Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/1058321
42 www.resourceworld.com D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 9 MINING It is fair to say that Newfoundland, at least part of it, is in a state of gold fever. Marathon Gold Corp. [MOZ-TSX; MGDPF-OTC] put a spotlight on the region three years ago after announcing that its Valentine Gold property contained a mea- sured and indicated gold resource of over one million ounces. Marathon President and CEO, Phillip Walford, said he is certain that there will be a mine at the Valentine Lake property, located in central Newfoundland, south of Buchans and serviced by the communities of Springdale and Grand Falls-Windsor. With 4.2 million ounces of gold (measured, indicated and inferred) and counting, it is expected to be the Atlantic province's biggest ever gold mine, provid- ing permanent jobs for 420 miners over a projected lifespan of 12 years. "Nobody believed that there were deposits of gold in Newfoundland big- ger than a million ounces," said Sherry Dunsworth, Marathon Gold's Senior Vice-President, Exploration, during an interview with a reporter from The Telegram newspaper in St. John's. But Marathon is erasing any doubts after recently releasing an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) which envisages a mining operation capa- ble of producing an average of 225,100 ounces of gold annually at a life-of-mine, al-in sustaining cost of US $665/oz. Walford said his company is an early explorer in a greenstone belt that was actively explored in the past for base metal deposits, but didn't receive a lot of atten- tion for gold. "Marathon's success bodes well for other companies that have picked up ground in the region," said Howard Bird, VP Exploration at Antler Gold Corp. [ANTL-TSXV]. Antler became a key player in the area in September 2016 when it acquired an option to earn a 100% inter- est in the Wilding Lake gold project from Altius Minerals Corp. [ALS-TSX, ATUSF- OTCQX], which now holds a 19.9% stake in Antler. It subsequently acquired, from Altius, a large regional land position that covers 140 km of strike length along a 300-km regional gold-bearing structural corridor. More recently, Sokoman Iron Corp. [SIC-TSXV] helped to stoke the gold fever with a discovery on its Moosehead prop- erty that sparked a staking rush that has attracted other companies into the region, including RJK Explorations Ltd. [RJX.A- Valentine Lake gold play heats up by Peter Kennedy Marathon Gold's Valentine Lake exploration camp in central Newfoundland. Photo courtesy Marathon Gold Corp.