There’s a new name on the marquee for a prospective silver and cobalt property in Temiskaming.
Vancouver’s Cruz Battery Metals announced just before Christmas that it has spun off its Hector project into a separate exploration company, dubbed Makenita.
The process to transfer the 2,243-hectare property, 10 kilometres southwest of the town of Cobalt, was closed on Dec. 17. Cruz shareholders approved it on Dec. 11 and the B.C. Supreme Court stamped its approval on Dec. 16.
In first announcing this spinoff company last summer, Cruz said this was part of a reorganization of its exploration assets. The company wants to direct its attention to its U.S. assets where it has two lithium projects in Nevada and two cobalt projects in Idaho.
Over the summer, the company and president Jim Nelson said silver prices were “breaking out” and its intention to spin off Hector was prompted by a desire to separate it from its other U.S. properties and have capital markets judge Hector on its own. Separating Hector from the flock, the company said, is the most effective way to accelerate development of the property and unlock its value.
The spot price of silver on Dec. 28 was hovering just about $42 an ounce.
Since Cruz began performing field work at Hector in 2017, the project still remains at the early exploration stage. There is no resource estimate for Hector and no plans have been revealed for any field work in 2025.
The property contains silver and cobalt veins which have shown up in drill core with other occurrences of these minerals in the rocks and soil over the years that the company said warrants follow-up exploration.
Makenita has conditional approval to list its common shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange. Existing Cruz shareholders will receive free shares in the new company.
