For readers who might be unfamiliar, please give a brief rundown of your Eldorado, White Rock, and Silver Bow properties
The Eldorado gold property is in Eastern Oregon, USA, which is a region friendly to mining. Historic drilling on the property has established a large shallow gold system that averages about two-thirds of a gram gold with local areas that contain multi-gram gold mineralization. Includes a historic non-NI-43101 compliant estimate of contained gold mineralization in approximately 52,896,000t that graded 0.578g/t gold (0.0169oz/t gold) at a cut-off of 0.274g/t (0.008oz/t) in the completely open-ended gold system.
The White Rock property in the north-eastern corner of Nevada contains a large open-ended gold system. The core area of mineralization is spread across an area 3.2km by 1.6km, with mineralization extending beyond the core area. The property has been explored by 67 historic drill holes augmented and verified by 34 holes drilled by Provenance in 2021. The drilling intersected shallow gold mineralization that averages approximately a half gram of gold in bulk, with higher grade areas. These grades are typical for Nevada gold systems. Provenance is confident that infill and extension drilling will verify a large shallow system.
The Silver Bow property is located in south central Nevada. The property contains an extensive gold and silver system within which are scattered small historic high-grade gold and silver mines. Limited historic drilling and very local drilling by Provenance has tagged thick sections of bulk mineralization that averages about half a gram gold per tonne. Modelling by Provenance has identified promising targets for both high-grade and bulk-tonnage gold and silver mineralization. The targets are supported by both historic drilling and surface sampling and have significant size potential.
Let’s talk about your most recent news – the completion of the NI 43-101 technical report for Eldorado. Talk us through the significance of the report for the project
The completed report is important for several reasons. First, preparation for the report allowed us to review and compile a large volume of information on the property, which all underlined the size and grade of the gold system.
Second, review of the historical data made clear that, despite the impressive size and grade of the system, key areas within the known system remain undrilled. The system will grow.
Next, review of the historical data indicates that gold recoveries will be excellent, and that there is a likelihood the overall grade of the system, which is already strong, will increase further with core drilling.
A further important benefit of the completed NI-43101 report is that it will be a tool to put the company’s assets “on the map”. The company’s goal is to bring Provenance to the attention of gold producing companies and investors.
What are the next steps for Eldorado looking ahead to next year?
We plan to conduct an initial confirmation drilling programme in 2023. This programme will be designed to confirm historical drilling, to expand and infill the mineralized area and to obtain samples for metallurgy testing to confirm the historic excellent gold recoveries.
Earlier in the summer, you also released a technical report for the White Rock property. Please give us some updates on that
The report confirmed that the property contains a large gold system. It also confirmed that future drilling programmes on the property are expected to continue to expand and infill the system. Because of the unusually high grades and historic exploration at Eldorado, that project is being given first priority by the company. The initial emphasis on Eldorado does not alter the fact that White Rock is a large shallow gold system in Nevada and, as such, is an exceptionally promising property. Were Provenance a larger company, we would currently be drilling White Rock, but with limited funding and staff, we have to prioritize. We remain excited to get back to the next round of exploration at White Rock.
Demand for gold and silver is increasing, while supplies are being squeezed
What do you think the landscape for gold and silver exploration financing is going to look like in 2023?
Funding for gold and silver exploration has been adversely impacted, among other things, by the unusually strong dollar. As Fed interest rate increases start to ease, we expect gold and silver to surge. Additionally, demand for silver by industry is increasing while supplies are shrinking. Demand for gold by central banks and by investors as a hedge are also squeezing gold supplies. If China and Russia establish a gold-backed currency, that will again increase demand. At the same time, major gold producers are mining existing reserves at a faster rate than they are finding and developing replacement reserves. A variety of short-term and long-term developments all indicate that demand for gold and silver is increasing, while supplies are being squeezed. All of this strongly suggests exploration funding will re-establish soon.
What else can we expect from Provenance Gold in 2023?
Provenance is planning programmes to advance its exceptional gold and silver projects in 2023. Simultaneously we are progressing to maximize project and corporate value though potential corporate partnerships. It will be an exciting year for the company on both the project advancement front and on the business front.
The information contained in this article is provided by Provenance Gold Corp. for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to issue or arrange to issue, or the solicitation of an offer to issue, securities of PGC or other financial products. The information contained herein is not investment or financial product advice and is not intended to be used as the basis for making an investment decision.
The referenced resource estimates are considered historical in nature and as such are based on prior data and reports prepared by previous property owners. A qualified person has not done sufficient work yet to classify the historical estimates as current resources in accordance with current CIM (Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum) categories and the company is not treating the historical estimates as current resources. Significant data compilation, redrilling, resampling and data verification may be required by a qualified person before the historical estimates on the project can be classified as a current resource. There can be no assurance that any of the historical mineral resources, in whole or in part, will ever become economically viable. In addition, mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Even if classified as a current resource, there is no certainty as to whether further exploration will result in any inferred mineral resources being upgraded to an indicated or measured resource category.
Provenance Gold’s disclosure of a technical or scientific nature in this report has been reviewed and approved by Steven D Craig, Senior Consulting Geologist and as a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG-AIPG) who serves as a qualified person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101.
