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Esa Project | (Au) Gold Exploration in Ontario Canada

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UK Listed Junior Mining Company | Gold & Metal Exploration

Poppins

How many mines does the average exploration geologist find in their career?

Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is typically none.

Bruce MacLachlan, though, has found three, and he’s not stopping there.

His ongoing and serious aspiration is to find at least one more before he retires.

“It’s a passion for me that I find another mine,” he says.

And it’s for that reason that his consultancy company - Emerald Geological Services – is working with us at First Class Metals and our large land holding over the district he knows best: Hemlo in north-eastern Canada.

All the mines Bruce has found so far in his career have been in this district within Ontario.

He initially started out working at Hemlo with Noranda in 1982 on the suggestion from his father, who was also in the mining business.

Given he stayed in the area for 18 years, the experience obviously made a huge impression.

“I had a lot of good teachers and mentors and I was given a lot of responsibility early in my career,” he says. “To me, Noranda was a good teacher. If you were up to the challenge, they challenged you all the time.”

Ultimately, Noranda’s confidence in Bruce paid off in a big way.

In the late 1990s, he led the discovery of Eagle River, a mine that’s still worked more than 25 years on today, and which continues to produce around 100,000 ounces of gold annually. How long does Eagle River have left? – hard to say, but exploration is ongoing.

Bruce then went on to lead the discovery of two more mines in Ontario– Sugar Zone, now owned and operated by Australia’s Silver Lake Resources, and the million-ounce BAM Gold deposit owned by London-listed Landore Resources.

In his time, Bruce has been back and forth across Hemlo more than anyone. But he still feels it has more to give.

After all, it’s a huge area.

First Class Metals alone holds over 180km2 of ground in Hemlo, the southern portion of which is recognised to be more prospective for gold, with the north more promising in regards to base metals and palladium.

“There are significant portions of the Hemlo Belt that I feel have not seen a lot of work,” says Bruce.

Noranda, he says, did its best to cover the ground it had. But there was just so much of it.

“A lot of places I’ve seen need more systematic focus, particularly on northern Hemlo and Esa.”

Going forward, Bruce’s familiarity with this territory stands to be invaluable to First Class in Hemlo. Our Sugar Cube project, for example, is contiguous with the ground containing Sugar Zone, Bruce’s second discovery.

As far as we’re concerned, it’s in this context that Bruce’s stated ambition to find at least one more mine becomes a compelling proposition for First Class Metals–he’s done it before, on ground nearby, and very similar. Could he do it again? Or even unearth something bigger?

After all, to the south, Barrick’s famous Hemlo mine is the daddy of the entire district, with more than 23 million-ounces of gold production to its name and counting.

But one step at a time.

First Class Metals is currently waiting on assays from work undertaken last season, and will use the results to help draw up a plan of campaign for 2023.

Chief executive Marc Sale will be the ultimate arbiter of this, but Bruce will have a big input.

“I’d be disappointed if we hadn’t drilled one of the targets Bruce has generated within the next six-to-twelve months,” says Marc.

“All the work we have done so far has enhanced our belief in the targets.”

Bruce agrees.

“All the signs are there,” he says, “geologically and geochemically. And there’s a couple of these properties where you can make comparisons with what’s been discovered in the past.”

A discovery, of course, takes a combination of luck and skill.

Bruce’s CV suggests he has both.

Having said that, it’s hard-earned.

“I’m out there all the time, it’s such a big area and examining areas for the first time is a great experience ” he says.

So, in no sense of the words could you call Bruce MacLachlan a ‘desktop explorationist’. This is a man who makes things happen out in the field.

And these days when he’s out there, he’s out there on behalf of First Class Metals.

Introducing our latest addition: Bruce MacLachlan