Situated in a world class group of Archean Greenstone Belts in Canada, which host monster deposits such as Agnico Eagle’s 8.34Moz at 4.52g/t Au Meliadine Mine and its 8.86Moz at 5.74g/t Hope Bay Project, as well as B2Gold’s 9.2Moz at 6.04g/t Au Goose & George Project – is Manhattan Gold Corporation’s (ASX: MHC) 580km2 Hook Lake project, which contains 11 total prospects that have strikingly similar geology to the aforementioned multi-million ounce resources. The Jaws prospect hosts a non-JORC compliant (foreign) estimate of 285koz at 2.38g/t Au and a litany of incredible assays such as 52.78m at 3.38g/t Au from 89.22m, 53.25m at 2.87g/t Au from 168.5m including 26.05m at 4.79g/t Au from 168.5m, and 15.2m at 4.50g/t Au from 14.70m. These are about to be built on and the resource upgraded to JORC-compliant with an aggressive drilling program after MHC finalises the isolation of the highest priority extension targets with an 11,500 line km high-resolution aeromagnetic survey, which will be correlated with existing drill holes, geophysics and rock chips. Spectre is a super high-grade polymetallic VMS system with outstanding assays such as 10.51m at 2.91% Cu, 6.70% Zn, 95.67 g/t Ag, 1.04 g/t Au and 0.48% Pb from 41.76m, as well as 13.71m at 1.51% Cu, 2.06% Zn, 47.23g/t Ag, 0.56g/t Au and 0.09% Pb from 70.26m. These have been hit inside of a 1km mineralised footprint that sits within a 7km corridor, and are interpreted to be part of a feeder system – which is extremely exciting given the typical nature of VMS’ to form in clusters and the litany of them in Canada. MHC also has a joint venture with Novo Resources (ASX: NVO) for the Tibooburra Gold Project in NSW, which contains a monstrous 80km of deep-seated structured fault systems with numerous prospects that have recorded assays such as 30m at 4.03g/t Au from 11m, including 5m at 20.86g/t Au from 11m as well as 16m at 13.89g/t Au from 1m, including 3m at 69.20g/t Au from 7m. The MHC team is led by Gavin Rezos as Chairman and 14.72% shareholder, who previously entered Vulcan Energy Resources (ASX: VUL) as Chairman in September 2019 and heavily invested into the company when it was just $7 million market cap – right before it went on a run to hit $1.7 billion market cap just 2 years later, and has recently locked in $3.9 billion in funding to commence production. John Hancock was invested in VUL as well and is also a major shareholder in MHC.
The drilling at Jaws has so far defined two main gold bearing zones across 1.6km of strike and to maximum depth of 190m, which is open in all directions, and with a gap of over 500m towards the middle which has strong potential to be joined during MHC’s upcoming maiden drilling campaign. On top of the headline assays from Jaws, this program will also be following up on numerous other excellent assays along strike such as 16.0m at 5.04g/t Au from 52m, 27.58m at 3.33g/t Au from 44.35m and 45.0m at 2.46g/t Au from 138.5m, including 10.5m at 5.45g/t Au from 138.5m. There are untested quartz veins with rock chips of 14.55g/t Au and 14.35g/t Au that extend off zones of historical drilling, which are now overlaid with strong IP anomalies – making for very high-priority targets that could swiftly add immense value. The geophysical responses continue 5km southwest to the Vesper prospect, where there have been surface samples of up to 7.99g/t Au. 6km northeast of Jaws is Omega, a Banded Iron Formation (BIF) prospect that is 7km long, 1km wide and covered in geophysical evidence of selective sulphidation – a key chemical reaction that indicates the potential for gold to have been precipitated in an excitingly similar style to Meliadine.
At just a $15 million market cap with $2.3 million in cash for a $12.7 million enterprise value, there is significant upside in MHC’s current valuation when you consider what having a wealth of high-grade assays, an existing resource, and a pathway to millions of ounces through a thorough understanding of mineralisation controls is really worth on such a large and highly prospective landholding in a region of Canada that contains gigantic deposits. A worthwhile peer comparison to note is AuMEGA Metals (ASX: AAM) (TSXV: AUM), which holds a 610koz at 1.96g/t Au resource on a section of its 680km2 tenement package in Newfoundland. AAM just ruled off a CAD$30 million capital raise that took its market cap to CAD$60 million and cash balance to CAD$34 million, which included further investment from B2Gold to maintain its 9.9% shareholding and the entrance of institutional resources fund Condire Investors with a 19.9% position – with the funds set to be put towards a widespread exploration program. Once MHC completes the aeromagnetics and gets underway with its initial drilling campaign, the market should be willing to fund significant exploration expansion to test the highest priority prospects – especially when MHC has such high quality shareholders and management. Canada’s Nunavut is also fast becoming one of the most mining-friendly and industrious jurisdictions in the world, and the government is specifically investing in infrastructure that will stimulate mineral exploration and new mine development – with projects such as the CAD$3.2 billion Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link and the CAD$527 million 227km Grays Bay Road and Port Project.
