Stelmine’s Mercator Gold Project Emerges As A New Gold District
Caniapiscau. A new and exciting district east of James Bay that is currently being explored by one of our favorite junior mineral exploration companies, Stelmine Canada. The name ‘Caniapiscau’ — that’s ‘Kaneiapishkau’ in the original Innu language, a term which means ‘the rocky point’— conveys the importance of this unexplored region with respect to the First Nations settlers, while simultaneously working to distinguish Stelmine Canada from the other companies exploring the western portion of the sedimentary basin.
That’s right, the area that Stelmine Canada currently explores, the Opinaca sedimentary basin, is in high demand. In the same way Azimut Exploration and Newmont positioned themselves into becoming one of the key players in the western James Bay Territory, Stelmine Canada is in the process of advancing Caniapiscau through an extensive, ambitious program this summer! Between their Mercator and Courcy properties, Stelmine Canada’s field crews continue their work to transform the mining potential of a region with distinct significance in every sense of the word.
We’ll focus on Courcy first. There’s been big news for those of us avidly following the Company’s progress here — with Stelmine having completed their first phase of drilling! On top of that, several gold zones are apparent at Courcy. But that shouldn’t be surprising. After all, the project hosts near-surface gold mineralization. What’s more, that gold mineralization is shallow dipping and associated with a 21-km-long fault zone discovered by Stelmine geologists who, in turn, were following SOQUEM’s limited drill program from over two decades ago. This is why fourteen holes — and that’s a total of 2,237 metres drilled, folks — were conducted for Stelmine’s first phase of work at Courcy. Now, of those fourteen holes, twelve of them tested the main zone. And, of those twelve, three actually intersected visible gold. Make special note of STH21-COU12, just 300 metres east of SOQUEM’s 2006 discovery hole, the latter returning 42 m grading 4.2 g/t Au (main zone).
As for the remaining two drill holes, we’ll need to pivot over to the south. This is where those two completed holes managed to intersect mineralization in an assemblage of fuchsite-bearing metasediments and garnet-rich amphibolites. In summation, all the completed work at Courcy gives strong indications of an important gold system and, as its understanding of this structurally complex environment grows, the prospects of this project advances in giant strides. Keep in mind that the maiden drilling program at Courcy was relatively limited to begin with. So, given the numerous gold targets highlighted from previous campaigns at Courcy, you’d best anticipate brand new exploration work where the property is concerned; i.e., the near-term, follow-up drilling at Courcy better-known as Phase 2!
And we mustn’t forget about Mercator! If we move approximately 100 km northwest of Courcy, we’ll find it: a highly prospective project 100% owned by Stelmine that has never previously been explored and which displays the characteristics of a large-scale gold system! And remember this, dear readers: Mercator shows just as much promise as Courcy! We’re not alone in thinking that, either. According to CEO Isabelle Proulx, what excites Stelmine Canada’s geological team most is the sheer scale of Mercator, which betrays the property’s potential for widespread gold mineralization. Not enough to convince you? Well, consider this: Stelmine Canada initially staked Mercator in 2017, but has since expanded its Mercator land package five-fold from 65 km2 to 389 km2 through additional staking!
And we think it’s fair to say that this acquisition has paid off! You see, there’s been a lot of interest surrounding Mercator project — most especially from the Company’s technical crews. Why is this? We’ll give you three words: the Meridian Zone. You see, it’s due to the gold assay results received over the last couple years that the Meridian Zone has come to be so well-regarded for its widespread and pervasive mineralization. No doubt this is why a brand-new exploration phase has begun at Stelmine Canada’s Mercator Property! That’s right — the Company has officially started the first phase of their maiden heliborne drilling campaign, with Stelmine Canada expecting to drill 2000 m distributed along 100-180 m deep holes on the Meridian gold-bearing Zone, extending 2.5 km X 500 m.
And here we must give credit to TMC Geophysics for completing their Induced Polarization survey on the Meridian Zone, a survey that was completed on a network of twenty-two 200 m-spaced grid lines totaling 25 linear km. It’s thanks to that survey — combined with recent gold discoveries, geology, and the results of a heliborne MAG survey completed on the entire property last year — that Stelmine Canada was able to establish their drill sites. What’s more, not only did this survey actually increase the gold-prospective area, but it has revealed at least three distinct high gold-prospective layers branching from the northeast. Folks, it’s thanks to this survey that Stelmine can facilitate the discovery of new potential zones to be drilled. So, we’d advise you to stay tuned for updates as this historic campaign continues at Mercator!
But, before we close out, we’ll also quickly mention that the Company is in a very healthy cash position. At the end of 2021, Stelmine Canada closed a non-brokered private placement of flow-through units for gross proceeds of $2,500,000. For this, we can look to one investor who had a big hand in this financing: Michael Gentile. With an extensive institutional money management background, a significant stake in over 20 small cap exploration companies, and an in-demand position as strategic advisor, Gentile’s confidence in Stelmine Canada really is a warming thought. He personally acquired 5,785,500 units of the Company. Between him and his colleagues, 10 million of Stelmine’s shares have been acquired — resulting in the 2.5 million financing.
With plenty more updates on the way — do yourself a solid and check out Stelmine Canada: a company well on its way to unlocking the famed secrets of Courcy and Mercator!
Best regards,
Lemuel Daher
Corporate Communications