On My Radar: Geologica Resources
A CEO friend of mine suggested I take a look at Geologica Resources (GRCM.C). I had never heard of the company but there are lots of juniors I’ve never heard of. So I decided to take a first pass at due diligence. Geologica is trading at $0.02 so taking an position is really about couch change. Hidden gem? Lets take a look.
Decent looking website https://geologicaresource.com/. A well-designed and, most of all, functional website is a baseline with juniors. It does not have to cost a bomb and not having one is a tell.
The functionality on the website let me see that the company has put out five press releases so far this year, all substantive with actual, material, facts disclosed. The company’s properties are all in Northern and Central British Columbia where winter tends to slow down the flow of news. The projects are all very early stage exploration plays in areas where economic mineralization has been found and mined by other companies.
The two Atlin properties, Lincoln Creek and Titan are interesting. Lincoln Creek is a gold play with contiguous claims along a largely unexplored watershed. Gold has been found historically going back to 1912. Some exploration work has been done and a tentative geological hypothesis has been formed but largely untested.
There appear to be extensive placer gold showings along the creek with the grade increasing as you reach the headwaters. This suggests “The gold in Lincoln Creek likely originated from primary bedrock sources in close proximity.” As a geo friend told me years ago, placer showings are a prime indicator of hard rock gold.
Lincoln Creek is going to take a fairly extensive exploration program to reach any sort of Mineral Resource Estimate. However, as CEO, Doug Unwin put it in a press release, “In an area where most creeks have been continuously mined for over a century, Lincoln Creek represents a rare opportunity – an untapped drainage in the prolific Atlin Gold Camp with demonstrated gold potential. This strategic staking enhances our existing mineral claims and gives us exposure to potential gold recovery from placer deposits in addition to our hard rock targets.”
Gold recovery from placer deposits is a great idea. It is, however, often a capital intensive idea in relatively remote areas with significant overburden. I put Lincoln Creek in the “promising” category with the caveat that one bonanza grade sample has been known to move share prices upwards fast.
Against that is the fact that the Lincoln Creek project has minimal infrastructure: an “exploration road”, no power and rather nasty terrain. Plus, the exploration season is short. A few months at best. Advancing Lincoln Creek will take a while.
The Titan Project is equally remote but, from where I sit, likely a nearer-term bet. It is a polymetalic property with high gold values in the limited sampling done so far. And antimony (which is having a moment) as well as tellurium.
What strikes me as encouraging about the Titan Project is that it has a “high-grade polymetallic vein measuring 1-1.5 meters wide. This vein has been observed at three distinct locations along the surface and has been traced for 10-20 meters at each exposure.” These are surface showings across a two-kilometer horizon.
The question, of course, is how deep the vein runs. A question which could be answered with a trenching and short hole drill program. There is also the question of whether the polymetallic vein which is exposed is the only vein on the property. There is a lot of geology to be done. (Some of which has been done. “Airborne magnetic and EM surveys have traced anomalies extending from the Buchans Creek showing for 2 kilometers south-southeast.” Irritatingly, there is a reference to these surveys on the website but no link to the surveys themselves. Something to run down.)
A bit of drilling, a bit of trenching, and Geologica could well have enough information to put together a 43-101 compliant Mineral Resource estimate for the polymetalic vein. Given the grades so far, it might be enough to be a potential mine. For the moment, the company is,
“analyzing more than 1,000 soil samples and 300 rock samples from Titan, as well as historical Skytem, airborne magnetic and EM survey data, to hone its exploration plans for a 2 km anomaly extending from Buchans Creek to the historical Rupert I showing, which yielded grab samples up to 4.1 g/t gold, 237.6 g/t silver, 11.8 per cent lead and 0.60 per cent zinc. At the Hook discovery rock samples assayed up to 62 g/t gold.
Things could move quite quickly at Titan.
Which brought me to Geologica’s flagship project, Topley in the Babine Porphyry Belt. This is not at all a remote project. It is in Central BC, not far from either Smithers or Burns Lake. There is year round road access making exploration relatively easy.
This is copper porphyry country with two past producing mines, the Bell and Granisle nearby. But to really get the flavour of Topley’s potential it is well worth visiting American Eagle’s website and taking a look at their NAK project within the Stikine Island Arc Terrane and associated with the Babine Intrusive Suite. American Eagle has attracted a 19.9% investment from Teck Resources and is well on its way to outlining a copper porphyry.
In 2022, American Eagle (AE.V) was trading at $0.025. It drilled its first holes at NAK and hit 125 m of 1.02% Copper Equivalent from surface. Shares popped to $0.28 and American Eagle has never looked back.
Is Topley NAK in embryo? Simple answer, maybe. There has simply not been enough work done on the property to come to any sort of conclusion. Geologica has done soil sampling and collected samples on the property. It has found a promising outcrop with samples grading 0.40 to 0.60% copper. It is aware of 1970 and 1971 IP and geochemical surveys which returned elevated levels of copper and anomalies on all lines of the surveys.
Realistically, Geologica is roughly where American Eagle was at the beginning of the 2022 drilling season when its shares were trading $0.02-0.035. Will lightening strike twice? A lot will depend on whether Geologica drills this season.
The pleasures of the junior exploration game lie in the huge upsides if a company actually finds a significant deposit. I am going to phone the CEO and ask about drilling, but I am looking under the couch cushions to buy a starter position.
(Disclaimer: I do not presently hold shares in Geologica. That may change at any time. This is not investment advice. Do your own due diligence. Call the CEO.)
I’ve called and email Doug from Geologica and have had ZERO response from him.
thanks for the write up, appreciated.