Top Ten Australian juniors exploring in Canada
The following companies are the Top Ten Australian-headquartered juniors with a market capitalization of less than $1 billion, and have one or more active exploration projects in Canada, ranked according to market capitalization as of May 15 and compiled by Mining Intelligence. Market capitalizations are converted to Canadian dollars from Australian dollars.
1 Winsome Resources
Market Cap: $257.6 million
Lithium explorer and developer Winsome Resources (ASX: WR1) is focused on advancing its flagship Cancet project, located in the James Bay region of Quebec, 155 km east of the town of Radisson.
To date, 5,216 metres have been drilled across 59 holes on the 200-sq.-km project. After conducting metallurgical test work, the company believes it can produce low-cost, low-impact concentrate at Cancet.
Winsome plans to increase the project’s lithium tonnage by exploring additional targets identified to the east and west.
The company’s portfolio includes four other projects in Quebec: Adina and Sirmac-Clappier in the James Bay region, and Decelles and Mazarac near Val-d’Or.
Further drilling in 2023 is also planned at Adina, where previous drill results returned 107.6 metres grading 1.34% lithium oxide (Li2O) starting from 2.3 metres, including 30 metres grading 2.21% from 41 metres.
In addition to its Quebec projects, Winsome holds a 10% stake in Power Metals (TSXV: PWM), which owns the lithium-cesium-tantalum Case Lake property near the Ontario-Quebec border.
2 Burgundy Diamond Mines
Market Cap: $93.2 million
Burgundy Diamond Mines (ASX: BDM) holds a 40% interest in the Naujaat Diamond Project, with North Arrow Minerals (TSXV: NAR) owning the other 60%.
The 107.4-sq-km property is located 9 km northeast of the hamlet of Naujaat in Nunavut and is Canada’s largest undeveloped diamond property controlled by a junior.
Eight kimberlite pipes have been identified at the project, with the Q1-4 kimberlite pipe being the most diamondiferous. It has been estimated that the Q1-4 pipe hosts inferred resources of 48.8 million tonnes grading 26.1 million carats for an average total diamond content of 53.6 carats per hundred tonnes, according to a May 2013 resource estimate.
In 2021, two fancy colour diamonds were recovered from a bulk sample from the Q1-4 deposit. Weighing 0.31 and 0.21 carats, they are the two largest polished fancy colour diamonds produced from Naujaat to date, with a yield of approximately 38% each. The yield of a rough diamond is determined by the rough diamond’s shape, size, and quality, as well as the desired specifications of the finished diamond. The diamonds were cut and polished at the Burgundy facility in Perth, Australia.
Drilling at Naujaat is tentatively planned for summer 2023, with an updated NI 43-101 resource statement to follow.
Burgundy has also agreed to acquire the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, the company announced in a Mar. 14 news release.
Located 300 km northeast of Yellowknife, Ekati hosts the Sable open pit mine and Misery underground operations and has produced high-quality diamonds since 1998 (though operations temporarily ceased in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic).
The current mine life of Ekati is set to run until 2028 but it could extend longer if deeper resources can be successfully extracted.
Burgundy also has the La Victoria gold and silver project in Peru and is working towards a discovery in Botswana in collaboration with Diamond Exploration Strategies Ltd.
3 Aston Minerals
Market Cap: $80.3 million
Aston Minerals (ASX: ASO), a nickel-cobalt and gold exploration company, continues advancing its Edleston project within the Abitibi greenstone belt. The project sits approximately 60 km south of Timmins, Ont. between Alamos Gold’s (TSX: AGI; NYSE: AGI) Young-Davidson mine and Iamgold’s (TSX: IMG; NYSE: IAG) Côté Gold project.
An initial resource estimate released in January for the Edleston Main and Sirola gold prospects pegged indicated resources at 14 million tonnes grading 0.9 gram gold per tonne for 400,200 oz. of contained gold. Inferred resources add 34.1 million tonnes grading 1 gram gold for 1.09 million oz. of contained gold. A 0.4-gram gold-equivalent per tonne cut-off grade was used.
Aston will continue to explore the area around Sirola, which remains open to the east. The company plans to drill 4,800 metres across 14 diamond drill holes.
The project also hosts the Boomerang nickel-sulphide target, which has a strike length of 6,500 metres, a width of 500 to 1,500 metres, and a depth of over 500 metres.
The company shared an initial resource statement for Boomerang in a February news release. The target’s indicated resources stand at 155 million tonnes grading 0.28% nickel and 0.01% copper. Inferred resources add 889 million tonnes grading 0.27% nickel and 0.011% copper. The estimate used a 0.27% nickel-equivalent cut-off.
Aston’s portfolio also includes the Dobsina cobalt project in central Slovakia, the Jouhineva cobalt-copper and gold project in Finland, and the Basinga cobalt-copper-nickel-gold project in Sweden.
