundred meters of drilling was conducted at Callanas during the 1990s, from which two holes reported encouraging results — 1m @ 9.11 g/t gold and 28.59 g/t silver; and 0.42m @ 24.3 g/t Au and 61.10 g/t Ag.

More recently, Esperanza Resources mapped the Callanas West zone along a northwest-southeast strike for about 4 km.

In 2018 Falcon Gold completed a limited sampling program as part of its due diligence on the property. Highlights included a trench sample from Callanas East reporting 1m @ 5.61 g/t Au, and a 2.5m continuous chip sample from Callanas East showing 5.90 g/t Au, 20.6 g/t Ag and 0.29% Cu. Surface sampling results featured 27.93 g/t Au across 50cm from Callana III vein; and a 50-cm width of visible gold from the Callana IV vein that assayed 45.71 g/t Au with >100 g/t silver and 0.78% Cu.

Gaspard Gold Claims

Falcon Gold’s second acquisition, the Gaspard Gold Claims, was approved by the exchange in March. Under the terms of the agreement, Falcon Gold agrees to an initial $15,000 cash payment, followed by the issue of 200,000 common shares of FG and 200,000 warrants @ $0.20/sh. Additionally, during this year’s exploration season, Falcon must spend $34,000 on the property. The vendor retains a 2% NSR royalty, of which Falcon may purchase 1% at any time, for $1.5 million. 

Comprising three mineral claims (3,955 ha) in the Clinton mining district of central BC, the Gaspard property is located 60 km from Williams Lake and about 16 km from the Blackdome gold mine. Blackdome has indicated resources of 144,500 tonnes grading 11.29 g/t gold and 50 g/t silver, and 90,600t inferred grading 8.79 g/t Au and 18.61 g/t Ag.

Blackdome mineralization is characterized as volcanic-hosted epithermal gold and silver, and according to Falcon, may represent the target type for the Gaspard Gold Claims.

Historical work includes stream sediment and soil sampling in the northern part of the claims, where gold geochemical anomalies were discovered.

Next steps include a helicopter magnetic survey comprised of 320 km of flight lines along 150m spacings; additional stream sediment sampling; and more prospecting, mapping and sampling of the brecciated rhyolite with quartz vein stockwork, needed to determine the source of the stream and soil anomalies. A budget of around $250,000 is expected to yield drill targets.

Conclusion

Falcon Gold has all the elements we like to see in an exploration-stage gold junior. The company is a large landowner in a past-producing mining district, with a mid-tier gold producer, Agnico-Eagle Mines, exploring just off its northern boundary.

Five holes drilled in November and December, that were targeting the main structural trend of the past-producing Central Canada gold mine, all intersected mineralization. The mineralization is proving to be quite robust — over a respectable strike length of 275m. If Falcon Gold is able to put together a maiden resource it will almost certainly add shareholder value.

We also like the acquisitions. The Esperanza project in Argentina has seen limited exploration but what has been done looks promising — especially the Callanas occurrences. Spinning out a new company and having an experienced operations manager on the ground are also, imo, prudent decisions.

Falcon Gold appears poised to conduct more exploration at the Gaspard Gold Claims in central BC, potentially spending up to a quarter million dollars.

Between these three projects, I’m expecting steady news flow from Falcon Gold as we head into the 2021 exploration season.

Falcon Gold
TSX.V:FG, Frankfurt:3FA.G, OTC:FGLDF
Cdn$0.09, 2021.05.06
Shares Outstanding 97.2m
Market cap Cdn$8.6m
FG website

Richard (Rick) Mills
aheadoftheherd.com
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