Stock in companies exploring for gold from scratch are more speculative than investment grade, considering only one in 1,000 finds something worth mining.
White Gold of Yukon could be an exception, meeting the criteria needed for best success in finding and building gold mines.
The company seeks gold in the Dawson City region of Yukon, where some 20 million ounces of placer gold has been washed out of the creeks and rivers since the 1890s gold rush.
The company has rights to one million acres in the gold district with multiple prospective zones discovered by traditional methods and newest technology.
Handling such a vast acreage might be too much for most companies but White Gold has some significant partner shareholders. Gold miners Kinross and Agnico Eagle each have a 17.7 per cent stake in White Gold.
Legendary gold investor Ross Beatty has opened his cheque book to White Gold and Toronto-based Power One Capital is a large shareholder.
One might wonder why two large miners are willing to share stakes in White Gold. The answer: There are plenty of potential mines on this property for both of them to develop — both open pit and underground mines.
Exploration has so far outlined 27 plus targets.
Veteran gold explorer Shawn Murray with 30 years’ experience in the Yukon is chief technical adviser. He put together the big land package after all the companies that had optioned claims from him dropped them when investment funds dried up eight years ago.
The Golden Saddle and the Arc deposits, two of the most advanced, have already seen discovery of one million ounces indicated gold and 500,000 of inferred. These need to be upgraded to measured, probable and proven reserves by further drilling.
Another 230,000 ounces in the inferred category sits in the Vertigo deposit.
This year’s $4 million exploration program, considerably less than last year’s $13 million program, involves $1.3 million seeking new targets and drilling two prospects.
Drilling of 5,000 feet on these places, Ryan’s Surprise and Titan, seeks to outline resources from some spectacular drill holes done last year.
Two gold mines under development by others sit alongside White Gold property.
The never drilled Bonanza property, 10 minutes south of Dawson City on a mountain feeding into Bonanza Creek, is on the drilling program for 2021.
Bonanza Creek yielded six million ounces of placer gold in the last century with the mountain possibly the source.
Insiders and management have lots of skin in the game, owning 22.6 per cent of the shares. About 43 per cent are held by institutions, Beatty and the public.
White Gold has so many of the criteria to find new mines — financial backing, experienced management, highly prospective ground — it’s almost too good to be true.
The company shares recently traded at $1.20, with a 20 per cent pop following a strong social media promotion.
CAUTION: Remember when investing, consult your adviser and do your homework before buying any security. Bizworld does not recommend investments.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
