Shares of Pistol Bay Mining Inc. (TSX: V.PST, SLTFF) jumped 12% Monday as speculators looked ahead to drill results from the company’s Summit B gold-copper project in northwestern British Columbia.
Pistol Bay is active on a number of fronts. Aside from drilling at Summit B, the company is also involved in uranium exploration in Saskatchewan, and advanced graphite development in Ontario.
However it appears to be investor interest in Summit B that sent Pistol Bay rising to 9.5 cents on Monday, leaving the junior with a market cap of $2.2 million, based on 22.6 million shares outstanding. The 52-week range is 27.5 cents and 2.5 cents.
The Summit A, B, and D blocks, which cover 8,500 hectares, are located in a hot exploration area, adjacent to Imperial Metals Corp.’s (TSX: T.III, Stock Forum) Red Chris copper-gold mine, and contiguous to Colorado Resources Ltd.’s (TSX: V.CXO, Stock Forum) North Rok property.
Last year, Colorado Resources saw its stock price jump to $1.74 after drilling returned economic copper and associated gold grades over impressive lengths.
Having struck a deal to earn a 60% stake in Summit B, Revolver Resources Inc. (TSX: V.RZ, Stock Forum), recently embarked on a 1,000-metre (3 hole) drill program in a bid to follow-up on the earlier trenching and geophysics, which has already yielded high precious metal values and copper.
“One hole is in the lab, one is on the way and we are about half way through drilling [the third],’’ said Pistol Bay President Charles Desjardins.
He says Revolver is drilling on an “epithermal outlier” system that is different to the one that was drilled last year by Colorado. “That’s what I’m told,” Desjardins said.
Meanwhile Rio Tinto Plc (NYSE: RIO, Stock Forum) subsidiary Rio Tinto Canada Uranium Corp. has mobilized a crew and begun drilling on Pistol Bay’s C-5 uranium property in the Key Lake/Wheeler River area of Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin.
The so-called C4, C5 and C6 blocks cover 4,011 acres, and adjoin Denison Mines Ltd.’s (TSX: T.DML, Stock Forum) advanced Pheonix uranium discoveries at Wheeler River.
Rio Tinto has already exercised an option to earn a 75% stake in the C Blocks by spending $1 million.
A total of approximately 2,500 metres of diamond drilling is proposed for the 2014 C-5 winter exploration program with a budget of $1.2 million.
“They are pretty good about communicating with us,’’ said Desjardins.
The program is designed to test five to six holes within the Corridor A target area as a follow-up to mineralization intersected during the winter 2013 exploration program. “They may have started drilling the second hole,’’ Desjardins said.
Meanwhile, having just completed a non-brokered private placement financing that raised $240,000, the company reports that it is in possession of historical data from its advanced Portland graphite project in southeastern Ontario, near the city of Kingston.
“This valuable historic data will allow the company to better design an efficient plan to advance the project to a production decision as quickly as possible,’’ said Paul Gorman an advisor to Pistol Bay.
In the late 1980s, a company called Victoria Graphite identified graphite mineralization in three zones over a strike length of 1,700 metres. A historic “probable reserve’’ of 295,000 tonnes, grading slightly above 6% graphite” was also delineated. However, this estimate would not meet current NI-43-101 standards of compliance.
“As Portland has been permitted before, we see this as something that we could get up and running pretty quickly,’’ Desjardins said.
He said the company plans to reopen the historic pit and send graphite samples to potential buyers in the U.S.
Desjardins envisages a scenario where the company produces about 20,000 tonnes per year, from a small open pit operation. Of that amount, 60% would be comprised of premium graphite, he said.
