When you mention “Sweden” to a Vancouverite, they immediately think “twins”.
Sweden has produced a lot of skilled hockey players. It also has a reputation for being zany.
- At one time, Sweden’s 9th most voted for political party was The Donald Duck Party – which promised free beer and wider sidewalks.
- Swedish blood donors receive a text saying ‘Thank you’ when they initially give blood. They get another ‘Thank you’ text when their donation merges with someone else’s bloodstream.
- In 1979, homosexuality was still classified as an illness in Sweden. Swedes protested by calling in sick to work, claiming they feeling really gay.
Here’s another fun fact that many people don’t know:
According the Fraser Institute Mining Survey, Sweden is the 8th highest ranked mining jurisdiction in the world, just below Quebec and Arizona.
We’ve been poking around Europe recently and discovered a number of interesting trends, including “enhanced landfill mining” – pulling aluminium, copper and lithium out of old waste dumps.
But what really caught our eye is a mineral exploration company Boreal Metals (BMX.V), focused on the discovery of Zinc, Copper, Silver and Gold deposits in four project areas spanning Sweden and Norway.
BMX is operating in mature mining districts that haven’t seen a lot of modern exploration techniques.
The company is only 7 weeks old. It started trading at .33 went to .40 then slid back down to .25. It currently has a market cap of about $12 million.
You won’t hear chatter about BMX on the investing bulletin boards.
We only stumbled on it doing research on European mining trends.
Let’s look at the 4 projects:
Gumsberg VMS Project – SWEDEN
Five exploration licenses in the Bergslagen Mining District of southern Sweden totaling over 18,300 hectares, where multiple zones of Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (VMS) style mineralization occur.
The VMS mineralization was mined from the 13th century through the early 1900’s, with over 30 historic mines present on the property, most notably the Östrasilverberg mine which was the largest silver mine in Europe between 1300 and 1590.
Despite its production history, little modern exploration has taken place on the project.
Four holes drilled revealed 2.8 meters of 17.9% Zinc, 6.9% Lead, 0.5% Copper, and 68.9 g/t silver in drill hole at a depth of 32 meters below surface.
Adak VMS Project – SWEDEN
- Copper, zinc and gold resources remain in ground
- Fire destroyed mine in 1978
- In past 40 years, little mining activity has taken place at Adak
- Nearby Storliden Zn-Cu deposit discovered in late 1990’s in similar geologic setting
- Down plunge and downdip projections of mineralization remain untested
- Mineralization intersected in deep drill holes
- Little step out or deep drilling
- Modern VMS exploration models not applied in 1960’s and 1970’s
- Downhole geophysics to be applied in historic holes
- 2006 VTEM survey identified multiple anomalies that have not yet been followed up
- Leveraging extensive historic data and existing targets; low cost target development
Burfjord Iron Oxide Copper Gold project – NORWAY
The Burjord project is about 40 km southwest of Alta Regional Airport, road accessible and is located 7.5 kilometers from tide water. It’ also about 32 km west of Kåfjord copper mines, “the first major industrial enterprise north of the Arctic Circle.”
The asset has six exploration licenses totaling 5,500 hectares near Kåfjord, Norway.
Mineralization at Burfjord is of the Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) deposit clan.
Copper mineralization was mined in the Burfjord area during the 19th century, with over 30 historic mines and prospects developed along the flanks of a prominent 4 x 6 kilometer anticlinal structure.
Limited historic drilling produced intercepts including 7m @ 3.6% Cu.
Tynset VMS project – NORWAY
- Significant historic production in Røros District since 1600’s
- Limited production in early 1900’s
- Historical high grade copper mineralization
- Exposed VMS mineralization along trend
- No drilling or modern exploration
- Sltrike length over 10 kilometers in project area
- Excellent infrastructure
- Road access & power lines in project area
- Local rail line to deep water port
- Potential for Major Discovery with Modern Exploration
- Explore along trends of exposed VMS mineralization
- Utilize modern models and exploration methods
- Identify and target fold hinge zones
- Very coarse grained (recrystallized) sulfide ore minerals
- Ideal for low cost processing
On December 1 2017 Boreal announced the beginning of exploration drilling at the Gumsberg project.
“Boreal plans to conduct 2,500 meters of diamond drilling across three prospective high grade volcanogenic massive sulphide (“VMS”) mineral trends. Each of these silver-zinc-lead trends contain historical drilling from the 1930s and 1970s and mining activities that can be traced to medieval times.”
“Boreal has successfully advanced three high grade mineralized trends within the 18,300 hectare Gumsberg land position to the drill testing phase,” stated BMX President and CEO Karl Antonius. “We are excited to see the results of the 2017 Drill Program.”
VMS deposits contain rich veins of copper, zinc, gold and silver. Other world class districts (Norada, Flin Flon, Kuroko) have each produced individually tens of billions of dollars of ore.
The beauty of VMS deposits is that multiple metals (zinc, gold, copper, silver) can all be found in the same deposits. So they function as single-deposit diversification investments.
In Sweden, Finland and Norway, income tax returns are public.
It’s part of a Scandinavian tradition called jantelag, which translates roughly as nobody is superior to anyone else.
The same is not true of investment opportunities.
With all the excitement around weed and blockchain, junior mining companies are largely unloved.
Boreal Metals isn’t so much “unloved” as “unknown”.
Given the assets, the grades, the management and the geopolitics and the impending drill results, we suspect that is about to change.
Full Disclosure: Boreal Metals is an Equity Guru marketing client, we also own shares in the company.