Inventus Mining is extracting a large bulk sample from its Pardo gold project, outside Sudbury, in the belief it has the makings of an open-pit gold mine.
The Toronto explorer is at an advanced exploration stage at Pardo by carving out a 45,000-tonne sample. Pardo is a 163-square-kilometre exploration property, 65 kilometres northeast of the city.
The company expects 2025 will be their “breakout year” at Pardo as part of its larger plan to release a first-time resource estimate.
Through drilling and blasting, Inventus is outlining a high-grade area at Pardo that contains shallow and flat gold-bearing reefs near surface, down to depths of 50 metres, ideal for both open pit and underground mining, the company said.
Inventus has been releasing a steady flow of high-grade assay results this summer.
That’s intrigued mining magnate Rob McEwen, who’s an 18 per cent shareholder in Inventus. His company, McEwen Mining, holds a 9 per cent stake, while well-known mining financier Eric Sprott has 16 per cent of Inventus shares. Collectively, they’ve contributed more than $1.83 million to funding for the project.
In July, Inventus struck a deal with McEwen Mining to process the bulk sample at the Stock Mill outside Timmins.
The company calls the extraction of the bulk sample a “mining and milling test run” that will help them evaluate the grade and milling recoveries, and provide other information to determine if its deposit can be mined economically.
The minerals pulled from a bulk sample can also generate some upfront revenue which can be used in project's development.
Inventus has not made any decision on building a mine, but management is hopeful that Pardo could be developed quickly and at low cost.
The area has been well-trodden by exploration companies in the past.
The company has a second prospective property nearby, its Sudbury 2.0 polymetallic property, 40 kilometres east of Sudbury and on the shores of Lake Wanapitei. It contains occurrences of gold, copper, cobalt and nickel.
To ensure things can proceed smoothly, Inventus has an advanced exploration agreement with Temagami First Nation.
