GESPEG RESOURCES $GCR has been on my radar since I saw Dean Nawata & Andrew Davidson tweeting about it in July 2020. If you fast forward a few months and look at the stock chart, then you might think "so what?" but look closer as GCR has done some good early-stage exploration work since then. I wanted to learn more, so I sent the CEO Mr. Sylvain Laberge some questions to consider. Please read his comments below carefully and watch for some more content talking through some of their technical results.
Q: Please tell me about mining history in the local area? Or at other areas that have similarities in some way?
The Gaspe region had the Canadian largest Copper mine for 45 years. Noranda operated Gaspe Copper Mine from 1954 to 1999 producing 141m/t @ 0.85% Cu. There are still c. 220 million tonnes in the ground. It was shut down due to low copper prices ($0.60 per pound) and the costs needed to refurbish the smelter.
We have several properties in our portfolio. One is the Vortex project, 20km west of the old mine. The Vortex was drilled in 2011 with results published in 2012, which included a drill hole reporting 29m at 0.94% Cu from 5m depth. The geology is similar to the Gaspe Copper Mine. In the trenches, we could find the same geological horizons as the mine. We put the Vortex aside due to copper prices and lack of interest in the sector during that period. Please note that this project also has a calculated resource of 2.24 million tonnes at 1.09% Cu.
We are believers in Copper. In 2019, we acquired from a prospector a few claims with copper showings on the south side of the Gaspe Peninsula. Then, while doing our due diligence, we ended up staking 120 more claims. We call this the "Native Copper Project" and it now comprises 157 claims to cover most of a greenstone belt. It is a synclinal structure similar to the Lake Michigan structures the showings samples, trenches, drill holes, brought values between 0.18% to 5.8% Cu
Q: Please tell me about the work history at the project? What work has GCR done?
The first discovery at the Lac Arsenault project was in 1946. Since then, work in the area was comprised of prospecting, geophysical surveying, geochemical surveying, mapping, trenching, stripping, diamond drilling. In 1996, a small non 43-101 resource was established at 220,000 tonnes at 9.55g/t gold. Since then, a few private companies have tried to revive the project with no success.
Gespeg is bringing a new approach with new technology.
First, we exposed the 4 main veins and did a geology structural survey run by Jean Philippe Desrochers Geo., Ph.D. Then, we flew a high-resolution magnetic survey with results yet to be announced. We also recently completed an induced polarization survey with results pending. We intend to utilize all of these tools to define our future targets.
Check out a news release from November 2020 on the Lac Arsenault project including links to the report on structural mapping and more,
Q: Please tell me about exploration plans and "size of the prize" for a discovery scenario?
On Lac Arsenault, our intention is to develop the first gold camp in the Gaspé region. We start by establishing new drilling targets and making new discoveries. We also have high hopes for our Copper projects. And we continue to look for other projects that can yield new discoveries.
For the last 30 years, people walked away from what could be the crown jewel for mining in Quebec. We were persistent and are now seeing certain players that had left the Gaspe Region coming back. For 9 years, I had the support of 49North, a true believer in natural resource investing. Other people were telling us we were crazy to stick in Gaspé and were proposing properties elsewhere in Canada or US, but 49North persisted. They kept pushing and helped us acquire our current land positions. We are grateful to them. I still believe that it is impossible to only have had a major mine in such a large territory as the Gaspé Peninsula -- let's find the next one!
Please note that this is not sponsored content.
