This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner Renforth Resources Inc. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
Renforth Resources (CSE:RFR) is deepening its focus on the prospective 300km2 Malartic Metals Package in Québec, Canada citing the scale of opportunity presented.
The explorer is gearing up to release a maiden resource estimate for the priority Victoria target, which is a roughly 20km-long polymetallic structure.
The structure – which has shown evidence of nickel, cobalt, platinum and palladium accompanied by zinc, copper, gold and silver – has so far only been subjected to drilling covering around 2.5km of continuously mineralised strike.
The Malartic Metals Package property also hosts the Lalonde structure about 4km to the north that demonstrates a comparable strike length, which CEO Nicole Brewster says may be potentially longer, and at least two other showings of the same mineralisation.
Meanwhile, in the very north of the property sits the Beaupré copper discovery, and the central area hosts a large low-grade gold occurrence that has been historically documented in a handful of drill holes.
“Suffice to say the ~300km2 property hosts a lot of potential with several mineralised occurrences,” Brewster tells Mining.com.au.
Earlier this year, Renforth revealed its strategic pivot from gold exploration at its Parbec Project to base metals at Victoria.
“The shift is a long term one, predicated on the monetisation of Parbec through a few options, and is brought about due to the scale of the opportunity offered by our Malartic Metals Package Property,” Brewster says.
“I would say the sum total of each of the project characteristics presents an incredibly compelling opportunity.”
Victoria structure reveals continuous mineralised horizons
With just over 10,000m drilled across the 20km-long Victoria structure, Renforth has already confirmed the presence of a polymetallic system, comprising several critical minerals including nickel, zinc and copper.
Together, Victoria and LaLonde provide Renforth with more than 50km of strike in addition to a third mineralised occurence.
The 2.5km drilled to date, although wide spaced, has confirmed the presence of three mineralised horizons, which form a package up to 500m thick.
Brewster says the polymetallic nature of the mineralisation within the Malartic Metals Package insulates the project from the commodity risk.
“The polymetallic nature of the mineralisation means that several commodities contribute to the economic proceeds,” Brewster notes.
“In addition to this we have determined, with early stage metallurgical work, that the material will be able to be processed conventionally and we can sort this material to increase the grade and reduce operating costs.
“Our location itself delivers cost savings and other advantages to the project, such as road access, literally right to our stripped area, as well as hydroelectric power lines for two generating dams to the south of the project area.”
Québec has been particularly active in establishing a battery hub at Bécancour, late last year announcing a nearly C$330 million financial commitment to refurbishing and expanding port infrastructure, adding storage capacity and improving port access.
Brewster says this new battery ecosystem, deepwater ports and the entire seaboard of the US are easily accessible to Renforth via tier-one transportation infrastructure.
Nearby smelters and refineries offer processing options
Québec is also home to a number of smelters and refineries, including Glencore’s (LSE:GLEN) Horne smelter that is located within an hour of Renforth’s Malartic Metals Package and requires additional ore to feed it.
“A need for feed is a feature of our location, and this goes beyond ‘just’ gold,” Brewster explains.
“A need for feed is a feature of our location, and this goes beyond ‘just’ gold”
“To the north, ~30 minutes, is the LaRonde Mine, which has produced more than 8 million ounces of gold since declaring production in 1988, along with byproduct copper, zinc and silver.
“LaRonde boasts the deepest single lift shaft in the western hemisphere, carrying miners 2.2km underground, to access mining which is now occurring more than 3km deep.
“Of course this affects production, which creates an opportunity for Victoria to provide feed as the LaRonde Complex includes a mineral processing facility with copper and zinc flotation circuits, in addition to precious metal recovery and refining.”
The Canadian government recently announced the formation of the Major Projects office, which is designed to be an expedited “one stop” solution to optimise the permitting requirements for major projects with nation-building benefits.
Several of the initial projects put forward are mining projects.
Brewster says Victoria is an entirely new source of the high-demand critical minerals, as well as traditional base metals.
“As such, the project will have significant economic impact as it grows and develops, and will be well positioned to support the energy transition and growth in general with domestic, North American sources of raw materials currently either largely owned or processed by China,” she says.
Once the inferred resource estimate has been released, which is expected in a matter of days, Renforth plans to undertake further drilling to support a starter pit and continue metallurgical research to design a flow sheet for processing the mineralisation.
The company’s plan is to help fund the continued development of Victoria either through the sale of the Parbec Gold Project, which sits just a few kilometres away from the Malartic Metals Package, or advancing the gold deposit through to a toll milling agreement with neighbouring mills.
Parbec currently hosts a measured and indicated open pit resource of 9.61 million tonnes @ 0.86 grams per tonne for 265,800 contained gold ounces and an inferred open pit and underground resource of 2.55 million tonnes @ 1.18g/t for 97,000 contained gold ounces.
Brewster says Parbec is the obvious feed for the Canadian Malartic 60,000-tonne-per-day plant under the “Fill the Mill” strategy announced by neighbour Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM).
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Mining.com.au & Renforth Resources
