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Project Overview

Buchans Base Metals Project

Buchans controls mineral rights within the world-renowned Buchans Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (“VMS”) mining camp where former operators, ASARCO, operated a high-grade base metal mining complex recognized internationally as one of the world’s highest grade base metal VMS mines. ASARCO produced more than 16.2 million tonnes of ore from five separate deposits with a combined average grade of 14.51% Zn, 7.65% Pb, 1.33% Cu, 126 g/t Ag, and 1.37g/t Au before ore exhaustion and mine closure in 1984.

The Company’s 100% owned Buchans property totaling more than 73.5 km² (7,350 hectares) and covers all of the Buchans Camp’s past producing orebodies and key undeveloped prospects.

Among the Company’s achievements at Buchans has been its identification of the Lundberg deposit, a large lower grade resource of near-surface mineralization located immediately beneath workings of the previously mined high-grade Lucky Strike massive sulphide orebody. Lundberg has n-pit Indicated Mineral Resources of 16,790,000 tonnes grading 1.53% Zn, 0.64% Pb, 0.42% Cu, 5.69 g/t Ag and 0.07 g/t Au (3.38% Zn Eq) and In-pit Inferred Mineral Resources of 380,000 tonnes grading 2.03% Zn, 1.01% Pb, 0.36% Cu, 22.35 g/t Ag and 0.31 g/t Au (4.46% Zn Eq).

In 2014 the Company initiated a comprehensive and ongoing relogging program, reviewing archived drill core from its Buchans project as a means of identifying and evaluating additional exploration target areas for the discovery of new high-grade Buchans orebodies. This work has identified multiple target areas warranting further exploration including the Middle Branch prospect located 3.5 km northeast of the Lundberg deposit where potential exists for discovery of new large Buchans orebodies; and the Two-Level (Lucky Strike) mine area located immediately north of the Lundberg deposit.

Buchans entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Boliden Mineral AB under which Boliden evaluated the Company’s Buchans property for possible future investment and participation.

Under the Collaboration Agreement Boliden invested approximately $1.1 million in the Buchans project and undertook considerable technical reviews and the evaluation period was extended to allow sufficient time to negotiate terms of the option and joint venture agreements.

While agreement was reached on the terms of the option and earn-in agreements, Buchans and Boliden were unable to reach agreement on the joint venture agreement that would have formed when Boliden would have earned its interest. Accordingly, the Collaboration Agreement was terminated and Boliden retains no interest in the property.

As a result of the collaboration with Boliden, advances were made at the Buchans VMS project on several fronts. Technical work on the Buchans Project was primarily focused on investigations of the project’s volcanic stratigraphy and included reprocessing and modeling of historic geophysical data and various geological investigations including creation of a digital 3D geological model.

Buchans is confident that its Buchans property holds potential for discovery of new VMS deposits comparable to historically mined orebodies within the current property.

Other Central Newfoundland VMS Projects in Tulks Belt

Elsewhere in central Newfoundland, the Company owns mineral rights to several projects, including three additional VMS deposits with mineral resource estimates compliant with National Instrument 43-101, including the Daniels Pond, Bobbys Pond, and Tulks Hill base metal deposits. Additional work was undertaken within the Tulks North project that hosts the Daniels and Bobbys deposits in 2019 and additional work that had been considered for 2020 has been postponed as a result of challenging conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exploring for Gold in Newfoundland and Labrador

Buchans recently entered into new joint ventures to explore for gold on three of its properties located within the central Newfoundland gold belt and field exploration programs are underway on all JV properties. These joint ventures are:

• the Long Range Gold JV with Benton Resources Inc.
• the Tulks South Gold JV with Quadro Resources Ltd., and
• the Lake Douglas-South Tally Gold JV with C2C Gold Corp.

In addition, Buchans holds 100% interest in three gold properties known as the Exploits Properties, that total 825 ha and are located within and adjacent to New Found Gold Corp.’s Queensway project in central Newfoundland.  Included within Buchans’ Exploits Properties are 4 claims (100 ha) internal to New Found Gold’s Queensway property, located approximately 30 km southwest of New Found Gold’s Keats and Lotto gold discoveries.

Buchans also holds a 100% interest in its Tasiuyak gold property in Labrador, located 10 km south of Vale’s Voisey’s Bay nickel-copper-cobalt mine.

Exploring for Nickel-Copper-Cobalt in Labrador

Buchans has staked several properties in Labrador considered prospective for Voisey’s Bay-style nickel-copper-cobalt deposits, including 38 claims (9.5 km²) covering  troctolitic gabbros of the Pants Lake Intrusive Suite at South Voisey’s Bay, and five claims (1.25 km²) known as the Luk project, covering mineralized troctolite at Voisey’s Bay itself. 

South Voisey’s Bay Project

Previous explorers identified several showings and prospects within Buchans’ property, including drilled intercepts of 1.1 m of 11.9% Ni, 9.6% Cu, and 0.43% Co, 0.65 m of 1.93% Ni, 1.07% Cu and 0.26% Co, and 15.7 m averaging 1.13% Ni, 0.78% Cu, 0.20% Co drilled in the late 1990s.

Luk Project

Buchans acquired by staking five claims (1.25 km²) located 8 km southwest of Vale’s Voisey’s Bay nickel-copper-cobalt mine in northern Labrador which is reported to cover prospective troctolitic rocks of the same intrusive body that hosts the Voisey’s Bay mine. Buchans’ property is surrounded by mineral claims that comprise Vale’s Voisey’s Bay mine property  and Buchans plans to review available historic data to determine a strategy to advance this property.

Qualified Person

P. Moore (M.Sc., P.Geo.) Vice President Exploration of Buchans Resourcres Limited is the Qualified Person for the Company as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has approved this technical disclosure.

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