A Vancouver junior miner has released a gold resource estimate for its exploration property near Schreiber on the north shore of Lake Superior.
Ready Set Gold Corp. has had its internal struggles to advance its Northshore Gold Project while acknowledging it still has much work to do to establish positive relationships with area First Nations.
Nevertheless, the company’s estimate shows 240,100 ounces of gold, in the inferred category, within 6,500,000 tonnes at an average grade of 1.15 grams per tonne (g/t). The cut-off grade is 0.40 g/t.
Northshore is a known gold property that has changed corporate hands a number of times over the years. A predecessor company released a gold estimate back in 2014 showing 391,000 indicated ounces at 0.99 grams per tonne (g/t) and 824,000 inferred ounces at 0.875 g/t.
The project is four kilometres south of the town of Schreiber and to the south of the former Winston Lake Mine where another Vancouver exploration company wants to start a zinc mine.
Earlier this year, Ready Set Gold set out to validate those numbers with a 3,000-metre drill program of its own at a spot on the property called the Afric Zone.
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The company (formerly known as Omni Commerce Corp.) has gone through its share of challenges with turnover at the board and management level, and a restocking of its team of geologists.
Last winter, a strategic advisory committee was struck to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the company’s operational, financial and legal considerations and come up with a “renewed vision.”
There have been difficulties trying to put together the property's “fragmented” exploration history. The project has changed corporate ownership nine times between 1988 and 2022.
And there’s still work to do in building better relationships with local First Nation communities.
The company said in June there’s been a “historical lack of communication” with area Indigenous groups, causing delays in exploration. A community and First Nation relationship consultant has been hired to help navigate the consultation process and to improve communications and engagement with those stakeholders.
Pay Plats First Nation, regarded as a key project stakeholder, has a number of concerns which the company said it will “seek to mitigate.”
Ready Set Gold said until it obtains a social licence to operate it will back off on doing any further field work.
Northshore is Ready Set Gold’s only northwestern Ontario exploration project.
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The company has been downsizing its assets in the region by divesting itself of a gold property near Dryden. It’s also withdrawing its claims from another gold property in the Hemlo area that’s located in the middle of a land title claim by Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg (Pic Mobert First Nation).
“As part of the company's strategic review process previously outlined, it was imperative to assess the current and future potential of each asset within the portfolio and define a path forward to grow the business while working in coordination with all project stakeholders,” said CEO Alex McAulay in a recent statement.
“I am pleased with the progress and open (dialogue) we have established with the Plays Plat Nation and other First Nations groups. We will continue to strive for best-in-class social and community engagement as part of our corporate culture and business model going forward."