There are clearly multiple types of fertile mineralised systems at Hook Lake, some prospects of which resemble a few key characteristics of the world-class gold deposits in the region and others that could signify the presence of a worthy addition to the upper-echelon of Canada’s 350 VMS deposits. A standout example is CAD$3.03 billion EV Foran Mining Corporation’s (FOM.TO) McIlvenna Bay Project, a 38.6Mt at 1.19% Cu, 2.18% Zn, 0.41g/t Au and 14.4g/t Ag resource that is contained across 5 lenses, some of which are stacked. There have so far been three stacked lenses up 20m thick identified at Spectre, and the grades are truly spectacular, with current commodity prices making that first headline assay equivalent to 8.09% CuEq/31.11% ZnEq – implying a contained metal value of around US$1,000/t and leaving plenty of room to chase moderate grade material in the same vicinity. 6.4km along strike to the northeast, and interpreted to be connected by the same volcanic-sedimentary horizons, is the Silva prospect – where a 120m polymetallic sulphide zone has rock chips that graded up to 36% Zn and 2.5% Cu, as well as a 150m long quartz-carbonate vein with that has recorded a 0.7m sample of 100g/t Au, 5,567.7g/t Ag, 0.36% Cu, 0.3% Zn and 1.81% Pb. At 16km east of Jaws, the Moonraker prospect has around 2km of strike with gold and polymetallic results that have yielded samples up to 5.8g/t Au, 740g/t Ag, 0.36% Cu, 1.34% Pb and 2.8% Zn.
The IP surveying at Jaws has shown resistivity because of quartz veining – which has been repeatedly proven to be gold-bearing at excellent grades – as well as the silification and alteration of host rock, while the strong chargeability stems from disseminated pyrite and arsenopyrite in the system. These responses have been shown to exist around high-grade drilling results, and they are also present over 1km to the northeast and 5km to the southwest – with high-grade rock chips scattered throughout. The overlaying of the geophysics with assays was never completed by previous owners – leaving an extremely exciting and relatively de-risked opportunity for MHC to aggressively follow up on:
Source: MHC
An outline of the planned airborne magnetic survey can be seen below, which will encompass most of the Hook Lake project. The vast majority will receive 100m line spacing, with more detailed 50m infill spacing used for the Jaws, Vesper, Omega and Moonraker prospects. MHC is building an extremely powerful dataset by combining this new aeromagnetic survey with existing electromagnetic and induced polarisation geophysics, and overlaying them with rock chips and drillhole locations to isolate the most prospective targets:
Source: MHC
Below is a long section from Jaws which show numerous high-grade shoots that are completely open downplunge and extend from some of the prospect’s best assays, which will soon be drilled in MHC’s maiden campaign upon receipt of exploration permits which are expected to be received shortly. Jaws has only been tested to a maximum depth of 200m, with many assays being far shallower than that, despite the deposits in the area being consistently proven to have extensive mineralisation down to at least 1,000m. As well as chasing the high-grade shoots, MHC could also drop a few deep holes and use them to guide future drilling programs:
Source: MHC
This composite longitudinal section of Meliadine shows many significant sections of mineralisation extending towards a depth of 1,000m while still remaining completely open:
Source: Agnico Eagle
Meliadine and Jaws are both structurally controlled, shear-associated systems where gold is closely tied to quartz veining. Mineralisation at Meliadine has been detected in numerous rock types, many of which are also mineralised at Jaws – but most of the contained ounces at Meliadine are found in BIFs – which has also been seen at Jaws but is truly prolific at Omega.
The historic IP and EM anomalies at Omega (formerly called Red Flats) can be seen below, which show what appears to be the type of reaction that occurs when a BIF hosted gold deposit forms – being the boiling hot mineralised fluids coming into contact with BIFs and replacing the magnetite with sulphides which have strong potential to contain high-grade gold:
Source: MHC
A vertical cross section from the main section of Meliadine depicts the structurally controlled, shear associated and BIF dominant nature of mineralisation that characterises what a world-class deposit in this region looks like. Understanding the geology and systematically chasing the high-grade shoots is critical when the deposit’s true widths can intermittently be so narrow:
The level of prospectivity at MHC’s other earlier stage prospects also hold considerable potential for upside with the level of similarity seen in their geology with the major regional deposits. Further northeast of Jaws along the greenstone belt towards Meliadine are the Defender and Thunderball prospects. Visible gold was seen in rock chips from surface at Defender which recorded values up to 709.7g/t Au, and a 2025 sampling program achieved grades as high as 173.5g/t Au from quartz-carbonate-sphalerite vein in contact with sulphide BIF – an extremely notable similarity to the mineralisation style at many of the deposits that make up Goose & George. There are 10 significant zones of iron carbonate alteration at Thunderball up to 7m wide and around a kilometre in length, with alteration zones flanking quartz veins that contain gold and base metals – which is again highly consistent with mineralised systems in the area.
With a concrete plan of drilling out the known zones of strong mineralisation at Jaws and Spectre while testing the multi-million ounce BIF targets at Omega, and advancing the other prospects in the background, MHC is perfectly positioned to work towards building up a solid resource inventory and collect a powerful dataset that will continue to increase the prospectivity of Hook Lake well into the future.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and marketing purposes only, and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to invest. All opinions expressed are our own. We may receive fees or other forms of compensation in connection with the publication of this content, and may own shares in any of the mentioned companies. Please do your own research and seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.