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Esa Project | (Au) Gold Exploration in Ontario Canada

Sunbeam (Au) Gold Exploration & Mining Project

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UK Listed Junior Mining Company | Gold & Metal Exploration

Poppins

When you run an exploration company, a lot of potential projects come your way. And sure, a lot of them are good, with the risk/reward ratio siding in their favour when everything’s taken into consideration.
 
But every so often, something will come along that you simply cannot pass up on. An opportunity to put a hole in the ground that is, quite frankly, a no-brainer.
 
We believe the Sunbeam project in Ontario represents just such an asset.
 
You see, we already know the land package hosts very high-grade gold. We know this because it was the site of the historical Sunbeam Mine, which is reported to have produced 650 tons of gold at a grade average of 12.2g/t in 1904.

Sunbeam was shuttered in 1905 after seven years of operation. And as with many its peer projects, the closure wasn’t necessarily anything to do with the project itself. Instead, it was a result of collapsing precious metal prices, which made all but the highest-grade, shallowest gold uneconomic to produce.
 
The interesting thing here is that Sunbeam was never re-opened.
 
Indeed, while many other quality gold projects that were forced close were subsequently revisited at some point when prices recovered….
 
Sunbeam remained out of reach to any interested parties due to the presence of a 100-year lease held by a New York-based firm. A New York-based firm, we should add, that did not ever complete further exploration or drilling following the mine’s initial run.
 
The decades passed, and mining technology advanced exponentially. Explorers became more and more able to re-visit historical gold mines and unearth hidden along-strike and at-depth potential in ways their predecessors could have only dreamed.
 
Yet Sunbeam continue to lie dormant, a preserved relic restricted by technological limitations of the early 20th Century. Indeed, to this day, a hole has never been drilled to a depth of more than 100m at the mine.
 
But recently that changed.
 
The 100-year lease ran out. And in 2017, Sunbeam and its surrounding ground was optioned by Nuinsco–keen to cement itself as the first-mover in the race to unlock the project’s modern-day potential.
 
Nuinsco quickly got to work. And through a combination of geophysical surveying, sampling, and drilling, it was able to confirm that:

The structure hosting the mine remains open in all directions

In fact, one of Nuinsco’s holes within the Sunbeam Mine area was able to hit 93.3g/t gold over 0.44m.

📷Sunbeam mine cross section looking Southeast

Getting on the ground
It’ll come as little surprise, then, to learn that we were quick to pounce when we discovered that Nuinsco was looking to dispose of Sunbeam to focus its efforts on REE exploration. That’s what led to the deal to purchase the project we announced earlier this month.

As our CEO Marc highlighted, we now have an opportunity to develop a proven mine that sits comfortably alongside ongoing work across our wider Ontario exploration portfolio.
 
We’re right now preparing to commence formal compilation of all historical data over the project area. This will then be used to create targets for drilling, which will guide our understanding of the true expanse (and, in turn, potential) of the structure within which Sunbeam sits.
 
Then, of course, there’s also the additional exploration opportunities presented by the wider Sunbeam land package.
 
This includes two more developed historical gold projects–Pettigrew and Roy–and an enormous quantity of old mine workings. According to previous estimates, these alone could total 50,000-70,000ts grading 13g/t.
 
Clearly, the potential paths to shareholder value creation here are numerous. But the bottom line here is this:
 
Given what we already know about the Sunbeam mine, given the lack of modern-day exploration, and given the strong outlook for gold right now in the face of global turmoil…
 
We see this acquisition as a highly notable addition to our portfolio.

Sunbeam: A golden opportunity