With palladium prices primed for record highs, a Toronto exploration outfit is adding more acreage, outside the town of Marathon, to assess the potential for a palladium and copper mine.
Generation Mining announced Aug. 21 that it's staked 4,558 hectares of new claims at its Marathon Project to bring its total land position to 21,965 hectares, or more than 219 square kilometres.
The company just acquired a 51 per cent controlling interest in the property from Stillwater Canada in a joint venture deal reached in July.
The property is 10 kilometres north of Marathon, on the north shore of Lake Superior, and has seen a plenty of exploration action over the decades.
Between 1985 and 2010, a succession of companies posted a number of mineral estimates, most notably Marathon PGM Corp. which sold it to Stillwater Mining Company for US$118 million in 2010.
The property was inherited by Sibanye-Stillwater when Stillwater was purchased in 2017.
A feasibility study in 2010 identified almost 3,591,000 million ounces of palladium and 881,000,000 pounds of copper, along with platinum and gold values. But that mineral estimate is now considered "historic" and Gen Mining is reviewing all the property's data.
Chibougamou Drilling has been contracted to begin a 12,000-metre drill program this month to test several targets along a strike length of more than 40 kilometres.
In a news release, Gen Mining CEO Jamie Levy said after acquiring a controlling stake at Marathon they intended to hit the ground running.
"This project has been under-explored for the past several years during a time of unprecedented palladium prices. Our goal is to expand the current resource base while examining the economics of a potential mine.”
According to the joint venture deal reached in July, if Gen Mining spends $10 million in exploration at Marathon and produces a preliminary economic assessment within four years they increase their ownership in the property to 80 per cent.
The company, established in 2018, has a molybdenum property in British Columbia, zinc properties in Alberta and Nova Scotia, and a base metal play on the Arctic coast.