4 Critical Resources
Market Cap: $68.3 million
Based out of Perth, Critical Resources (ASX: CRR) is focused on its flagship Mavis Lake lithium project in northwestern Ontario, 19 km east-northeast of the township of Dryden.
Acquired by Critical Resources in January 2022, Mavis Lake hosts more than 20 lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites with true thicknesses measuring more than 20 metres wide.
Highlights from last year’s 19,878-metre drilling campaign include hole MF22-156, which intersected 8.1 metres grading 1.2% Li2O starting from 94.4 metres downhole, including 2.6 metres grading 3.28% Li2O from 97.5 metres.
Using assay results from April 2022 to March 2023, the company completed an initial resource estimate for Mavis Lake, which pegs inferred resources at 8 million tonnes grading 1.07% Li2O using a cut-off grade of 0.3%.
Critical Resources recently started its spring 2023 exploration program at the project’s Gullwing-Tot prospects. Work will include geological mapping and bedrock sampling, identifying pegmatite trends along the prospective area, and establishing targets for the summer drilling program.
The company expects to complete 20,000 metres this year to support infill drilling and extend the current resource as it approaches the development stage.
Critical Resources has three other lithium projects in Ontario, including Graphic Lake, Plaid, and Whiteloon Lake. Abroad, the company has the Halls Peak base metals project in New South Wales, Australia and the Sohar copper project in northern Oman.
5 Auteco Minerals
Market Cap: $55.9 million
Auteco Minerals (ASX: AUT) is advancing its Pickle Crow gold project 400 km north of Thunder Bay, Ont.
A successful 2022 drilling campaign resulted in a JORC-compliant resource update that pegs current inferred resources at 11.9 million tonnes grading 7.2 grams gold per tonne for 2.8 million oz. of contained gold, the company announced in a May news release.
The resource had increased by 244% (2 million oz.) since March 2020, when Auteco first acquired the project.
Previous drill results from the Tyson vein include hole AUDD0347, which cut 2.7 metres grading 16.1 grams gold from 309.6 metres downhole. Another hole, AUDD0334, cut 1.8 metres grading 5.5 grams gold from 346 metres.
“Auteco is fully funded to continue the exploration and growth campaign and we expect to complete another 50,000 metres of drilling by early 2023,” commented executive chairman Ray Shorrocks in a release.
The company also plans to consider open-pit mining and underground access options.
In addition to Pickle Lake, Auteco holds a 90% interest in the Limestone Well vanadium-titanium project in Western Australia.
6 Cygnus Metals
Market Cap: $38.1 million
Cygnus Metals (ASX: CY5) — formerly Cygnus Gold — continues advancing its Pontax lithium project in the James Bay region of Quebec. The 145-sq.-km project has a strike length of more than 700 metres and hosts spodumene-bearing lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites.
The company recently completed 11,328 metres with three rigs. Highlights shared in April include hole DDH975-23-040, which cut 23.4 metres grading 1.4% Li2O starting from 367.8 metres, including 11.8 metres grading 1.9% Li2O and 2.9 metres grading 2.3% Li2O. The company says this is the best intercept to date at Pontax, and it is on track to deliver an initial resource estimate scheduled for mid-2023.
Past high-grade intercepts at Central Pontax include 9 metres grading 1.7% Li2O starting from 46.9 metres and 15.6 metres grading 1.6% Li2O from 83.9 metres.
Cygnus has three other lithium projects in Quebec: Mitsumis located east of Pontax, Sakami also in the James Bay region, and the Auclair project, which was recently acquired from Osisko (TSX: OSK). In Western Australia, the company has Bencubbin (lithium) and Stanley (gold), the company’s most advanced exploration project.
Assay results from Auclair announced in May include hole AC-2010-004, which returned 9.8 metres grading 0.8% lithium oxide from 212.8 metres, including 5.1 metres grading 1% Li2O.
Cygnus will begin its 2023 exploration program in July, including drilling, geophysics, mapping, and sampling at Pontax, Auclair and Sakami.
7 92 Energy
Market Cap: $35.5 million
92 Energy (ASX: 92E) is focused on advancing its 100%-owned Gemini uranium project. Discovered in 2021, the project is in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin and is part of the company’s 1,095-sq.-km land package.
92 Energy has identified a 2.8-km prospective corridor and has been working on expanding mineralization through continued drilling.
The company reported results from its 4,385-metre winter 2023 drill program in May. Highlights from the 16 holes drilled include GEM23-061, which returned 5 metres grading 1.47% triuranium octoxide (U3O8) starting from 263 metres, including 1.5 metres grading 4.69% U3O8 from 263.5 metres and 0.5 metres grading 9.66% U3O8 from 264 metres.
Previously, hole GEM22-025 cut 43 metres grading 0.62% U3O8, including 18 metres grading 1.16% U3O8, putting it among the top uranium intercepts of 2022, according to MinerDeck.
92 Energy is planning a follow-up summer drill campaign at Gemini.
The company has six other uranium projects in the same district, including Tower, Clover, Powerline, Cypress, Wormboiler, and Wares.
