Onyx Gold: 110,000 Meters of Drilling and a Growing Gold Discovery

0:00Music

0:16Brock Colterjohn: Alright, let's do a head up to the great area of Timmins, Ontario with Onyx Gulf. Kind of wrapping up a massive drill program this year. We're going to talk about 110 ,000 meters. That is an impressive bout of drilling here. Probably one of the most, if not the most, being drilled in Canada. Happy to welcome in President and CEO, Mr. Brock Kulderjohn. Brock, good to see you. Yeah, great to see you. Thanks, Trevor. I appreciate you having me on your network. 110 ,000 meters? It's a big program. Wow. Yeah. Amazing. So we're about 90 plus percent completed on that 110 ,000 meters. So we expect to be finished by almost a month then.

0:59But that said, we still have a significant amount of holes to release to the market. We've completed about 280 holes and still drilling. So I think we'll add probably just short of 300 holes for the program. And we've announced about 146 holes to date. So even though we're getting close to wrap up the program, we're only about halfway there in terms of reporting results. So investors and people potentially interested in the story, fear not, we got a significant amount of news coming your way for the next coming months.

1:34Brock Colterjohn: Yeah, yeah. OK, so what else do you do for the next couple of months rather than just sit and wait? Do you think you'll go about doing more drilling in 2027? No, absolutely. So we'll take a our team is definitely gassed after a big program like that. So we'll take a normally we take about a two week break over Christmas. So we'll extend that a bit probably for a month or so, get back going in January. We'll look to do a large drill program next year. We're looking forward to that. Somewhere in that 70 ,000 to 100 ,000 meter range should be something like that. Start with three rigs and probably scale up additional.

2:12So the key focus will be continuing to extend the Argus Gold system that we've now defined over about 2.6 kilometers of strike length across several zones. So that would be a key focus. But, you know, we still have this fabulous land position that we're just scratching the surface on. So, you know, we're going to take the downtime to really chew through the data and build up, you know, how we want to attack this for 2027. But the key thing is continue to expand and de-risk Argus, but also introduce new areas of mineralization to the property and, you know, really demonstrate the significant gold endowment on this property.

2:48Brock Colterjohn: Okay, so Argus trend, as you mentioned, two and a half, 2.6 kilometers long, 700 meters deep. Is this a bulk open pit story or an underground story or both? How are you kind of envisioning this to play out? Yeah, I mean, it's obviously still early days, but the fact that the mineralization starts at surface, we're getting, you know, we have some trenches where, you know, we're getting tens of meters of over two grams, up to 20 and a half grams sitting on surface in addition to some drilling right by it you know 50 plus meters of almost two grams uh you know just right out of the drill color so the way you envision it uh given the scale and the size of it would be a potential open pit that we also have these higher grade sub intervals these really nice tens of meters of four or five grams uh so at some point you know two three hundred meters down from surface we would probably transition to an underground where you can chase these high grade plunges down and you know i should note too is you know there's four producing mines in in timmons right now um there's one that is the standout hoyle pond that's you know producing about 10 11 grams is the head grade but the other three are in the two to three gram range and and you know a couple of them are down over you know one and a half kilometers deep so you know two grams underground works all day long and in this camp which is amazing to think about so and we've only as you mentioned um we tested one area down to 700 meters so you know we got a lot of room to grow this vertically as well.

4:12Brock Colterjohn: What's the game plan with Argus or the company in general? Is this something you want to continue to build to potentially sell? Are you looking long term as you know go through the hoops and put something that potentially you could build yourself? How are you thinking long term here? It's a great question. You know you always have to have an exit strategy and a plan for the company but you know we're expeditions at heart. You know we saw an opportunity in Timmins where there was a fabulous land area with great geology and structures, but it was highly fragmented in terms of claims. So it was a people problem.

4:44And we spent the last six years doing 40 plus deals to reassemble this land, to assemble this land position to what it is today. So that's where we create value is, see an opportunity, executing on it, apply modern exploration, create the value through a discovery, rapidly advance it, build as many ounces. And look, there's multiple players who are the producers in the camp. So I think that's a natural, you know, we made the first discovery in about 20 years in Timmins. So, you know, it's a prolific, long, you know, it's been 100 years of production in this camp, 76 million ounces, but no one's discovered anything of significance in the last 20 years.

5:22So, you know, the timing is right where you can see what potential exit strategy we have. But also we are starting to demonstrate skill, and you combine with the fact that we have 450 square kilometers in this world-class gold camp, you know, that's starting to be, you know, it's big enough that there could be actually a potential for a new camp incumbent to come in as well. So, you know, that's part of the strategy is, you know, rapidly, you know, show the scale potential of this property where even a new camp incumbent could see the scale and justify, you know, buying us.

