The province of Quebec is one of Canada’s top jurisdictions for gold mining and production, which means companies like Vanstar Mining Resources Inc. (TSXV:VSR, OTCQX:VMNGF, Forum) are positioned nicely to become one of the region’s top players. 

The junior gold mining company has a range of gold projects underway in Quebec, including its flagship Nelligan Project, in which the company has a free-carried 25 per cent interest through a joint venture with IAMGOLD. 

The Market Herald Canada recently had the opportunity to catch up with Vanstar Mining’s CEO JC St-Amour to discuss what the company’s been up to.

TRANSCRIPT BELOW:

TMH: Can we first start off with you providing an overview of the company? 

JS: Sure. Vanstar Mining is an exploration company focused on gold and specifically in the province of Quebec. All our projects are in that province where there’s a lot of potential for gold discoveries based on the gold belts in the area.

TMH: The Nelligan project is Vanstar’s flagship property which is owned through a joint venture with IAMGOLD. What are some highlights this year you can update us on? 

JS: Sure. Well, Nelligan is a large project. It’s a joint venture that we have with IAMGOLD. IAMGOLD is the operator of the project and they’ve been drilling it since 2014. So far this project has a resource of 3.2 million ounces that was calculated back in 2019 and since then, IAMGOLD has drilled it and added to that resource by expanding the mineralized zone out well beyond that existing resource. This year the results came back for both a long strike to the west where we’ve seen the mineralization continue for one and a half kilometers beyond the existing deposit and then they’ve also drilled below the deposit. So the last results we’ve had were sort of deeper holes underneath the existing pitch shell which had some great numbers, great intercepts, and good grades which will definitely add to the resource at depth as well. So I would expect that later this year as IAMGOLD updates the resource, we will see some significant additions to that 3.2 million ounces and that we’ll see a resource that’s much larger than that.

TMH: I know the company released winter drilling results in July, what can you tell us about the significance of the results and anything the company might have planned on the property moving forward? 

JS: Yeah, as I mentioned that those results were basically designed to see if the mineralization continues at depth and if it gets any better at depth as well and I think we’re seeing both those things. We’re seeing that this continues and it’s still open at depth, which means that this resource could potentially go on for a quite a bit beyond or deeper than the existing resources. I think what we’re seeing down there is that some of the zones are getting much wider. Some of the grades are getting better, better than average. So I would think that will provide both resource additions obviously but also resource additions that may be at higher grades than the average that we’ve seen so far and then IAMGOLD is expected to update that resource before year-end here. So I think sometime between now and December, we’ll likely see an updated resource and I think again, we’ll see a much larger resource by the end of this year.

TMH: In addition to the Nelligan project, Vanstar also has the Bousquet-Odyno project, in which it signed a definitive option agreement with IAMGOLD to acquire a 75 per cent interest. Can you tell us more about this project and what the company’s plans are for it going forward? 

JS: Yeah. So in this case we are the operator of the project. So we’re running into the majority position And we have started a drill program on that project. We’ve drilled it, the drilling program just ended a few weeks ago and we are still sampling from the core from that drilling program and so we expect to see some results coming out on that over the next few weeks here but over the next couple months as well as the samples going to the lab and you start getting results back as well. So I would think for the Bousquet project what we’re seeing there is a sort of a narrow vein system where we can get some pretty high grades and over the sort of short widths.

We’re also seeing some broader intercepts here and there where we’re seeing lower grade, more disseminated gold which could be interesting from an open pittable perspective. All the holes on that project are fairly shallow. The previous holes or historical holes have averaged less than 200 meters in depth. We’re drilling deeper but when I say deeper, we’re still only like 250, less than 300 meters in depth. So again, fairly shallow and what we’re hoping to see what this project as is that mineralization continues even deeper and gets better with depth as well. So our drill program is designed to test that to some extent and we’ll continue to test that as we go along here, I add that Bousquet is located within six kilometers of the IAMGOLD’s Westwood project which is a mill that could use some additional feed as well. So if we discover something that’s mineable here at Bousquet, we already have a mill that’s built, we don’t have to develop and spend money on developing our own mill. The agreement that we have with IAMGOLD does contemplate us, processing it at Westwood as well which is a win-win for both of us. IAMGOLD needs to feed and we need a place to process it. So this is an ideal situation for both of us.

TMH: What makes Quebec such a great jurisdiction for the company to be in? 

JS: Well, Quebec as you know the Quebec government encourages expiration within its province. It does provide tax incentives to exploration companies, flow-through dollars for example, give a better credit for Quebec investors and beyond that, just from a permitting standpoint, the process is more streamlined. So overall, working in Quebec is a great place to do it. It is ranked probably one if not the top jurisdiction in the world to conduct exploration.

TMH: What else should investors be keeping their eyes out for when it comes to Vanstar? 

JS: I think over the next few months here, we’ll be seeing on Nelligan for example, the updated resource will be coming out and I think that’ll be fairly significant news but also on the Bousquet project, we’ll be seeing at least a few press releases here with some results coming out on the drilling that’s been done. We should have something coming out in the next few weeks here, hopefully before September and then within September, maybe even into October, we’ll be seeing some additional results there as well.

TMH: Lastly, is there anything I’ve missed you’d like to touch base on? 

JS: Considering that we have a fully carried interest in the Nelligan project but and when I say that, that means that we Vanstar, does not have to pay anything to advance this project into production. So we can get cash flow out of this project without diluting our shareholders in any way to advance the project and from that perspective, you get a free carried interest in a large project that’s most likely going to become a mine given the size and scale of it and that is worth I think I would suspect that that is worth considerably more than the average junior exploration that has to dilute and continuously raise money to advance this project.

Thanks again for joining us at The Market Herald today, JC. Look forward to chatting with you again!

FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by The Market Herald. 


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