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Negotiating the Labyrinth

by Fraser Palamara

he company formerly known as Orminex has officially been
Treborn as Labyrinth Resources Ltd, with new leadership
and a refreshed strategy focusing on Canadian gold.
Matt Nixon arrived as the company’s chief operating officer
in February 2021 amid a time of board changes and stalled
projects. Having recently been elevated to chief executive, he
has much to smile about with works currently under way at
Labyrinth’s Denain project in Quebec.
A diamond drill rig is turning at Denain, burrowing 4,000m to
define the high-grade North and South Vein outcroppings just
The Denain project, where Labyrinth is currently drilling with a
300m apart. “Early affirmation” was awarded in November
maiden resource planned this year
after Labyrinth’s in-country team unearthed rock chip samples
reaching 33.2 g/t gold.
“I think it’s apparent that my target, and the board’s target, has
Denain’s maiden resource is expected this year as the company
been to reset the company.”
continues to chip away at converting the historic NI-43101
resource (2.1mt @ 7.1 g/t gold for 479,000oz) at its flagship The underground drilling at Denain will be complemented by
Labyrinthe project to Australian JORC standards. a surface channel sampling programme on the back of a rock
chip sample which also returned 21.1 g/t silver.
The company’s makeover hasn’t been without turbulence
however, after a 2018 relisting was doused with the A further 5,000m of drilling is planned at Labyrinthe, north-east
disappointment of an underperforming project north of Kalgoorlie of Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd’s 24 moz Macassa mine, to expand
which the COVID-19 pandemic only further complicated. on its current resource. An underground rig is expected on site
in late January.
The Comet Vale project was put into care-and-maintenance
Labyrinthe (formerly known as the Rocmec project) never came
in July 2020 and Nixon, who previously spent four years with
Northern Star Resources Ltd, quickly got to work scouring for to modern fruition because previous owner Nippon Dragon is a
“technology-focused” company, according to Nixon.
new assets to rebuild the business.
“The key was strategically looking at where we want to sit, how “It was a mine worked up until the mid-1980s with limited
we can grow this company and where we see best value for genuine capital development and just a little bit of operating
shareholders,” Nixon told GMJ. development since then,” he said.
“Looking around Western Australia and the rest of the country, “Labyrinthe has remained dry, ventilated and accessible for us
there’s plenty of great assets – but Orminex couldn’t financially which has been an excellent upside in securing the asset.
compete for them at the time. “What we’re looking to do there this year is get some underground
drilling happening to extend what is a highly prospective
“In terms of geology and government support in a Tier-1
jurisdiction, we ended up at the Abitibi greenstone belt in resource. There are multiple lodes that are underexplored.”
Canada. Primarily because it’s very similar to the geology of the Two lodes which sit 170m into the footwall yielded good
greenstone belt that runs from Kalgoorlie up through to Wiluna. intersections in 2006, and again later around 2010 when the
It’s very familiar for myself and the Labyrinth team.” current resource was first published.
Labyrinth purchased the projects from TSX-V listed Nippon “But that has never really been followed up in earnest,” Nixon
Dragon Resources Inc through an initial $C2 million in cash with explained. “That’s an immediate target for us there.”
a further $C3 million to follow. The money was raised via an $8 The company is already thinking long term with Labyrinthe, as
million placement led by Canaccord Genuity Australia. the in-country team has begun considerations into design and
Nixon said the company rebranding had been positively infrastructure, including upgraded ventilation and heating for
received by long-time shareholders that first joined under the conditions that can drop to as low as minus 40 degrees.
Orminex banner. “We want to leverage our skills for the potential at play in the
“We’ve got a great, really supportive shareholder base,” he said. Abitibi belt for gold assets that were perhaps wound down or
“There are some major supporters that have been there since forgotten when the gold price was much lower than it is today,”
the initial recapitalisation in 2018 of which Orminex was born Nixon said.
and originally targeting Comet Vale.

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