5:53Brock Colterjohn: Okay. Let's talk about some of the drill results of wide range. You've had 166 meters of 0.7 grams per ton. you've also had narrow like 2.3 meters of 18.8 grams per ton. Does the block, how complex is this system? You know, you start seeing variable widths and intervals and grades. How complex is Argus right now and are you able to put a simplistic model on this? Yeah, so it's those varying grades are all in the same host rock and basically the The difference is between the structures that bring in the fluids and how large they are and how much fluids can come through and the associated hydrothermal alterations.

6:37So strong silica, strong alibi with a good amount of sulphide percentage, sulphide mineralization in the host rock. When you see all those, you know it's going to run really good grades. So that can be a little bit narrower or you get these bigger structures like Argus North There's a really nice structure where it's a high grade plunging chute where it's about 50 to 60 meters true thickness of running multiple grams. That's a really robust one. And we're starting to find more along strike. And so some of those grades that you mentioned are areas well outside of the Argus North and Main along the same host rock.

7:18That's just basically from first pass drilling. So the fact that our first drill campaign in this area is yielding those type of results is really exciting. And we're starting to see the same type of structure, same alteration, mineralization. But I think as we further drill off these new areas, we can potentially get some additional similar results that we see back at the Argus area as well.

7:44Brock Colterjohn: What do you think in the timeline of putting a resource on this and where would that cutoff be with drilling? Yeah, that's another great question. We are rapidly advancing. This has been a new discovery, right? So we've been expansionary focused. We keep testing the limits of the system and then we drilled a lot and we've learned a lot and now we want to apply it across this eight kilometers of strike length along the pipe stone with this favorable geology that was previously undrilled. So, you know, we have to, in order to get a resource, we have to get back there and start doing a little bit of infill, upgrading it.

8:19So, you know, in 12 months time or so, you know, we can provide a really robust native resource. 12 months? You know, I don't want to put a number on it, but, you know, I think we need some additional drilling. And then you've got to cut it, log it, assay it, you know, model it, all that type of thing. So, you know, give me a buffer here if we need to do something like that. But for us, if we do put something out, it's very much a snapshot in time because, like I said, we're just scratching the surface on this property. So I think to be fully transparent is when is the appropriate time to put out a resource, right?

8:57Because when we keep testing the limits, I think it's always premature to put out a resource. And yeah, it's nice to put a baseline valuation in terms of ounces that people can see and you can start to put metrics out. but I think ultimately we keep expanding so maybe the time labs keep being pushed out so I would note too that this is very much in the early days of discovery and we learned so much the last 12 months and I can't wait to be talking to you in the months to come about how much more we're learning about and there could be something entirely different you know

9:33Brock Colterjohn: listen I think in this sector we have seen maiden resource estimates being published using a fraction of the meterage that you have drilled, even less so on the amount of meters that you are planning on drilling in addition in 2027, right? So obviously when that resource does comes out and you look at, you know, how many ounces per meter that you've drilled, that's going to be a very well-defined resource. And I think that's, And the kudos to you guys for doing that because I think this sector is really stricken with, you know, we'll put 20 ,000 meters in and come out with a resource because we need to push it along as quickly to the market as we can.

10:18Brock Colterjohn: But that resource really doesn't tell the complete story. It's too early. So the more meters you can drill, obviously, the better to find that resource is, right? Well, absolutely. And, you know, there's two points here. just to also mention something about the resource is we put all our information online. So there's an Excel sheet where you can download all our significant intervals, the dips, the aziz, the drill caller locations. So, you know, you can follow along. We also have a 3D viewer online where you can actually see your drill results in three dimensions. You can cut your own cross sections.

10:51You can filter out by year, grand meter. You can see the goal histogram. So, you know, you can get a pretty good sense of what we're doing as well. So I don't think necessary, you know, a resource is always needed when you provide all the data online for people to not have a pretty good understanding what you're doing. But the second part of the.

11:11Brock Colterjohn: Well, just more of a well-defined resource, right? The more meters you can drill, the better. Yeah. And just on that point, too, you know, we are located in the Abitibi. you know the ABTB is a orgenic gold systems require a lot of drilling as well you know that's something that you definitely need to highlight as well it's just the style the the gold deposit style you know requires quite a bit of drilling you know they good good spacing in order to capture it appropriately that type of geological model right yeah okay I would quickly I want to ask you about the flipper zone this is three kilometers south of Argus What is Flipper?

11:50It's a great question. So before getting into Flipper, I just remind investors here about the two differences. So Argus is located in a volcanic rock and we got eight kilometers of potential along there. So that's what we're looking at. But Flipper is a brand new area. It's three kilometers south of Argus and it's located in the porcupine sediments. And sediments for a very long time in the camp always thought to be very un-perspective. Volcanic rocks are the good perspective. That's what's going to hold the best gold deposits. Don't even bother with the sediments. And a lot of companies for decades in the camp would say the moment you hit sediments, shut down holes.

