On November 9, 2017 Prize Mining (PRZ.V) provided a corporate update on its gold and copper project located near Nelson. BC.
With multiple historical high-grade mines, close to a highway, water and cheap power in a mature mining jurisdiction – perhaps it’s no surprise the market reacted well:
Prize picked up the Kena Project in April 2017 and then raised about $6 million to explore it.
Using a base-case cut-off grade of 0.3 grams per tonne gold, the current Kena Project resource estimate is:
- Indicated mineral resources of 24.89 million tonnes at 0.6 grams per tonne gold for 481,000 ounces gold
- Inferred mineral resources of 85.79 million tonnes at 0.48 grams per tonne gold for 1,318,000 ounces gold.
The resource estimation used gold intercepts from 176 drill holes.
But the Kena Project is not a one-trick pony. The Prize geologists believe there is a copper porphyry target on the property. This copper target is currently untested by exploration.
The Company’s 1,550-hectare Daylight Property is attached to Kena and has numerous high-grade gold showings and four historical mines. The combined land package is referred to as the Daylight Property.
President and CEO of Prize Mining is Feisal Somji, the founding president of Rio Alto Mining. Somji oversaw the construction of a mine in Peru which achieved annual production of 150,000 oz. gold. Rio Alto was sold in 2015 for $1.3 Billion.
“We look forward to our much-anticipated Daylight property drill program,” stated Somji in the October 17, 2017, press release. “The focus of the program will be on newly defined anomalous targets which have been prioritized from our summer surface exploration work.”
Historical producing mines on the Daylight Property have historical grades as set out below.
- Great Eastern mine area with grades of 37.53 g/t gold and 52.2 g/t silver (B.C. Minfile 082FSW172).1
- Starlight mine area with grades of 28 g/t gold and 140 g/t silver (B.C. Minfile 082FSW174).1
- The Daylight mine area with grades of 27 g/t gold and 15 g/t silver (B.C. Minfile 082FSW175).1
- Victoria mine area with grades reported of 28.9 g/t silver and 2.56 per cent copper (B.C. Minfile 082FSW173).1
We wish to stress to our readers that the “historical grades” means that the data does not meet modern geological standards.
It’s like a drunkard in a tavern bragging about the beauty of an ex-girlfriend. He could be lying. His memory could be faulty. Or your definition of beauty might be different than this.
Historical data is hearsay – a point which Prize Mining stresses in the corporate update:
“Historical mining took place in the early 1900s. Based on the Company’s understanding of historical practices, it is likely that hand sorting of ore took place and that the actual grades varied.”
In June 2017 PRZ acquired the 1,010-hectare Toughnut Property which lies contiguous on the west side of Prize’s Daylight Property.
The Toughnut has 1989 (historical) grab samples which returned 6.64 g/t, 8.65 g/t and 32.8 g/t Au, with associated silver ranging between 33 g/t and 175 g/t Ag. Follow-up diamond drilling in 2010 returned a best intercept of 6.9 g/t Au and 143 g/t Ag over 2.0 metres, and 4.05 g/t Au over 8.0 metres in hole VTN10-005.
According to the corporate update:
“The Toughnut claims cover a 3.5-kilometre strike length of the Silver King shear structure, including most of the mineralized land between Prize’s Daylight claim block and Prize’s Sand claim block to the northwest. This was a strategic acquisition for Prize as it now controls what management believes to be the most significant part of the mineralized Silver King shear zone.”
“Collectively, the 1,550-hectare Daylight and the 1,010-hectare Toughnut Properties strategically cover a five-kilometre strike length of the central and eastern segments of the one kilometre wide Silver King shear system.” stated Somji. “With the Kena Property, Prize has consolidated the ownership of the district for the first time and will be completing a district wide exploration effort for years to come.”
“In August, the Company announced the results of the sampling program which included an 8,009 ppb (8g/t) Au soil sample on the Daylight-Starlight Trend, and rock samples showing as high as 20.6 g/t Au and 188 g/t Ag from the Toughnut adit.”
Prize Mining, who have about $3.5 million cash in the bank, announced the beginning of an environmental baseline study with a long-term view towards potential mine planning.
The share-price has risen 25% in the last month. But it’s still a micro-cap with a market capitalization of $21 million.
Full Disclosure: Prize Mining is an Equity Guru marketing client. We also own stock.