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Esa Project | (Au) Gold Exploration in Ontario Canada

Sunbeam (Au) Gold Exploration & Mining Project

North Hemlo (Au, Ni, Mo, Cu) Gold & Metal Exploration & Mining

Mining & Metal Exploration Projects Overview |

Kerrs Gold Project | Ontario (Au) Gold Exploration Asset

Zigzag (Li, Ta, Rb) Lithium & Critical Metal Exploration Project

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Poppins

There’s no two ways about it, Ontario is one of the best places to go mining in the world.
 
We speak from experience, of course. But there’s plenty of objective third party testimony to that effect, too.
 
In particular, the Fraser Institute consistently puts Ontario near the top of its rankings of global mining destinations.
 
These surveys take in the views of hundreds of mining industry professionals from a range of companies that account for billions in exploration spending. So, it’s not just sentiment talking here, it’s hard cash.
 
In 2021, the year of the most recent survey, Ontario ranked as the 12th best jurisdiction in the world in which to go mining. This placed it ahead of well-established destinations like Finland, Ireland, British Columbia, Sweden and Queensland.
 
In part, it’s simply the mineral endowment of Ontario that makes it so alluring. After all, the territory produces more gold, nickel, and platinum group metals than any other in Canada. It ranks second for copper production, too.
 
But alongside this, respondents to the Fraser Institute survey also cited a decreasing concern regarding the province’s overall regulatory environment.
 
To put it simply, Ontario knows mining and welcomes it.
 
Many of the territory’s major mines have become familiar names in the mining industry over the years, such as Detour Lake, Red Lake, Denison, and Kirkland Lake.
 
So, if anyone doubted that we at First Class Metals are ensconced in the heartland of North American mining country, doubt it no more.
 
Because another highly prospective area of Ontario that is now becoming increasingly in demand is also the one where we hold a sizeable land package–the Hemlo-Schreiber greenstone belt.

Breaking new ground 
How good is the Hemlo-Schreiber greenstone belt?
 
Well, the biggest gold company in the world, Barrick, is there in a big way; that’s how good.
 
Over the years, the firm’s eponymous Hemlo mine has produced upwards of 21 million ounces of gold, and counting. Even by the standards of the majors, that’s big.
 
And not surprisingly given what’s on offer, Barrick isn’t the only company operating in the neighbourhood. Newmont, North America’s other gold behemoth, also has a presence in Hemlo as does Teck, which has a more diverse portfolio that also encompasses base metals.
 
Having said all that, an interesting aspect of the wider Hemlo-Schreiber greenstone belt is that it actually remains relatively underexplored.
 
In short, that’s because its landholdings have historically been fragmented to the point where large-scale exploration has been difficult to undertake. In fact, the 180km2 swathe of ground that we have now staked is actually one of the largest to be held by a single owner in the district.
 
The potential that this landholding offers is intriguing. Normally, on comparable greenstone belts where huge deposits like Hemlo exist elsewhere worldwide, the expectation would be that other million ounce-plus deposits would also be in operation.
 
So far, however, these additional deposits have not been much in evidence over the Hemlo-Schreiber belt.
 
That’s why we’re taking a fresh look, and deploying modern exploration techniques on ground that hasn’t seriously been looked over in a good long time.
 
Our first area of focus will be the North Hemlo project, which lies on the northern limb of the Hemlo greenstone belt. The famous Hemlo mine is on the southern limb, and there are nevertheless some interesting early-stage similarities between the two settings.
 
We are now completing a detailed review of all the information available on North Hemlo, with a view to getting down onto the ground there in due course and undertaking some serious geological work and identifying targets we can ultimately drill.
 
What will these targets look like?
 
At this point, it’s hard to say for sure. But there’s no doubt that we’re in a well-endowed mineral district with mines and ongoing exploration all around us.
 
What’s more, once we’re up and running at North Hemlo, we’ll take a more in-depth look at our Esa and McKellar projects, and begin to build up a meaningful pipeline of exploration opportunities. Esa is situated just 11 kilometres away from the great Hemlo mine itself, so the address could hardly be better.
 
And the opportunities in our portfolio–which we’ll be sure to cover in future editions of this newsletter–only continue from there.
 
It is, of course, early days. But with a large and highly prospective land package in an underexplored yet proven pocket of one of the world’s leading mining jurisdictions…
 
We couldn’t be more excited to continue pushing forward over the coming months.

Breaking major new ground in Ontario