12:30But we've recently seen a lot of exploration success in the Abitibi in sediments. And so we saw this historic target called the Flipper Zone, like I said, three kilometers south of Argus. And it's exclusively in the sediments. And we got intrigued by it because we were starting to see this importance of a big structure that we call the Argus Fault. It's northeast training. So it goes right through that and towards McEwen Mining's Black Fox Complex. So there was a couple of holes drilled in 1996. And that highlighted there's a bulk tonnage discovery there. So, you know, we went there, we tested it and we expanded it.

13:11We're getting things like 47 meters or 0.7 grams. It's actually starting at surface. It validates that the sediments are a good host of mineralization. But we recently just acquired a couple of patent claims in this area between Argus and Flipper. So now we own the whole area 100 % for the first time in the area's history. And there's the structures that go through an area where there's porphyry intrusions coming into the seds. And that's very interesting with the structure. You can see it in the mag. So that's a great target and we're actually just starting our first hole in that area and it's never been drilled before.

13:49And so we get gold in the footwall area at Argus West, we have gold in three kilometers to the south at Flipper. And then right in that gap was those patent claims that now have been consolidated and they've never been drilled. So can we connect the dots here and ultimately define this new corridor? So this is a completely new area. It's a new frontier for us that not we just have 8 kilometers of strike potential of expanding Argus, but now we have 3 kilometers, but ultimately 16 kilometers of this new emerging structure that we're really excited about.

14:23Brock Colterjohn: That's very cool. Tell the complete picture, you know, see what happens. That's going to be really exciting. Fingers crossed. It's expiration, but it's really, really awesome. Okay. Last we checked, you had$9 million Canadian in the bank. Does that still hold? Yeah, that was out of mid-October, so we're probably closer to six, seven right now. Okay. Well, I mean, you know where I'm going with this question, but you're running a big drill program now, another one in 2027. You're going to have to go to the market and raise some capital, I would assume. Yeah, 2027 to do the scale of that, you know, 70 ,000 meters is about$15 million.

15:01So, you know, we will end the year kind of three, four million dollars. So we can certainly start the program. Like I said, half of our holes are going to come to the market. So we'll have a significant amount of news flow coming your way. And we'll be selective. We certainly can start drilling. We can start at a smaller scale. We have some optionality how we want to fund 2027. But certainly, back's not in a corner. And we've got a lot of news coming your way. And we're really excited. Fortunately, we have very supportive shareholders and strategic investment with Goldfields and other gold producers.

15:35you know, having those type of partners as well. They see our and share our vision about creating gold, you know, expanding this gold discovery and testing new areas on this greater land position.

15:46Brock Colterjohn: Yeah, yeah. So, but you're almost at a$132 million market cap, which is like shocking to me. It is shocking. I mean, it's been one of the best exploration stories of the last year and a half, I think, you know, to look at that market cap, it's just it's really appealing, I would say, if you if you're playing in this space. But obviously, that's a little higher than you were before because you had such great success. So whatever financing comes out of the pipeline actually will be pretty beneficial. We'll be able to raise a lot of good cash and as little dilution as you possibly can, even at those price levels.

16:26Yeah, no, absolutely. you know, checking my CEO ego and putting my old analyst cap back on. I think we are trading at a very attractive valuation, especially for investors looking at Onyx for the first time. We got, like I said, a significant amount of news flow coming, but also, you know, just looking at the scarcity value of greenfield discoveries in Canada. You know, like the last, the other great exploration discovery story was, you know, Snowline made a world-class discovery in Yukon. And, They're a$3.5 billion company, and there's not many other players, exploration companies that have made a bona fide greenfield discovery in a world-class camp.

17:06So I think this is hopefully the bottom here. With better markets and with some positive results, we can really drive higher here. It's a very attractive time to be looking at Onyx.

17:17Brock Colterjohn: What about the optionality with your Yukon properties? Could you monetize them? Are you interested? We love our properties in Yukon. They are permitted, King Tut is permitted for 5 ,000 metres. We elected not to do drill this year because of a capital allocation decision where 5 ,000 metres, the equivalent cost of that is about 26 ,000-27 ,000 metres in Timmins. We really focus on de-risking and expanding Monroe Creases, but that permits are still valid until well into next year. With a bigger treasury, I would love to get back there and drill. We, you know, in 2023, we've left a little bit of a cliffhanger where, you know, all our holes hit gold.

18:00And we show that the footprint is actually much bigger than we originally thought at the beginning of the season. And we haven't been able to get back there since. So I'm dying to get back up there. But, you know, there's a staking more turning up there, right? So we're the only other gold company right beside Snowline and Fireweed. So these properties are, and they're 227 square kilometers. These are district-scale strategic land positions in the heart of this emerging metals camp. So they're certainly, they garner interest from the outside parties as well. Okay.

18:29Brock Colterjohn: All right. Thanks so much. Good to see you. Spend some time with you this week. Onyx Gold does trade on the venture with ONYX and on the OTCQX with ONXGF. Lots of drill results coming down the pipeline and one to watch as we close out 2026. Brock, have a good rest of your week. Yeah, thanks, Robert. Appreciate it.