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AuTeco plans crowing start

Mine Life:
7 years
AISC:
$1,220/oz
NPV:
$332m
IRR:
32%

AuTeco has chosen a prolific
gold-bearing belt in Ontario
t might be only a few months since Ray ploration run.
IShorrocks and the AuTeco Minerals Ltd Repeating the Bellevue dose at AuTeco to rejuvenate one of Canada’s
team arrived at Pickle Crow in Ontario, nev- is the aim and the company has equipped highest-grade gold mines
ertheless the Australian company has high itself in the best possible fashion to do so. Pickle Crow was last mined in 1966 and
expectations for one of Canada’s highest- Former Bellevue exploration front-man there has been little modern exploration un-
grade historical gold mines. Marcus Harden heads the AuTeco team in dertaken since, despite the plethora of infra-
The company completed formal docu- the same capacity on a permanent basis, structure facilities still in place and a mining
mentation with First Mining Corp to acquire while Steve Parsons, Mike Naylor and Sam lease valid until 2067.
up to 80% of PC Gold Inc, the outfit which Brooks – all key players at Bellevue – round Despite the gold market taking off a few
owns Pickle Crow, in mid-March and has out the board and management at AuTeco. years ago, interest in Canada’s exploration
quickly outlined plans to convert the existing It is perhaps Bellevue’s growing reputa- and mining sectors has waned as investor
resource into JORC standards during the tion in North America that turned what was attention has focused on opportunities in
first week of April. shaping as a straightforward buy-in for Au- medical marijuana and cryptocurrencies.
There is potential for a resource of about Teco at Pickle Crow into something more Australian gold companies have ben-
400,000-500,000oz gold @ 7-8 g/t for Au- competitive. efitted by swooping on unloved projects in
Teco to work with. “I think we did reignite interest in the pro- North America and AuTeco is looking to
“We have organised our drillers so we can ject,” Shorrocks said. “At one stage in mid- continue the trend of returning an asset to
really go after it with some low hanging fruit December I was getting very fearful that its past glories at Pickle Crow.
drilling of about 5,000m sometime in May,” they were playing me off with someone else “The cannabis and bitcoin [sectors] are
AuTeco executive chairman Ray Shorrocks as they started getting very tough with ne- hurting big time. We have taken a view that
told Paydirt. gotiations.” the Canadian markets for gold will come
Shorrocks said the timing of drilling would How many suitors were in line to get a back, whether it is this year or next, but that
be determined by the first nations people’s slice of Pickle Crow remains history and any doesn’t really worry us because we will be
hunting season. In the meantime, geo- company which missed out will now have to getting on with our job,” Shorrocks said.
chem work would be the focus ahead of the watch on as AuTeco pieces together what’s “One of the things we will be doing is get-
planned 5-6 hole drilling programme in Q2. left of an underground project which pro- ting straight back into the basics. We didn’t
“We have walk-up drill targets at two very duced 1.5 moz gold @ 16 g/t. put a hole in the ground at Bellevue until we
strong gold-rich veins through the surface AuTeco has reported unmined drill inter- fully understood what it what we were trying
and all those lodes are open down plunge sections adjacent to Pickle Crow under- to chase. The previous owners at Bellevue
and adjacent to the existing underground ground mine infrastructure including: 13.1 thought that there was nothing on the other
development. It reminds me of another m @ 43.28 g/t gold from 530.35m, 7.6m @ side of that fault, and all we did was step on
Bellevue [Gold Ltd], which, let’s face it, has 8.23 g/t from 492.5m, 2.83 m @ 11.24 g/t the other side of that fault and in the first 3-4
been hyper successful,” Shorrocks said. from 547.67m, 4m @ 9.05 g/t from 102m, holes we struck it rich.”
Shorrocks was the chairman at Bellevue 3.9 m @ 17.39 g/t from 200m and 3.2m @
during the start of that company’s stellar ex- 134.26 g/t from 1139.8m. – Mark Andrews

aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT MaY 2020 Page 9