Quebec explorer Renforth Resources has 'explosive' potential with its nickel-rich VMS discovery, says CEO

Quebec explorer Renforth Resources has 'explosive' potential with its nickel-rich VMS discovery, says CEO

Proactive Investors

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Renforth Resources Inc (CSE:RFR) (OTCPINK:RFHRF) (FRA:9RR) offers an interesting investment proposition, since as well as being a Quebec gold exploration play it is also a green (battery) metals story. The smallcap resource group is advancing its Parbec gold property, which lies on the famous Cadillac break and already boasts an indicated open pit resource of 104,000 ounces at 1.78 grams per ton (g/t) gold, along with 177,000 inferred ounces at 1.77 g/t gold. But excitement is currently building over the group's Surimeau property after it confirmed a potential district scale VMS nickel-rich discovery (over around 20km) at the large 215 square kilometre (sq km) asset. The current exploration focus is at the western end of the property, covering about 5km of strike. Drilling started The company has just kicked off a 3,500 metre (m) drill program (for which it is fully funded) at the Victoria target to cover around 3km of that strike to confirm the discoveries from sampling and increase the company's geological understanding. VMS deposits are not unheard of in the Abitibi and Agnico Eagle's (NYSE:AEM) flagship LaRonde mine, which is exploiting a gold-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit, lies just 20km north. What sets Renforth's Surimeau apart though is the amount of potential nickel the deposit houses. "That's unique on a global scale," explains Renforth's CEO of nine years Nicole Brewster, a former exploration contractor and the daughter of an exploration geologist. "Nickel discoveries are few and far between." "To have nickel and copper, which are the leading metals in this green revolution in the same spot is kind of interesting," she says. And with VMS deposits come other metals too. For example, drill assays at Surimeau have included 1.16% zinc and 0.132% copper over 4.03 metres (m) from bedrock surface down to 4m, followed by 0.147% nickel (Ni) over 7.9m. Commodities such as nickel, zinc and copper are now gaining traction as the world population grows and the transition to clean energy from fossil fuels increases. Copper is widespread in building and energy applications. Along with nickel, it is also vital in manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs), 140 million of which are expected to be on the road by 2030, according to a report from Wood Mackenzie. Battery metals Brewster reckons the current world situation also means the general investor is increasingly looking at mining firms, particularly those in the battery metals space. "I think it's opening a lot of eyes to our existence, which is if you can't grow it you have to mine it," she says. To that end, and to help understand what the company has on its hands at Surimeau, it has hired VMS deposit expert Dr James Franklin as principal technical advisor who will guide exploration and drill targeting at the property. He has compared the project to the sort of deposits found in the Outokumpu mining district of Finland with its sulphide deposits and economic grades of copper, zinc, cobalt, nickel, gold and silver. Like Renforth's Parbec property, Surimeau is contiguous to the Canadian Malartic mine (CMM), Canada's largest operating open pit (a joint venture between Yamana Gold and Agnico Eagle) and nearby to several producing mines and mills, so  processing any future potential ore from Surimeau should not be an issue. Speaking of Parbec, Brewster's aim is to sell that project on, so Renforth can focus attention on under-explored Surimeau, and it is hoped a restated resource estimate at Parbec, earmarked for release in the second quarter this year, should help that process along. The resource update will include assays from 15,000m of new drilling, which has just been completed, along with historic data from the 1980s and 1990s, and Brewster believes the estimate will 'comfortably' surpass 500,000 combined indicated and inferred ounces. Recent results have been encouraging, with the company announcing the discovery this month of a new area of mineralization, actually located within the current conceptual open pit wall, which graded 5.57 g/t gold over 21.45m. In terms of a sale of Parbec, Brewster says the firm's neighbour could be potentially interested in this open pit resource, from an operational standpoint. "I believe Canadian Malartic will need the mill feed. They are going to shift to underground and they need feed to keep their mills turning while they do that," she says. Indeed, the operators of CMM are currently stockpiling low grade ore to sustain the operation while they pivot. So Renforth looks to be in a good spot, both in terms of finances and geography. Well funded  The firm has around C$6 million in cash and securities on hand so it can meet exploration demands at Surimeau for the foreseeable future. That doesn't include the value of over 281,000 ounces of gold, which is in effect in storage (in the ground) at Parbec. It is also worth noting that the company does have other 'irons in the fire' in mining-friendly Quebec, namely its Malartic West property, which spans 53 sq km adjacent to the western border of the CMM and the site of a surface copper/silver discovery traced over 200 metres. It also wholly-owns the Nixon-Bartleman property in Ontario on the Destor-Porcupine Fault, with gold on surface over 500m of strike, which remains open, and the Denain-Pershing project - a large, mineralized land position east of Val d’Or Quebec, which is currently optioned to O3 Mining. Brewster sums up the company thus: "We have a well-funded gold asset with blue sky, and we also have explosive potential in the exploration of our nickel rich VMS/ battery metals story with funding in hand for the foreseeable future." So Renforth Resources could certainly be a company to keep an eye on in 2021. Contact the author: giles@proactiveinvestors.com

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