Marvel expands land position in Central Newfoundland, next to 4Moz Valentine gold project

2021.09.18

Marvel Discovery Corp (TSXV:MARV, Frankfurt:O4T1, OTCQB:MARVF) is a junior gold explorer active in the Central Newfoundland Gold Area Play.

The Vancouver-based company has assembled a sizeable land position, over 60,000 hectares, right in the thick of the Exploits Subzone of Central Newfoundland — potentially one of the world’s last easily accessible, district-scale gold camps. 

See below for Marvel’s map of the area including the major faults shown as heavy black lines.

This summer, Marvel has been busy snapping up claims and adding to its land package.

Exploits Subzone

Running from Dog Bay southwest for 200 km to Bay d’Espoir, Newfoundland’s Exploits Subzone has been neglected since the last major exploration campaigns in the 1980s. However, the last 40 years have seen incremental advancements in the understanding of gold mineralization in the camp.

The sum of this knowledge is now coming together in effective exploration models that have delivered new discoveries.

What makes the Exploits Subzone such a prime target for gold discovery? Prominent regional thrust faulting shows evidence of a long tectonic history including fluid migration.

During a period known as the Taconic orogeny that lasted from 480-430 million years ago, the continental plates of Laurentia and Gondwana collided, closing the Iapetus Ocean between them. The islands we now know as Newfoundland, Ireland and Great Britain, were crushed between the continental plates, and deep crustal breaks were created that remained as active fluid conduits for millions of years. These five major tectonic breaks are important mineralizing structures for numerous multi-million-ounce gold deposits, including Marathon Gold’s (TSX:MOZ) Valentine Lake deposit, which lies just southwest of New Found Gold’s (TSXV:NFG) Queensway discovery.

Consider that the majority of Newfoundland’s gold occurrences and exploration lie within the Exploits Subzone and are in the vicinity of the Gander River Ultramafic Belt, better known as the GRUB Line.

Fact is, to stand out from among the 30-odd gold juniors that are presently combing the island, your property had better overlie one of the deep-seated structures Newfoundland is famous for, and have a secondary structure that provides a trap for the gold mineralization. 

Victoria Lake project

The Victoria Lake project is among the most prospective of Marvel Discovery Corp’s seven Newfoundland properties.

Located within the Exploits Subzone, the property is bolted onto Marathon Gold’s 4-million-ounce Valentine gold project, which is Atlantic Canada’s largest undeveloped gold resource.

Victoria Lake and Valentine exhibit a similar style of gold-bearing veins and have structural and geological settings in common. Preliminary work on Victoria Lake identified several quartz-arsenopyrite veins returning grab samples ranging from 15.5 to 24.9 g/t gold and 18.6 to 139.3 g/t silver.

In 1995, grab samples from Vein #3 featured 162.7 g/t gold and 220 g/t silver.

This week Marvel announced it has acquired an additional 53 mining claims at Victoria Lake comprising 1,325 ha, increasing its land position to 7,650 ha. The company says the acquisition is located along the Exploits Subzone and covers a large, highly prospective structural zone proximal to the Valentine Lake Shear Zone hosting Marathon Gold’s (TSXV:MOZ) Valentine Gold Project with resources of 4M oz. of gold…

Victoria Lake Gold Project is host to interpreted extensions of the Valentine Lake Shear Zone and two major thrust faults, a wide structural corridor interpreted to play an integral part in the Marathon Gold Deposit.

In fact the claims, acquired via an option agreement with a vendor, contain the highest regional gold-in-till sample — 785 parts per billion (ppb) Au. This high-grade surface gold area was never followed up with additional exploration, making it a juicy target for Marvel Discovery Corp.

“These claim additions were a strategic move, not only in expanding the size and potential, but tying up ground with the highest gold till-in-soil samples in the province of Newfoundland,” Marvel CEO Karim Rayani commented in the Sept. 14 news release. “This shows we are in the right place for a potential discovery adjacent to what will likely become Newfoundland’s next and largest gold mine.”

In a recent video interview, Rayani noted that the vendor, Roland Quinlan, is the same owner who sold part of the Queensway project to New Found Gold, the first mover in the Central Newfoundland Gold Area Play. 

“He’s one of the bigger names in the game,” Rayani told Proactive Investors’ Steve Darling, adding that Quinlan is heading up prospecting on Marvel’s Slip property claims and will also be in the field at the Victoria Lake project.

“If we do this right we could be sitting on a very large system. We’re just looking forward to getting crews on the ground as soon as possible,” Rayani said in the video interview. 

Under the option agreement, Marvel will make a series of cash payments over the next three years, and issue the vendor up to 500,000 shares and 300,000 warrants. Marvel also agreed to spend at least $60,000 exploring the property before the three years is up. The vendor retains a 2% NSR, of which Marvel has the right of first refusal to purchase 1% for $1.5 million.

Recent successes

The Central Newfoundland Gold Area Play continues to deliver great results to the market during a busy summer of drilling.