Last year, the company completed an initial drill program at Tower, which comprised 1,919 metres across four holes. Results confirmed high concentrations of anomalous uranium, including 570 parts per million U3O8 in hole TOW22-004. Tower is about 10 km from Cameco’s (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) Cigar Lake uranium mine.
8 Jameson Resources
Market Cap: $25.7 million
Jameson Resources (ASX: JAL), headquartered in Sydney, Australia, is focused on its Crown Mountain Hard Coking coal project in British Columbia. The project is in the Elk Valley of the southeastern Kootenay region.
Crown Mountain, a premium steelmaking coal project, is being developed through Jameson’s Canadian subsidiary, NWP Coal Canada Ltd. Jameson holds a 77.9% interest in NWP, a joint venture with Bathurst Resources (ASX: BRL), which has the remaining 22.06%.
A July 2020 bankable feasibility study for the greenfield project outlines an average annual production of 1.7 million clean tonnes of coal over a 15-year mine life. Mining will take place from three open pits – north, east, and south – and is expected to produce an average of 86% hard coking coal and 14% pulverized coal injection over the life of the mine.
According to the company, due to its scale and location, the project has the potential to make a significantly lower environmental impact compared to previous and present coal production.
Jameson announced in a Jan. 16 news release that NWP and the Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi ‘it First Nation (YQT) signed a landmark agreement, under which the First Nation community will act as a regulator and reviewer of the Crown Mountain project, allowing YQT to be involved in the project’s environmental assessment.
“This is a huge step in the new era for natural resource development in [B.C.],” commented Michael Gray, managing director. “Having support and a strongly built relationship with YQT throughout the process…ensures that NWP will understand the impacts of the project on Indigenous Nations in natural resource development.”
Production at Crown Mountain is expected to start in 2026.
Jameson also has a 100% interest in the Dunlevy project located in northeastern B.C. within the Peace River coal field district.
9 Metals Australia
Market Cap: $18.6 million
Metals Australia (ASX: MLS) has a 100% interest in the Lac Rainy graphite project in Quebec. Covering 45.5 sq. km, the project is located 22 km southwest of the mining town of Fermont and holds 92 mineral claims.
According to a resource estimate released in June 2020, the project hosts indicated resources of 9.6 million tonnes grading 13.1% total graphitic carbon (TGC) for 1.25 million tonnes of contained graphite. Inferred resources add 3.7 million tonnes grading 7.3% TGC for 270,000 tonnes. The estimate used a 5% TGC cut-off and more than 90% of the resource is defined within the first 100 metres.
The deposit can potentially develop into a high-grade graphite operation with a long mine life, the company shared in a release.
In May, Metals Australia released battery test results, which confirm that the graphite at Lac Rainy exceeds the charging and durability standards required by lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle manufacturers worldwide.
The graphite yielded 65% into battery quality spherical graphite while the industry average is approximately 40%. Test results also showed spherical graphitic carbon (Cg) purity of 99.96% Cg.
With these results, the company plans to conduct feasibility studies to develop the Lac Rainy project.
In addition to Lac Rainy, the company has three gold projects in Quebec — Eade, Pontois, and Felicie — all located in the Lac Guyer greenstone belt. In Western Australia, the company has the Manindi zinc project located 500 km northeast of Perth.
10 Matador Mining
Market Cap: $17.7million
Perth-based Matador Mining (ASX: MZZ; US-OTC: MZZMF) is focused on its two gold projects in Newfoundland: Cape Ray and Hermitage.
Located along the Cape Ray Shear, Cape Ray hosts 3.5 million tonnes of indicated resources grading 3.15 grams gold per tonne for 356,000 oz. of contained gold and 918,000 oz. of contained silver. Inferred resources add 9.4 million tonnes grading 1.6 grams gold and 7 grams silver for 481,000 oz. gold and 2.09 million oz. silver.
A scoping study of Cape Ray from May 2020 outlined a seven-year mine life with average annual production of 88,000 oz. of gold during its first four years, all-in sustaining operating costs of $1,108 per oz., and a payback period of 1.75 years.
In 2023, Matador will conduct a two-phase diamond drill program at the project’s Malachite target. The company expects to drill between 100 and 200 metres for each hole and plans to complete 2,000 to 3,000 metres during phase one.
In addition, Matador will be releasing an updated resource estimate in the first half of the year. The resource will include an additional 37,000 metres completed between 2020 to 2022. The last statement was published in May 2020.
The company has started its 2023 exploration program at Hermitage, which includes prospecting, mapping, and sampling. In a May 18 news release, Matador announced that it has already identified high-grade mineralization. Highlights include grades of 7.31 grams gold and 2.1 grams gold from the outcrop.
In November 2022, B2Gold (TSX: BTO; NYSE: BTG) completed a A$3.6 million ($3.1 million) investment, representing a 9.9% interest in Matador.
