North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Kenorland Minerals Ltd., which has been exploring the Tanacross porphyry copper-gold project in eastern Alaska as a private company for several years, is now a publicly listed company with a strong treasury and extensive portfolio of mineral exploration projects in Quebec and Alaska.

"We are extremely excited to begin this next chapter of Kenorland Minerals," said Kenorland Minerals President and CEO Zach Flood. "The company has grown significantly since our inception in 2016 and we look forward to continuing that progress as we enter the public markets."

As a privately held project-generating explorer, Kenorland entered into an agreement with Freeport-McMoRan to further investigate the potential at Tanacross, a more than 100,000-acre property that lies alongside the Yukon border about 50 miles northeast of Tok.

In 2018, Flood and his team at Kenorland created Northway Resources Corp. to explore the Healy gold project in Alaska's Goodpaster Mining District. Picking up a second Alaska gold project – Napoleon in the Fortymile District – Northway went public with a TSX Venture Exchange listing in 2019.

In a "reverse takeover", Northway served as the vehicle for Kenorland to go public. This transaction, which was finalized on Jan. 4, resulted in Kenorland being listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol KLD. In conjunction with this transaction, Kenorland raised C$10 million through a brokered subscription receipt financing. Flood and Kenorland Minerals Vice President of Exploration Francis MacDonald were significant participants in the financing. As a result, Flood owns roughly 11.2% of the outstanding Kenorland shares on a partially diluted basis and MacDonald owns approximately 10.1% of the outstanding Kenorland shares on a partially diluted basis.

Haywood Securities Chairman John Tognetti was also a major participant in the financing and now directly and indirectly owns 24.32% of the outstanding Kenorland shares on a partially diluted basis.

With a full treasury and public listing, Kenorland's mission is to become a leading mineral exploration company in North America and beyond.

The company holds more than 400,000 hectares (988,000 acres) of mineral tenure within the Frotet Evans and Abitibi Greenstone Belts in Quebec and the Tintina Gold Belt in Alaska.

The company looks forward to a very active year of exploration in 2021, with plans to advance drilling on numerous projects across the portfolio in both Quebec and Alaska.

Kenorland's 2021 exploration will begin with a 9,000-meter drill program slated to begin in March that will follow up on a significant 2020 gold discovery made at the Regnault target on the Frotet project in Quebec.

Currently 65% owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining Canada Ltd. and 35% by Kenorland, Frotet covers 39,365 hectares (97,232 acres) of the Frotet Evans greenstone belt, which hosts the past-producing Troilus gold copper mine. Two years of property-wide systematic till sampling led to an initial drill program in 2020 that resulted in the grassroots discovery at Regnault.

In June, Kenorland plans to begin drilling to test a newly recognized large-scale gold system on its Healy project in Alaska. Detailed geochemical and geophysical surveys carried out in 2020 aided in the definition of multiple drill targets which will be tested in 2021 during the project's initial diamond drill program.

While drilling Healy, field work will prepare Tanacross for a drill program slated to run from August through September.

"Our dedicated team has done an incredible job of seeking out and advancing new exploration opportunities and the recent grassroots gold discovery we made in Quebec is a testament to this," said Flood.

In addition to its three flagship properties, Kenorland's portfolio includes:

• Napoleon – An early staged exploration project near the town of Chicken, Alaska that encompasses a high-grade quartz vein lode gold system believed to be the hardrock source of much of the more than half-a-million ounces of placer gold mined from streams in the Fortymile District.

• Chicobi – Another Quebec gold property held under an earn-in to joint venture agreement with Sumitomo Metal Mining Canada, Chicobi covers a deformation zone in the central portion of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Quebec. In January, Kenorland and SMMCL will begin the third phase of sonic drill-for-till geochemical sampling consisting of 70 infill sonic drill holes to collect glacial till samples beneath glaciolacustrine (lake) sediments.

• Chebistuan – Held under an exploration agreement and venture option with Newmont Corp., Chebistuan covers a major deformation zone in the northern Abitibi Greenstone belt. The project saw the completion of a property-wide geochemical survey in fall of 2020. Kenorland is evaluating results for follow-up surface work anticipated to be carried out in summer 2021.

• Hunter – A gold project in the southern Abitibi Greenstone belt. The company is planning to carry out a property-wide VTEM geophysical survey and targeted till geochemical sampling program early this year.

Kenorland Minerals Ltd.

• O'Sullivan – Lying adjacent to Cartier Resources' Benoist gold-copper-silver project in the Abitibi Greenstone belt, O'Sullivan was the target of a successful property-wide till sampling program carried out last fall. Kenorland is evaluating the geochemical results and looks forward to further surface work in summer 2021 to advance the project towards initial drill testing.

"With a vast portfolio of mineral tenure in some of the most well-endowed and politically stable jurisdictions in North America, along with the support from our industry partners and incredible shareholders, we are well-positioned for further discovery and growth into the future," said Flood.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (907) 726-1095
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