Earlier this year Marathon Gold updated the resource at its Valentine gold project, in a technical report outlining 3.14 million ounces in measured and indicated, and 1.65Moz inferred. (proven and probable reserves of 2.05Moz)

The feasibility study envisions an open-pit mine with average annual gold production of 173,000 ounces, over a 13-year mine life.

Marathon Gold trades on the Toronto main board at $3.23 per share with a market capitalization of $785.1 million. The latest fire assay results from ongoing in-fill drilling at the 1.5-km-long Berry deposit include 22.97 g/t Au over 6m, 25.38 g/t Au over 4m, 2.50 g/t Au over 27m, 1.73 g/t Au over 39m and 3.04 g/t Au over 22m.

Labrador Gold (TSXV:LAB) is another company piquing interest in Newfoundland gold exploration. Earlier this year the Toronto-based company released an impressive half-meter (0.5m) intercept of 276.56 g/t gold at its Kingsway project located near Gander, NL. The company followed that up with a 128.51 g/t over 1.12m hit at the Big Vein zone, part of a collection of assays delivered from the current 50,000m drill program. LAB currently trades at $0.78 per share and has a market value of $118.1 million.

Exploits Discovery Corp (TSXV:NFLD) reported 194 g/t visible gold at its Little Joanna prospect, along with 613 g/t Au and 189 g/t Ag at the Quinlan Veins target of its Dog Bay gold project. A large vein system with historical grab samples (700 g/t Au) containing visible gold is being drill-tested at Jonathan’s Pond, with prospecting, soil and rock sampling taking place at NFLD’s Mount Peyton, Dog Bay and True Grit projects. Results from the initial round of drilling are expected in early October. Exploits Discovery closed on Friday at 64 cents share @ a market cap of $53.4M.

Trading at just 13 cents, MARV has impressive accretive value compared to its peers.

Conclusion

The Exploits Subzone of Central Newfoundland is on its way to becoming the world’s next large gold district.

Companies are busily drilling the area and the first movers, including New Found Gold, Marathon Gold and Labrador Gold, are banking high-grade intercepts worthy of investor interest.

The area’s faults and subfaults have shown a long history of fluid migration. Central Newfoundland’s five major tectonic breaks can be traced back some 400 million years.

These deep crustal breaks are important mineralizing structures for hosting multi-million-ounce gold deposits. The potential is evident in Marathon’s Valentine deposit and at New Found Gold’s Keats, Lotto and Golden Joint zones.

Today, Central Newfoundland is home to a number of up-and-coming gold explorers looking to become the next Marathon or NFG, and competition for land is growing fierce.

Having established itself as a major landowner with seven projects in this highly prolific region, Marvel represents an intriguing opportunity for investors looking for the next gold play in Central Newfoundland.

Marvel Discovery Corp.
TSXV:MARV, Frankfurt:O4T1, OTCQB:MARVF
Cdn$0.13, 2021.09.17
Shares Outstanding 73.8m
Market cap Cdn$10.2m
MARV website 

 Richard (Rick) Mills
aheadoftheherd.com
subscribe to my free newsletter

Legal Notice / Disclaimer

Ahead of the Herd newsletter, aheadoftheherd.com, hereafter known as AOTH.

Please read the entire Disclaimer carefully before you use this website or read the newsletter. If you do not agree to all the AOTH/Richard Mills Disclaimer, do not access/read this website/newsletter/article, or any of its pages. By reading/using this AOTH/Richard Mills website/newsletter/article, and whether you actually read this Disclaimer, you are deemed to have accepted it. 

Any AOTH/Richard Mills document is not, and should not be, construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment.

AOTH/Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable, but which has not been independently verified.

AOTH/Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness.

Expressions of opinion are those of AOTH/Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice.

AOTH/Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission.

Furthermore, AOTH/Richard Mills assumes no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this AOTH/Richard Mills Report.

You agree that by reading AOTH/Richard Mills articles, you are acting at your OWN RISK. In no event should AOTH/Richard Mills liable for any direct or indirect trading losses caused by any information contained in AOTH/Richard Mills articles. Information in AOTH/Richard Mills articles is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. AOTH/Richard Mills is not suggesting the transacting of any financial instruments.

Our publications are not a recommendation to buy or sell a security – no information posted on this site is to be considered investment advice or a recommendation to do anything involving finance or money aside from performing your own due diligence and consulting with your personal registered broker/financial advisor.

AOTH/Richard Mills recommends that before investing in any securities, you consult with a professional financial planner or advisor, and that you should conduct a complete and independent investigation before investing in any security after prudent consideration of all pertinent risks.  Ahead of the Herd is not a registered broker, dealer, analyst, or advisor. We hold no investment licenses and may not sell, offer to sell, or offer to buy any security. Richard does not own shares of Marvel Discovery Corp. (TSXV:MARV). MARV is a paid sponsor of his site aheadoftheherd.com