Overview
Mining in Ontario is big business. In 2021, Ontario’s mining industry produced roughly C$11.1 billion worth of minerals, accounting for 20 percent of Canada’s total production value. The importance of the mining industry has helped create a mining-friendly jurisdiction that understands the value of capitalizing on its natural resources. That’s why the Fraser Institute has ranked Ontario among the top 15 jurisdictions worldwide for investment attractiveness.
Additionally, the Canadian government is making a significant push to ramp up the production of critical minerals, including copper, lithium and aluminum. This push has resulted in more than 31 critical mineral projects in advanced exploration stages in Ontario,e paving the way for the development of a domestic supply chain for the country.
Heritage Mining (CSE:HML) is an exploration and development mining company with district-scale assets targeting gold and copper mineralizations within Ontario. The company’s flagship Drayton-Black Lake project is a strategically assembled district-scale project with encouraging bulk samples, high-grade gold intercepts and robust existing infrastructure. An experienced management team leads Heritage Mining with more than 100 years of combined experience working within the natural resources sector.
The Drayton-Black Lake project is a district-scale asset with a rich history, but a single company has never operated the entire area. Instead, it was split up among different operators and has never received systematic exploration to determine its mineralizations’ actual width and depth.
As a result, Heritage Mining is launching the first systematic exploration program that will identify promising deposits throughout the entire area of this historic region from a low-grade, high-tonnage perspective.
The company entered a definitive asset purchase agreement with Bounty Gold Corp. to acquire 50 mining claims in the Split Lake zone adjacent to Heritage’s flagship Drayton-Black Lake project. Heritage will acquire a 100 percent interest in the Split Lake property in exchange for issuing Bounty 100,000 common shares.
“Relative to other projects in the area, we are very close to infrastructure. There is a paved highway through the property, all-weather logging roads, and well-maintained ATV roads. So it’s quite a bit different than other projects in Northern Ontario: there are no ice roads and we don’t have to fly in to do work,” CEO Peter Schloo stated in an interview.
The company also operates the Contact Bay project containing high-grade copper-nickel mineralizations. The 4,700-hectare land package is within an active mining area and has known gold, nickel and platinum-palladium mineralizations. While the Drayton-Black Lake project is the main focus, Contact Bay will expose the company to critical minerals.
Heritage Mining’s management team has a proven track record in the mining industry and has overseen transactions exceeding C$15 billion. In addition, the team has experience in corporate finance, administration and geology.
Company Highlights
- Heritage Mining is an exploration and development mining company with district-scale opportunities in Ontario, Canada, targeting gold and copper.
- The company’s flagship project, the Drayton-Black Lake project, has strong historical results but has never been systematically explored from a low-grade, high-tonnage perspective. Heritage is the first company to own the entire area and will conduct a thorough exploration program to identify promising mineralizations.
- Drayton-Black Lake project has existing infrastructure that provides year-round highway access to the property, a significant advantage over other regional projects.
- Samples from the company’s 2022 field program showed multiple high-grade gold vein system channels.
- Heritage Mining’s Contact Bay project contains high-grade copper-gold mineralizations and exposes the company to the critical minerals market that is rapidly growing within Ontario.
- A veteran management team leads the company with a combined 100 years of experience in the mining sector.
Key Projects
Drayton-Black Lake Project
The 14,229-hectare project has undergone significant historical exploration, including more than 176 holes drilled, with high-grade gold and copper discoveries. The project is located in a mature mining district in Ontario, a jurisdiction known for its low geopolitical risk and mining-friendly government.
Project Highlights:
- Priority Zones Identified: Heritage Mining has identified four priority gold zones with multiple historic high-grade intersections that will guide future exploration programs. These zones are:
- Moretti Zone – Samples up to 1,212 g/t gold
- Split Lake Zone – 0.7 meters at 14.8 g/t gold
- Shaft Zone – 2 meters at 14.5 g/t gold
- West Zone – Up to 150.86 g/t gold
- Over 100 Years of Historical Data: Exploration data from the past century is being compiled to create a greater understanding of the area that will rapidly advance the project by guiding future exploration decisions.
The Alcona Area has been approved for Phase II Drill Program to define its deposit potential.
Contact Bay Copper-Gold Project
The project covers 4,700 hectares and contains multiple high-grade copper-nickel and gold occurrences. Contact Bay is also located in Ontario andt is in the exploration phase, with targets identified for exploratory drilling.
