The 2025 winter drilling program returned solid hits at Douay, around 55 km south of Matagami along the Casa Berardi-Douay Gold Trend. In July, step-out drilling returned high-grade results 600 metres below the initial pit shell at the 531 Zone and Nika Zone extensions. Expanded exploration is currently underway at both zones.
Drill highlights in the Nika zone include 31 metres grading 2.21 grams gold from 697 metres depth in hole DO-25-54Ext — an extension of drill hole DO-11-54 — including 20 metres at 2.93 grams gold, and 7 metres grading 5.54 grams gold.
Douay hosts 10 million indicated tonnes grading 1.59 grams gold for 511,000 oz. and 76.7 million inferred tonnes at 1.02 grams gold for about 253 million oz. of gold. A 10 kilometre drilling project at Douay and Joutel is expected this fall.
Since Douay was acquired, strategic investor Michael Gentile bought a 9.9% share in Maple Gold, valued around C$5 million.
Agnico holds a 16.3% pro rata stake in Maple Gold on a partially-diluted basis.
Maple Gold Mines has a market capitalization of C$59.4 million.
Nouveau Monde Graphite
Nouveau Monde Graphite’s (TSX: NOU; NYSE: NMG;) is nearing a final investment decision that could see its Matawinie project become Canada’s next graphite mine and advance the Bécancour Battery Materials Plant.
Nouveau Monde’s concept follows the full cycle plan from mine to battery production, extracting graphite at Matawinie in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, 160 km north of Montreal to the Bécancour plant south of Trois-Rivières for producing active anode material.
Matawinie’s West zone hosts 61.7 million proven and probable tonnes grading 4.23% graphitic carbon for 2.6 million contained tonnes of graphite, according to a 2022 resource.
The West Zone is expected to produce 105,882 tonnes of graphite concentrate annually over a 25-year life, the project’s 2025 feasibility study said. The Bécancour battery plant is in turn expected to produce about 44,000 tonnes of active anode material at 99.9% purity.
Nouveau Monde’s updated feasibility study reports an NPV of $1 billion for the two projects, with an after-tax IRR of 17.5%. Initial capital expenditures for the Matawinie mine and the Bécancour plant are $415 million and $911 million respectively. Commercial production is planned to start within three years.
Nouveau Monde has signed off-take agreements with Panasonic Energy and General Motors. A 2021 partnership with Caterpillar committed to developing a fleet of “zero-emission” electric machines for the mine to reduce its carbon footprint.
The full-cycle project boasts $1 billion in financing interest, including $430 million from Export Development Canada and the Canada Infrastructure Bank and $172 million from the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Nouveau Monde has signed a collaboration and benefit-sharing agreement with the Municipality of Saint-Michel-des-Saints and an impact and benefit agreement with the Atikamekw First Nation of Manawan.
Nouveau Monde has a market capitalization of C$403.9 million.
Probe Gold
Probe Gold (TSX: PRB; US-OTC: PROBF) is progressing on its Novador project near Val-d’Or as it advances towards a pre-feasibility study by the end of the year.
Novador is an open-pit and underground project comprising the Monique, Pascalis and Courvan deposits.
Probe’s 50,000-metre in-fill drilling program in the Courvan trend returned such highlight results as 5.5 metres grading 20.4 grams gold from 713.5 metres depth in hole CO-25-550W1, including 5.5 metres at 7 grams gold.
Probe Gold’s Val-d’Or properties host 6.7 million oz. of measured and indicated resources and 3.2 million inferred oz. along all trends and deposits. Novador’s lifespan is expected to be 12.6 years, with an annual production of 255,000 oz. of gold.
In May, Probe Gold contracted engineering conglomerate WSP Global for an environmental impact assessment and de-risking of Novador.
Novador has an estimated NPV of C$910 million with an after-tax IRR of 24.4% and post-tax payback period of 4.4 years, based on a gold price of $1,750 per oz., according to Probe’s updated PEA from last year. Initial capital expenditures are C$602 million.
Probe Gold has a market capitalization of C$567.1 million.
Wallbridge Mining
A PEA refresh by Wallbridge Mining (TSX: WM; US-OTC: WLBMF) in March takes into account new cost scenarios for its Fenelon gold project in the northwest Abitibi region.
The Sudbury-based company’s advanced exploration stage project sits on the Abitibi Greenstone belt, neighbouring Agnico Eagle’s Detour Lake project in Ontario.
The updated PEA lowers Fenelon’s capital costs by 10% to C$579 million over the 2023 PEA, and its sustaining capital by almost 25% to about C$450 million. It assumes a higher base case gold price of $2,200. At 16 years, it also outlines a slightly longer operation but with a lower production profile of 107,000 oz. per year at 3.34 grams gold, instead of 212,000 oz. per year over 12.3 years at 2.73 grams gold.
The after-tax NPV is C$706 million with an IRR of 21%, at initial capital expenditures of C$579 million.
Fenelon and its combined Martiniere deposit to the west host 30.7 million indicated tonnes at 3.09 grams gold for 3 million oz. contained gold, according to a 2023 resource. Inferred resources total 24.6 million grading 2.96 grams gold for 2.3 million ounces.
Over the summer, Wallbridge also started a second stage of drilling at Martiniere, a brownfield property formerly owned by Balmoral Resources. Agnico currently holds a 9.9% share in Fenelon.
Wallbridge Mining Company has a market capitalization of C$99 million.
