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Overview
Gold is a well-respected hedge against inflation and global economic uncertainty. Although it experienced some drastic price changes in 2023, the yellow metal is projected to maintain an all-time-high momentum in 2024.
There are several ways to invest in gold, including commodities and shares in mining companies. When investing in a mining company, it’s essential to consider the location of their projects. Stable jurisdiction with mining-friendly regulations is ideal. Fraser Institute’s 2022 Annual Survey of Mining Companies named Ontario the 12th most attractive jurisdiction for investment attractiveness and 13th for mineral potential. Additionally, Ontario is Canada’s largest producer of gold, PGEs and nickel. These data offer a level of confidence in Ontario-based mining operations.
Bold Ventures (TSXV:BOL) is a Canadian mineral exploration company focusing on battery, critical and precious metals located in Northern Ontario. The company’s asset portfolio demonstrates its focus on these commodities to create consistent value with gold and meet the growing demand for battery and critical metals. Bold Ventures’ projects are located within three active regions throughout Ontario: Thunder Bay West, Wawa West and the Ring of Fire camp located in the James Bay Lowlands. The Thunder Bay properties host gold, copper and nickel mineralization, while the Wawa and the Ring of fire properties have copper, nickel, zinc, silver and PGE mineralization.
The Traxxin gold project, west of Thunder Bay, has hosted numerous high-grade gold intersections in drilling. The most recent of which intersected 3.6 grams per ton (g/t) gold over 12.3 meters. The project is a joint venture between Bold Ventures, as the operator, and Lac des Milles First Nation, where the joint venture can earn up to 100 percent of the property.
An experienced team of explorers leads the company toward fully realizing the potential of its portfolio. The company’s leadership team has participated in three significant world-class discoveries, including:
Eagle River Mine: Discovered in 1987 and has produced over 1 million ounces (Moz) of gold.Windfall Lake: Discovered in 2006 it contains current resources of 4.1M oz gold (measured and indicated) at 11.4 g/t gold and 5.5M oz gold at just over 8 g/t (Osisko Mining Website) in the probable and inferred categories. Ring of Fire Deposits: Discovered in 2017 and contain multiple significant deposits of nickel, copper, gold, silver, platinum group elements, chromite and vanadium. The Eagles Nest nickel-copper massive sulphide deposit is in the permit stage.
This wealth of experience allows Bold Ventures to strategically acquire undervalued assets and apply sophisticated exploration techniques to identify significant mineral deposits.
Company Highlights
Bold Ventures is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on exploring and developing its precious and critical mineral projects in Northern Ontario.The company owns and operates several projects throughout three key regions of Ontario: Thunder Bay, Wawa and the James Bay Lowlands-Ring of Fire.The company has been advancing its copper and gold projects to the drill stage.The Traxxin gold project is a notable joint venture partnership between Lac des Milles First Nation and Bold Ventures, with the partners earning up to 100 percent ownership of the property. Bold Ventures is the operator of the agreement.Bold Ventures’ management team has decades of experience within the mining sector. The management and technical teams have participated in three world-class discoveries and have the right experience to guide the company toward its goals.
Key Projects
Traxxin Gold Project
The Traxxin gold project is 130 kilometers west of Thunder Bay and has 154 claims covering 2,417 hectares. The project has excellent existing infrastructure and is road-accessible, cutting down on future development costs.
Project Highlights:
Close Proximity to Significant Gold Deposit: The project is 20 kilometers east of Agnico Eagle’s Hammond Reef deposit, which contains 5.6 Moz of gold at 0.71 g/t, including reserves, measured and indicated.Promising New and Historical Exploration Results: Bold Ventures’ 2021 drill hole campaign results indicated 3.6 g/t gold over 12.3 meters. Additional historical results include:Grab samples 1281, 152, 116, 21.1 and 3.73 g/t goldFive historical drill holes with greater than 5 g/t gold over various intervalsOne historical drill hole greater than 37 g/t gold over 1 meter
Additional Exploration Campaigns Planned: The company has received a new exploration permit and plans to follow up on its previous drill campaign as the gold bearing shear zone remains open in all directions.
Farwell Copper-Gold Project
The Farwell project covers 15,901 acres comprising 113 cells, 18 multi-cells and six boundary claims. The property is located in the Lake Superior east region of Northeastern Ontario, approximately 55 kilometers northwest of Wawa, and in a proven gold camp.