Project Highlights:
- Promising Mineralization Styles: The asset contains a diverse range of mineralizations, including:
- Northeast – Rock sample assayed 0.40 g/t gold and 0.7 percent copper, sheared and altered gabbro
- Northeast – A 1.2-meter chip channel assayed 4.2 g/t Au
- Platinum and Palladium values up to 0.28g/t
- Priority Targets Identified: Heritage Minerals has three priority drill targets, each with high-grade historic drill intersections that warrant additional follow-up.
- Impressive Geophysical Interpretation: Exciting highlights from exploration work include the interpretation defining two substantial mafic-ultramafic intrusive bodies with multiple nickel-copper-PGE (platinum group elements) target areas:
- Nabish Lake Area: ~ 5 kilometers long, up to 1 kilometer wide, over 1 kilometer in depth)
- North Nabish Lake Area: ~ 2 kilometers long, 1 kilometer wide, over 1 kilometer in depth
Geophysical interpretation of the Contact Bay area along with findings from the 2023 prospecting program, suggest geological similarities to other Archean nickell-copper-PGE occurrences and deposits.
Management Team
Peter Schloo – President, CEO and Director
Peter Schloo holds the CPA, CA and CFA designations with over eight years of progressive experience in capital markets, operations and assurance. He has held senior executive and director positions in a number of private companies, a majority in the precious metals sector including CFO of Spirit Banner Capital and VP of corporate development and interim CFO for Ion Energy. Schloo is also currently a director of Pacific Empire Minerals. (PEMC). His past successes include over C$80 million in associated capital raising opportunities involving public and private companies.
Patrick Mohan – Chairman and Director
Patrick Mohan is a 35-year investor relations veteran and is the founder, president and chief executive officer of Mohan Group. Mohan is also on the board of Metals Creek Resources Corp. Previously, he occupied the position of president, CEO, director and head of investor relations at Kitrinor Metals. Mohan’s past successes include the development of the Cote Gold Project and the sale of Trelawney Mining & Exploration to IAMGOLD for C$585 million (US$595 million) in cash In 2012.
Wray Carvelas – Director and Chair of Compensation Committee
Wray Carvelas has provided 25 years of visionary leadership, developing and implementing ambitious strategic plans. As a senior executive at DRA Global he was responsible for the growth and development of the business in both North and South America. The mandate was to grow business in the Americas, both organically and inorganically without any significant capital base. Carvelas also held positions at KBR, ELB, and De Beers, involving management of development, production, and metallurgical (R&D and capital management) responsibilities.
Thomas Reid – Director
Thomas Reid has a 30 year career with Sun Life Financial as CFO Canada and head of corporate development. Since joining Sun Life Financial in 1994, Reid has held increasingly senior positions throughout Sun Life in finance, corporate development, public relations and investor relations. From 2009 to 2020, Reid led the group retirement services business at Sun Life, growing the assets under management from $30 billion to $130 billion. For the last four years, Reid was responsible for the strategy and growth team for Sun Life in Canada, where his team led strategic planning for the Canadian businesses and explored how Sun Life could invest in new businesses to accelerate the company’s growth in Canada. Reid also holds the CPA and CA designations.
Rachel Chae – CFO
Rachel Chae, with over eight years of experience, has served as CFO for various publicly traded companies, including several Canadian junior mineral exploration companies. She holds the chartered professional accountant designation working at Cross Davis & Company LLP, a chartered professional accountant firm providing accounting services to publicly listed entities, primarily in the mining sector.
Patrick Sullivan – Corporate Secretary
Patrick Sullivan is a mining, M&A and securities lawyer at a national law firm with a decade of experience in the junior mineral exploration sector. He has acted on several significant global mining transactions including South32 Limited’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Arizona Mining, Washington Companies’ $1.2 billion acquisition of Dominion Diamond, and Hudbay Minerals’ $555 million acquisition of Augusta Resource Corporation. Sullivan also has significant experience advising on mineral stream and royalty finance transactions.
Rick Horne – Geologist
Rick Horne has over 40 years of experience as an economic geologist. His experience includes senior roles with Acadian Mining (Atlantic Gold) as chief geologist and with Dufferin Gold Mine (Resource Capital Gold) as chief geologist and mine manager. Horne is an expert in lode gold systems, structural geology and geological mapping spending 22 years with NS Energy and Mines focussing on Bedrock mapping.
Mitchel Lavery, – Advisor
Mitchel Lavery has over 45 years’ experience in the exploration and development of mining projects with several junior and major mining companies. Lavery was instrumental in the discovery of the Bell Creek Gold Mine in Timmins, ON; the development and operation of the Joubie Gold Mine, Val-d’Or, QC; and the acquisition and development of the Quebec Lithium property, Lacorne, QC. He is the president and a director of Seahawk Gold. and is a qualified person under NI-43-101 regulations.