While this is, perhaps, the worst of times for the mining industry, one significant discovery can breathe life into the entire sector. Equitas Resources Corp. (TSXV: EQT) hopes to make that find as it explores next door to a nickel giant.
By Sean Mason
This is, perhaps, the worst of times for the mining industry. And despite investor interest at near all-time lows, some companies continue to explore. After all, one significant discovery can not only build a career but also breathe life into an entire sector. There are hundreds of exploration stories out there hoping to make an once-in-a-lifetime find. This is one of them:
The Voisey’s Bay nickel mine in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador is considered one of the most significant mineral discoveries in Canada during the past 40 years. In 1993, prospectors Al Chislett and Chris Verbiski inadvertently discovered large nickel, copper, and cobalt deposits at Voisey’s Bay while searching for diamonds for a junior explorer called Diamond Fields Resources Inc. The company ended up selling the property to Canadian mining giant Inco, now Brazilian-owned Vale Inco, in 1996 for $4.3 billion, making many of its shareholders, especially Robert Friedland, wealthy.
Enter Equitas Resources Corp. (TSXV: EQT) nearly 20 years later. Equitas’ 23,000 plus hectare Garland Project sits approximately 30km from the Voisey’s Bay Mine. The company recently completed a VTEM Airborne Survey, in which nine nickel-copper sulphide targets have been identified. According to Equitas, new VTEM technology has allowed it to see up to five times deeper than the historic EM airborne survey done on Garland.
All this has sparked some excitement in the junior resource sector seeing that nickel sulphide deposits have been known to occur in clusters. Equitas, meanwhile, announced recently the beginning of a Phase-1 drill program on the property.
Adding to Equitas’ credibility was the addition of two experienced team members who had worked previously at Vale on its Voisey’s Bay Mine, including Vice President of Exploration Everett Makela. Mr. Makela was quoted in a recent article, saying that he was enthused by the fact that the Garland property and Voisey’s Bay “share a remarkable number of geological signatures.
This type of speculation has sent Equitas Resources’ stock price up nearly three-fold since July 22, 2015, and yet the company’s market capitalization is still less than C$15 million. Equitas investors also benefit from the company’s tight share structure (about 42 million shares outstanding following a roll back during the past year), the majority of which are owned by both Zimtu Capital and Yield Gold, a subsidiary of Chinese mining giant Zijin Mining Group.