Project Highlights:
Promising Geological Formations: The claim group hosts gold-bearing quartz veins located within an iron formation that stretches along the western extensions of a major deformation zone. Additionally, there is base metal volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) style mineralization of copper, zinc, lead and silver.Road-accessible: The claim group is accessible via the Eagle River gold mines haulage road and is located approximately 6 km from the Eagle River Mill complex that also connects to major highways suitable for future material transportation.
Burchell Gold and Battery Metals Project
The Burchell claim group includes approximately 216 cells and 49 boundary cells covering 5,070 hectares and is located 105 kilometers west of the port city of Thunder Bay in the south-central portion of Northwestern Ontario. The project is road-accessible through Trans-Canada Highway 11.
Project Highlights:
Located in the Western Shebandowan Greenstone Belt: The Burchell project is located on the prominent greenstone belt and contains copper, gold, silver and molybdenum mineralization.Significant Known Deposit: One of the prospects within the claim group is the Hermia-Lake copper showing that trends northeast over a distance of 2.8 km. Diamond drilling by several companies from 1964 to 2008 within the mineralized copper trend at the Hermia Lake Prospect returned assay values ranging from 0.31 percent copper to 1.1 percent copper over 1.30 meter to 6.7 meter core lengths. Drilling by Mengold Resources east of Hermia Lake in 2008 returned 7.19 g/t gold over 0.40 meters in Hole BU08-7 (Osmani 2017) All sampling to date has been near surface and the deposit remains open at depth and along strike.Close Proximity to Prolific Gold Property: The Burchell property is contiguous with Goldshore Resources’ Moss Gold project with an inferred mineral resource estimate of 6 Moz contained gold at 1.02 g/t gold within 183.6 Mt.Recent work includes prospecting, sampling and airborne geophysical surveys that indicate the possibility of a magmatic nickel-copper-PGM mineralized system in the vicinity. Results from eight grab samples ranged from 1.9 parts per million (ppm) copper up to 1,130 ppm copper (0.11 percent copper) and 2.1 ppm nickel up to 1,480 ppm nickel (0.15 percent nickel).The eastern half and southwestern portions of the property are highly under-explored despite having a geological and structural setting similar to the western areas of the property. Numerous VTEM anomalies generated by Mengold Resources’ 2006 geotech survey in these areas remain untested.
Wilcorp Gold Project
The Wilcorp gold project covers 266 hectares and consists of two contiguous properties in McCaul township, including four patent claims and one mineral claim. The asset is 14 kilometers east of the town of Atikokan, Ontario, and within the Thunder Bay Mining Division. New drill targets have been identified for follow-up exploration.
Project Highlights:
Near the Traxxin Project: The Wilcorp asset is close to the company’s Traxxin project, which means it is also near Agnico Eagle’s promising Hammond Reef asset.Induced Polarization (IP) Surveys and Prospecting: An IP survey outlined a total of 14 anomalies. Additionally, 62 grab samples were taken throughout the property with values ranging from less than 5 parts per billion (ppb) gold up to 14,403 parts per billion (ppb) gold, which is approximately 14.4 g/t gold. Overall, 16 samples returned values over 100 ppb gold, with six samples returning over 1,000 ppb gold.Significant Historical Work: The asset has pre-existing historical work, including stripping, trenching and diamond drilling.
Koper Lake Project (Ring of Fire)
Project Highlights:
Multiple Commodity Streams: The Koper Lake project has significant potential for critical minerals. The property has the potential to develop battery metals, chromite and precious metals for multiple revenue streams.Within the Koper Lake Project, the Black Horse Chromite Deposit contains an NI 43-101 inferred resource of 85.9 MT at a grade of 34.5 percent chromium (III) oxide (Cr2O3) using a cutoff grade of 20 percent Cr2O3.Black Horse Chromite Ownership Interests:Bold 10 percent carried interest, KWG 90 percent working interestOption to earn up to: Bold 20 percent carried interest and KWG 80 percent working interest.
Bold owns a 40-percent working interest in all metals other than chromite and has the option to acquire up to an 80-percent working interest in all other metals found within the claims. The asset comprises 1,024 hectares and is within 300 meters of Wyloo Metal’s (formerly Noront Resources) Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper massive sulphide deposit.
Ring of Fire Polymetallic Project
The Ring of Fire asset is a future key project that will be given further attention as the Ring of Fire regional infrastructure and First Nation agreements are developed.
