Visible Gold Mines (VGD-V) decided to do in 2011 after watching then Quebec premier Jean Charest on television announce that his government would build a 243-km-long all-season road in the James Bay region of Quebec linking Stornoway Diamond's (SWY-T) Renard project to the provincial highway network as part of its ambitious Plan Nord project.
In what talk-show host Oprah Winfrey would describe as an "Aha" moment, it dawned on Dalliare that all he needed to do was follow the construction workers building the road and collect rock samples from outcrops and strippings along the way.
Over the following two and a half years, Dalliare and his men slept in the same camps as the construction crew, bagged samples and quietly staked ground on either side of the road for distances ranging from a minimum of 3 km up to as much as 10-15 km in some spots.
In late September, Visible Gold reported that it had discovered four rusty, angular boulders mineralized with gold, silver, copper and zinc, about 320 km north of Chibougamau. The best sample returned 38.76 grams gold per tonne, 68.40 grams silver per tonne, 2.05% copper and 0.02% zinc.
A month later, McEwen Mining (MUX-T), headed by mining mogul Rob McEwen, and serial investor Ned Goodman of Dundee Securities, invested $500,000 and $1 million, respectively, through private placements in Dalliare's company.
"They loved the story," Dalliare says. "They said it was genius — they said I was a genius."
"They said these high-grade boulders don't come out of nowhere, they don't come out of the sky, take your time and find them."
Dalliare says he believes the source of the boulders could be within a radius of as little as 2-3 km.
On Nov. 4, Visible Gold anounced it had discovered a second high-grade-gold boulder zone and on Nov. 11 reported another. Boulders from both groups returned assays including 142.5 grams gold, 22.2 grams silver, 0.61% copper and 0.02% zinc in one sample, and 63.83 grams gold, 27.80 grams silver and 0.15% copper in another.
The boulders are composed of alteration minerals with semi-massive to massive sulphides, and so far the company has covered less than half of its 110 kilometres of road.
Dalliare says the company has just completed a 4,000-km airborne survey of using a detailed helicopter-borne magnetic (MAG) and time-domain electrogagmentic (TDEM) survey, and the preliminary results will be released shortly.
Dalliare expects to start drilling before Christmas and hopes to complete at least 25 holes of about 150-200 metres each, in the first pass.
"I'm due to find a mine," says Dalliare, an engineer by training who joined the mining industry in 2004. He believes Visible Gold could even be the next Virginia Mines (VGQ-T). Virginia Mines discovered the Éléonore gold deposit in Quebec's James Bay region, which Goldcorp picked up in 2005 for US$420 million.
On Nov. 17, Virgina Mines agreed to combine with Sean Roosen's Osisko Gold Royalties (OR-T) in a merger deal worth $461 million. |
