Little old Ashley Gold Corp. (ASHL.C), a budding resource company with a growing reputation for doing a lot with a little, recently took a significant step in expanding its portfolio by signing a letter of intent to acquire the Burnthut property, located on an island in a prominent gold-rich region near Sioux Lookout, Ontario, along the Treasury Metals Goliath-Goldlund trend. The property, strategically located not far from Ashley’s other properties in the area, continues the company policy of expanding its holdings without blowing the bank and while maintaining a tight 30.4 million share structure.

Darcy Christian, President of Ashley Gold, says the Burnthut property has shown evidence of gold mineralization in past explorations going back as far as the late 1800’s, indicating its potential as a gold-rich site. Particularly noteworthy for tech boffins is the property’s kilometer-scale strike length and considerable width, alongside previous findings of gold deposits near the surface.

The Burnthut property spans 63 unpatented mining cells and shares a boundary with Treasury Metals (TML.T), which boasts 2 million ounces of gold on the same trend. Its geological setting is fascinating, covering around 8 km of a volcanic belt known for gold deposits and the property has a history of gold exploration, dating back to the late 1800s when a 48ft shaft was sunk. More recent drilling in the 1960s focused near this shaft, revealing some promising results, although these need modern verification.

In 2023, a new discovery named the Oro Grande Zone was made on the mainland. This discovery included three parallel veins with significant gold concentrations, suggesting a continuation of the gold-rich zone onto the Burnthut property. The Oro Grande zone lines up with previously identified gold zones on Burnthut Island and extends westward, hinting at a larger area of mineralization.

To finalize the acquisition of the Burnthut property, Ashley Gold has agreed to a small cash payment and share issuance deal, including a Net Smelter Royalty arrangement. This structure allows the company to fully own the property while sharing a small percentage of the eventual production revenue.

Additionally, Ashley Gold announced the closure of the first portion of its funding through a private placement. This financial move will support the company’s exploration activities, including drilling programs and geophysical surveys on other properties it owns. The funding round included issuing flow-through units, comprising common shares and warrants, to investors.

Ashley Gold holds three other projects, inluding the following;

• The Tabor Lake Mine is an advance-stage exploration story that was near production many years ago. With historical shallow bonanza grade drill intersections, this project presents immense upside potential upon discovery of new mineralization.
• Howie Lake is comprised of 64 mining claims over approximately 1000 Ha just south of Ashley’s Tabor Lake Mine. This project shares a common boundary with the Thundercloud Lake (Pelham Project) that is currently operated by Dynasty Gold and hosts a defined resource of 180,000 oz Au.
• Alto-Gardnar was a strategic acquisition located near Treasury Metals Inc. Goliath Gold Complex that hosts a Measured and Indicated Resource estimate of 2,138,600 ounces of Gold across a 65 km trend.

Shares in the company have come under pressure in November as the general market declined, but are holding steady at $0.05.

— Chris Parry

FULL DISCLOSURE: Ashely is an Equity Guru marketing client, and we hold stock in the company