Resource World Magazine

22 www.resourceworld.com d e c e m b e r / j a n u a r y 2 0 1 6 i n s i g h t s & i n v e s t m e n t s B a r r y M u i r A s you drive along Hwy 117 just east of the Ontario border, what stands out besides northwestern Québec's natural beauty, is the number of head frames that dot the skyline as you make your way towards Val d'Or (English transla- tion: "Valley of Gold"). The city of 35,000 has a rich mining history and is located on the easterly point of the Abitibi belt that stretches east from Wawa, Ontario. The belt has produced 170 million ounces of gold since the early 1900s in what is considered one of the most mining friendly jurisdic- tions on the planet. Val d'Or began as a bustling gold-rush town. It was originally made up of two separate municipalities: Bourlamaque founded in 1934 by the Lamaque Mining Company and Val d'Or establishing itself as a village a year later. The twin centres became one in 1968 and today Val d'Or is the largest municipality in the Abitibi- Temiscamingue region. Directly to the east of the city sits the twin historic mines of Sigma and Lamaque, sharing the same high-grade vein sys- tem extending from faults along the main Cadillac Break. For decades, Lamaque was the richest gold mine in Québec with his- torical production of 4.6 million ounces of gold. Adjacently to the north, the Sigma was in continuous operation as an under- ground mine from 1937 to 2000 having produced 4.5 million ounces of gold. The mines changed ownership over the years by the likes of Teck, Placer Dome, McWatters Mining and Century Mining. In 2004, Century Mining acquired the Sigma-Lamaque complex, spending mil- lions developing the properties and to the delight of Val d'Or residents, were able to re-launch operations at the mine in January 2010. However, due to ongoing setbacks, losses and declining gold prices, they were unable to meet their obligations of a forward gold purchase agreement with the Deutsche Bank of London and Century Mining was finally forced into receivership in 2012. At the same time, Century was devel- oping Lamaque, integra Gold Corp. [ICG-TSXV; ICGQF-OTCQX], a Vancouver junior explorer led by CEO Stephen de Jong, had been exploring and develop- ing their own claims that border the city of Val d'Or as well as the Lamaque Mine. When the Lamaque Mine and mill went up for sale, it was a serendipitously perfect fit for Integra where, in a timely deal, they would acquire the historic Sigma-Lamaque Complex and retain an impressive collec- tion of adjoining claims. The aggregate purchase price was $7.55 million, comprised of $1.8 million in cash and 25 million common shares valued at $5.75 million – an absolute bargain con- sidering the asset had been valued at $100 million, excluding the gold resources in the ground. Better yet, Integra was only required to put up $755,000 after bringing in a waste rock company to pay $1,025,000 for access and ownership to unsightly piles of waste rock within certain of the mining concessions. Today, Integra Gold is focused on production planning by advancing the existing resource towards production, inte- grating the acquired Sigma-Lamaque mill and properties into the company and con- tinuing to prove up additional resources from an on-going 90,000-metre drill program. Its high-grade Lamaque South Project is divided into three clusters – the North, South and West clusters. There are 15 significant zones of gold mineralization on the property with such fitting names as No.4 and No.5 Plug, Fortune, No.6 Vein and Sixteen Zone. The primary targets are the high-grade Parallel Zone in the North Cluster and the Triangle Zone in the South Cluster. Located 1 km from the Parallel Zone and 3 km from the Triangle Zone sits the fully permitted, 2,200 tonne-per-day mill and tailings facility. The Triangle Zone sat just outside the land package Teck Resources controlled while operating the Lamaque Mine for over 50 years. Using modern geophysics, Integra made the discovery at Triangle by drill test- ing an ovoid shaped magnetic anomalous The serendipitous synergy of Integra Gold Integra Gold has begun construction of a decline (ramp or sloping tunnel) at the Triangle Zone where a new resource estimate was recently completed. Photo courtesy Integra Gold Corp.

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