Resource World Magazine

D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 9 www.resourceworld.com 43 MINING TSXV, RJKAF-OTC] and Pivit Exploration Inc. [PIVT-CSE;, P11-FSE]. Prospector Shawn Ryan's private company, Wildwood Exploration Inc., optioned 119,000 hectares in Newfoundland to Torq Resources Inc. [TORQ-TSXV]. However, in an October 23, 2018 press release, Torq said it has relin- quished the property options to pursue other opportunities. In an email to Resource World, Ryan said some of those claims will be dropped. Others will be followed up on during the 2019 field season. Here are some of the key players who are involved in the central Newfoundland gold rush. Marathon Gold's Valentine Lake is no overnight find. It was initially discov- ered by prospecting in 1985, nearly 24 years before Phillip Walford and Sherry Dunsworth paid a visit to the site in 2009. Dunsworth brought it to Walford's attention. Almost a decade later, the Valentine Gold Camp hosts four near-surface, mainly pit-shell constrained, deposits, which occur on a 30-km gold trend. The major- ity of the resources occur in the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits, which also have resources below the pit shell. Both depos- its are open at depth and on strike. According to an updated PEA announced on October 30, 2018, project resources have increased from the previous PEA as a result of 20,000 metres of addi- tional drilling and 9,000 metallic screen assays used for better measurement of coarse gold, common on the property. As a result, measured and indicated resources increased by 35% to 45.1 mil- lion tonnes, grade declined by 7% to 1.854 g/t and the total contained ounces of gold increased by 26% to 2.7 million ounces. Meanwhile, inferred resources increased by 55% to 26.8 million tonnes, grade decreased by 11% to 1.774 g/t and the contained ounces of gold increased by 30% to 1.53 million ounces. Marathon said the updated PEA has added two years of mine life and 827,000 ounces of gold to the mix. Pre-production capital is estimated at $355 million, the company said. Gold mineralization has been traced down over 350 metres verti- cally at Leprechaun and almost a kilometre at Marathon. Additional drilling in 2019 will focus on extending the higher-grade zones in the pit shells as well as infilling open material to move inferred resources into indicated and measured resources. "The plan is to have the prefeasibility study completed in the third quarter of 2020," Walford said. If that goal is reached, he said production could begin as early as 2022. Gold will be recovered in two ways. A milling/flotation/carbon-in-leach plant will process 3 million tonnes/year of high-grade mineralized material. A heap leach pad will be used to process 3 million tonnes/year of low-grade material from open pit operations. The loaded carbon from the heap leach facility will be sent to the mill for gold recovery. However, Walford said he isn't sure that Marathon will still be around if and when the mine reaches the production stage. "It is difficult to tell what is going to happen. Plan A is we are going to mine it. Plan B who knows?" "I really don't know what is going to happen because we are in such a funny market right now. You just don't know what is going to happen next. However, with a resource of over 4 million ounces outlined so far, he said Valentine Lake is in the size range that is attracting a lot of attention, corporately. Sokoman Iron Corp. emerged on inves- tor radar screens when it struck gold with the first hole drilled at its Moosehead gold project in central Newfoundland, 20 km west of Grand Falls-Windsor. On July 24, 2018, the company said drill hole MH-18- 01 returned 11.9 metres of 44.96 g/t gold in quartz veining at a down-hole depth of 109 metres to 120.9 metres. The quartz vein that lies between the previously drilled Western and Eastern trends on the Moosehead Project possibly indicates the existence of a new trend. The announcement sent Sokoman shares rallying from $0.05 to a high of 50 cents on August 7, 2018, sparking a wave of acquisitions by other juniors in the area. Subsequent to that announcement, Sokoman completed a $3,000,000 financ- ing and is now well funded to execute a drill program of up to 10,000 metres which commenced in October. In mid-November Sokoman Iron reported drill results of 24.90 metres grad- ing 33.56 g/t gold in hole MH-18-17, a 15-metre step-out north of hole MH-18-01. Altius Minerals Corp. [ALS-TSX, ATUSF-OTCQX] is linked to gold explora - tion in central Newfoundland through a 19.9% stake in Antler Gold and its owner- ship of 9.2 million shares of Sokoman plus 1,800,000 warrants and a 1.5% NSR roy- alty on the Moosehead Project. On October 17, 2018, Antler released an update on its 2018 exploration pro- gram in central Newfoundland. It said soil geochemical surveys have identified significant gold-in-soil anomalies, high- lighting numerous new prospective gold targets on the Noel Paul, Crystal Lake, and Cape Ray Blocks on its Wilding Lake Gold and regional projects, which lie on the Rogerson Structural Corridor hosting Marathon's Valentine Lake Project. The company said results from the 2017 and 2018 reconnaissance gold-in-soil sam- pling surveys were sufficiently positive to warrant follow-up soil sampling pro- grams to further define new gold-in soil anomalies for potential future mechani- cal trenching and/or drilling programs to locate their potential bedrock source. Vulcan Minerals Inc. [VUL-TSXV] holds three properties covering stra- tegic geologic structures in central Newfoundland where new gold targets are emerging as demonstrated by the recent discoveries of Marathon Gold. Each prop- erty represents an under explored, early stage opportunity and provides the com- pany with exposure to discoveries in this exciting region. They include Lizard Pond, Glenwood, and Red Cross Lake. Vulcan said geologists were mobilized to the Lizard Pond property in early September to locate, sample and explore several historical areas identified as being anomalous in gold and arsenopyrite and

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