Project Highlights:
The Ring of Fire Claims Project is a grassroots exploration project that has significant potential targeting the battery metals nickel, copper and platinum group elements.Bold carried out a VTEM airborne survey in 2013 that located numerous geophysical anomalies that are prospective for battery metals.Further exploration is pending the development of access, infrastructure and First Nation agreements.
Management Team
David Graham – President, CEO and Director
David Graham has been active in the mineral exploration industry for over 40 years. Between 1997 and 2004 he was co-founder, president and CEO of Normiska Corporation, an industrial minerals and materials company with four production facilities in Canada and the United States.
Between 2006 and 2010 he was a director and vice-president of Noront Resources. During this time the company made major discoveries at Windfall Lake in Urban Twp., Quebec and the Ring of Fire in the James Bay Lowlands of Ontario. From 2010 until 2017 he was executive vice-president of Bold Ventures Inc. at which time, he was appointed president and CEO. Since 1986, Graham has been president of R. Bruce Graham and Associates, a mineral exploration and natural resource consulting firm founded in 1956.
Graham has worked extensively in Canada as well as in the United States, Scandinavia and Africa. His experience has frequently included working with First Nations and regulatory agencies on projects that ranged from a grassroots stage to advanced development.
Robert Suttie – CFO
Robert Suttie has more than 25 years of experience, 10 of which were in public accounting prior to his tenure with the financial reporting group, Marrelli Support Services Inc., where he currently serves as president. Suttie specializes in management advisory services, accounting and the financial disclosure needs of the group’s publicly traded client base. He is regularly involved in initial public offerings, business combinations and asset carve-out and spin-out transactions. Suttie also serves as chief financial officer to several junior mining companies listed on the TSX, TSX Venture exchanges, CSE, as well as non-listed companies. Suttie leverages his skills and experience to become integral to the reporting issuers.
William Johnstone – Corporate Secretary
William R. Johnstone is the company’s corporate counsel and is the company’s corporate secretary. Johnstone has been a partner at Gardiner Roberts LLP since February 2005, practicing in the areas of corporate and securities law. Johnstone is the practice leader of the firm’s securities law group. Prior to that, Johnstone was the proprietor of Johnstone & Company, a boutique corporate and securities law firm, for 12 years. Johnstone has been practicing law for over 28 years. He is also a director and/or officer of six other TSX Venture Exchange listed companies.
Ian Brodie-Brown – Director and Consultant
Ian Brodie-Brown is an industry consultant and entrepreneur. Brodi-Brown is a graduate of the University of Toronto with many years of experience arranging venture capital for emerging companies, specializing in the mining industry. Brodie-Brown is the past president and chief executive officer of AurCrest Gold Inc., a TSX Venture-listed junior resource exploration company. Brodie-Brown is also a co-founder and president of Cathay Oil & Gas, a private company with foreign resource assets. He has a strong understanding of Aboriginal issues surrounding today’s mineral industry in Canada, and has successfully negotiated MOUs and exploration agreements with First Nation groups.
Steve Brunelle – Director
Steve Brunelle is a graduate of geology from Queen’s University with over 35 years’ experience in the resource industry. He is the chairman and a director of Rio Silver. Brunelle was a founder and officer/director of Corner Bay Silver, which discovered the Alamo Dorado Silver deposit in Mexico and was acquired by Pan American Silver. He was a founder and officer/director of Stingray Copper, which Mercator Minerals acquired for the El Pilar Copper deposit in Mexico. He presently sits on the board of several resource companies that are active in Canada and Peru.
Jeff Wareham – Director
Jeff Wareham has over 30 years in the financial services industry. He is a former vice-president of two major Canadian brokerage firms. In this role, he was actively involved in the IPO of the 2012 TSX Venture stock of the year, and the IPO of the largest revenue stock on the TSXV. He was directly involved in raising over $200 million for Canadian companies. He is currently CEO of Catch Capital Partners Inc., a private equity firm. He is a past director of Marquest Asset Management, an investment fund company focused on Canadian resource investments. He is also a director of Certive Solutions, a publicly listed US healthcare revenue cycle company. He hosted a weekly radio show for several years, and conducted many small cap investment interviews. Wareham graduated from Western University in 1990, with a degree in economics and English. He has earned several financial industry designations. He has been a professor of economics and a guest speaker on economics and political science at Canadian post-secondary institutions.