Mining in Ontario is big business. In 2021, Ontario’s mining industry produced roughly C$11.1 billion worth of minerals, accounting for 20 percent of Canada’s total production value. The importance of the mining industry has helped create a mining-friendly jurisdiction that understands the value of capitalizing on its natural resources. That’s why the Fraser Institute has ranked Ontario among the top 15 jurisdictions worldwide for investment attractiveness.
Additionally, the Canadian government is making a significant push to ramp up the production of critical minerals, including copper, lithium and aluminum. This push has resulted in more than 31 critical mineral projects in advanced exploration stages in Ontario,e paving the way for the development of a domestic supply chain for the country.
Heritage Mining (CSE:HML) is an exploration and development mining company with district-scale assets targeting gold and copper mineralizations within Ontario. The company’s flagship Drayton-Black Lake project is a strategically assembled district-scale project with encouraging bulk samples, high-grade gold intercepts and robust existing infrastructure. An experienced management team leads Heritage Mining with more than 100 years of combined experience working within the natural resources sector.
The Drayton-Black Lake project is a district-scale asset with a rich history, but a single company has never operated the entire area. Instead, it was split up among different operators and has never received systematic exploration to determine its mineralizations’ actual width and depth.
As a result, Heritage Mining is launching the first systematic exploration program that will identify promising deposits throughout the entire area of this historic region from a low-grade, high-tonnage perspective.
The company entered a definitive asset purchase agreement with Bounty Gold Corp. to acquire 50 mining claims in the Split Lake zone adjacent to Heritage’s flagship Drayton-Black Lake project. Heritage will acquire a 100 percent interest in the Split Lake property in exchange for issuing Bounty 100,000 common shares.
“Relative to other projects in the area, we are very close to infrastructure. There is a paved highway through the property, all-weather logging roads, and well-maintained ATV roads. So it’s quite a bit different than other projects in Northern Ontario: there are no ice roads and we don’t have to fly in to do work,” CEO Peter Schloo stated in an interview.
The company also operates the Contact Bay project containing high-grade copper-nickel mineralizations. The 4,700-hectare land package is within an active mining area and has known gold, nickel and platinum-palladium mineralizations. While the Drayton-Black Lake project is the main focus, Contact Bay will expose the company to critical minerals.
Heritage Mining’s management team has a proven track record in the mining industry and has overseen transactions exceeding C$15 billion. In addition, the team has experience in corporate finance, administration and geology.
The 14,229-hectare project has undergone significant historical exploration, including more than 176 holes drilled, with high-grade gold and copper discoveries. The project is located in a mature mining district in Ontario, a jurisdiction known for its low geopolitical risk and mining-friendly government.
The Alcona Area has been approved for Phase II Drill Program to define its deposit potential.
The project covers 4,700 hectares and contains multiple high-grade copper-nickel and gold occurrences. Contact Bay is also located in Ontario andt is in the exploration phase, with targets identified for exploratory drilling.
Geophysical interpretation of the Contact Bay area along with findings from the 2023 prospecting program, suggest geological similarities to other Archean nickell-copper-PGE occurrences and deposits.
Peter Schloo holds the CPA, CA and CFA designations with over eight years of progressive experience in capital markets, operations and assurance. He has held senior executive and director positions in a number of private companies, a majority in the precious metals sector including CFO of Spirit Banner Capital and VP of corporate development and interim CFO for Ion Energy. Schloo is also currently a director of Pacific Empire Minerals. (PEMC). His past successes include over C$80 million in associated capital raising opportunities involving public and private companies.
Patrick Mohan is a 35-year investor relations veteran and is the founder, president and chief executive officer of Mohan Group. Mohan is also on the board of Metals Creek Resources Corp. Previously, he occupied the position of president, CEO, director and head of investor relations at Kitrinor Metals. Mohan’s past successes include the development of the Cote Gold Project and the sale of Trelawney Mining & Exploration to IAMGOLD for C$585 million (US$595 million) in cash In 2012.
Wray Carvelas has provided 25 years of visionary leadership, developing and implementing ambitious strategic plans. As a senior executive at DRA Global he was responsible for the growth and development of the business in both North and South America. The mandate was to grow business in the Americas, both organically and inorganically without any significant capital base. Carvelas also held positions at KBR, ELB, and De Beers, involving management of development, production, and metallurgical (R&D and capital management) responsibilities.
Thomas Reid has a 30 year career with Sun Life Financial as CFO Canada and head of corporate development. Since joining Sun Life Financial in 1994, Reid has held increasingly senior positions throughout Sun Life in finance, corporate development, public relations and investor relations. From 2009 to 2020, Reid led the group retirement services business at Sun Life, growing the assets under management from $30 billion to $130 billion. For the last four years, Reid was responsible for the strategy and growth team for Sun Life in Canada, where his team led strategic planning for the Canadian businesses and explored how Sun Life could invest in new businesses to accelerate the company’s growth in Canada. Reid also holds the CPA and CA designations.
Rachel Chae, with over eight years of experience, has served as CFO for various publicly traded companies, including several Canadian junior mineral exploration companies. She holds the chartered professional accountant designation working at Cross Davis & Company LLP, a chartered professional accountant firm providing accounting services to publicly listed entities, primarily in the mining sector.
Patrick Sullivan is a mining, M&A and securities lawyer at a national law firm with a decade of experience in the junior mineral exploration sector. He has acted on several significant global mining transactions including South32 Limited’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Arizona Mining, Washington Companies’ $1.2 billion acquisition of Dominion Diamond, and Hudbay Minerals’ $555 million acquisition of Augusta Resource Corporation. Sullivan also has significant experience advising on mineral stream and royalty finance transactions.
Rick Horne has over 40 years of experience as an economic geologist. His experience includes senior roles with Acadian Mining (Atlantic Gold) as chief geologist and with Dufferin Gold Mine (Resource Capital Gold) as chief geologist and mine manager. Horne is an expert in lode gold systems, structural geology and geological mapping spending 22 years with NS Energy and Mines focussing on Bedrock mapping.
Mitchel Lavery has over 45 years’ experience in the exploration and development of mining projects with several junior and major mining companies. Lavery was instrumental in the discovery of the Bell Creek Gold Mine in Timmins, ON; the development and operation of the Joubie Gold Mine, Val-d’Or, QC; and the acquisition and development of the Quebec Lithium property, Lacorne, QC. He is the president and a director of Seahawk Gold. and is a qualified person under NI-43-101 regulations.