VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 9, 2021 /CNW/ - First Mining Gold Corp.
("First Mining" or the "Company") (TSX: FF) (OTCQX: FFMGF)
(FRANKFURT: FMG) is pleased to announce that the Company has
entered into an earn-in agreement with ALX Resources Corp. ("ALX")
pursuant to which First Mining, through its wholly-owned subsidiary
Gold Canyon Resources Inc. ("Gold Canyon"), may earn, over the
course of two stages and over a period of five years, up to a 100%
interest in ALX's Vixen North, Vixen South and Vixen West
properties (the "Vixen Properties") located near First Mining's
Springpole Gold Project in northwestern Ontario. The Vixen
Properties are comprised of 521 single cell mining claims covering
approximately 10,600 hectares.
In addition to entering into the earn-in agreement with ALX to
earn into the Vixen Properties, First Mining has acquired
additional claims covering approximately 6,000 hectares within the
Birch-Uchi Greenstone Belt ("New Claims"), including the
acquisition of the past-producing, high-grade Sol d'Or mine located
adjacent to the Swain Lake Property, on which First Mining has a
three-year option agreement with Whitefish Exploration Inc.
With the addition of the Vixen Properties and the New Claims, First
Mining now controls over 66,000 hectares in the Birch-Uchi
Greenstone Belt and is the largest single claim holder in the
region.
"First Mining's recent land tenure consolidation in the
Birch-Uchi Greenstone Belt is another major development for our
Company and the region," stated Dan
Wilton, CEO of First Mining. "Since the beginning of the
year, First Mining has significantly increased its land package
around Springpole and believe the Birch-Uchi is the one of the most
under-explored and highly prospective gold belts in Canada, with district-scale potential.
The region hosts several past-producing mines including our newly
acquired Sol d'Or mine where there has been demonstrated
historical, high-grade exploration potential. First Mining
intends to undertake a comprehensive regional exploration program
over the next twelve months for the first time since our
acquisition of Springpole in 2015 and will be incorporating these
newly acquired and optioned claims into the program. First
Mining remains focused on advancing and permitting our flagship
Springpole Gold Project which hosts the largest known gold deposit
in the district and will be a critical strategic asset if more gold
resources are found in the region."
ALX Transaction
First Mining will have the option to earn an initial 70%
interest in the Vixen Properties by making cash payments totaling
$550,000, and share payments totaling
$400,000, to ALX, and by incurring at
least $500,000 worth of expenditures
on the Vixen Properties during the first three years of the earn-in
term. Upon completing the first stage of the earn-in, First Mining
will hold, through Gold Canyon, a 70% interest in the Vixen
Properties, and will have an additional period of two years within
which to acquire the remaining 30% of the Vixen Properties by
paying $500,000 to ALX and issuing
$500,000 worth of First Mining shares
to ALX. In the event the second stage of the earn-in is not
completed, ALX and Gold Canyon will enter into a joint venture
agreement with respect to the Vixen Properties.
Birch-Uchi Greenstone Belt
The Birch-Uchi Greenstone Belt is one of several greenstone
belts in the Uchi Subprovince of the Western Superior Province
of the Canadian Shield. From west to east these are the Rice
Lake greenstone belt in Manitoba,
and the Red Lake, Birch-Uchi,
Meen-Dempster, Pickle Lake, Lake
St. Joseph and Miminiska-Fort Hope greenstone belts in Ontario. Gold exploration in the Birch-Uchi
greenstone belt started after the discovery of Red Lake in 1925 and was followed by a peak of
activities in the late 1920s and 1930s. Gold deposits were
discovered and put into production including the Uchi, Bobjo,
Bathurst, Argosy, Jackson-Manion,
Hudson-Patricia, McIntyre, Sol d'Or and Kostynuk Brothers gold
mines. Historical gold production in the Birch-Uchi is
estimated at approximately 250,000 ounces ("oz"), with the last
documented production in the 1960s. Since the 1960s,
exploration in the Birch-Uchi focused on both base metals and
precious metals, which led to the development of the South Bay Mine
that produced copper, zinc and silver between 1971 and 1981, and
there has been increased attention on gold exploration in the area
since the 1980s. To date, Springpole is the only gold deposit
in the belt with defined Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources
under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for
Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").
Vixen Properties
The Vixen Properties consist of three separate claim groups:
Vixen North, Vixen South and Vixen West (Figure 1). Historical
surface exploration work on the Vixen Properties has been carried
out by the Ontario Geological Survey and the Province of
Ontario. Recent exploration by ALX
in 2019 and 2020 included a prospecting and sampling program
focused on two areas at Vixen North: the Vulpin Zone and the
Dickenson Zone. Rock samples collected from outcrop and
historical trenches at the Dickenson Zone ranged up to 17.7
g/t gold ("Au") and were within a swarm of quartz veins that were
traced for over 60 metres at surface. Samples collected by
ALX at the Vulpin Zone ranged up to 8.41 g/t Au. In 2020, a
high-resolution, helicopter-borne magnetic and VLF-EM survey
totalling 476 line-kilometres was also completed to better define a
known 3,000 metre-long high magnetic trend and other important
structural trends present at Vixen North.
Sol d'Or Mine
The Sol d'Or site is located in the Honeywell Township on the
north shore of the southwest arm of Grace Lake and was originally
staked in 1927. From 1933 to 1936, the mine produced 258 oz
Au and 33 oz silver from 458 tonnes of ore, with a reported average
grade of 0.563 opt (17.5 g/t Au). Since the 1960s, further
exploration work has been carried out on and around the mine site,
including geophysical surveys, mapping, drilling, and sampling
programs. More recent exploration programs from 2001 to 2012
by Fronteer Development Group, Red Lake Resources, Big Bear Mining
Corp., and eShippers Management Ltd. have been successful in
confirming historical anomalous results and identifying areas of
new mineralization. In 2004, Fronteer Development drilled
three holes for a total of 372 metres into the No. 3 Vein,
demonstrating gold grades of up to 5.45 g/t Au. In 2012,
prospecting by eShippers Management Ltd. returned 7.5 g/t Au from
the Sol d'Or mine dump grab samples and 10.4 g/t Au from the No. 7
Vein.
Qualified Person
Hazel Mullin, P.Geo., Director,
Data Management and Technical Services of First Mining, is a
"Qualified Person" for the purposes of NI 43-101, and she has
reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure
contained in this news release.
About First Mining Gold Corp.
First Mining is a Canadian gold developer focused on the
development and permitting of the Springpole Gold Project in
northwestern Ontario. Springpole is one of the largest
undeveloped gold projects in Canada. The results of a positive
Pre-Feasibility Study for the Springpole Gold Project were
announced by First Mining in January
2021, and permitting activities are on-going with submission
of an Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") for the
project targeted for 2021. The Company also holds a large
equity position in Treasury Metals Inc. who are advancing the
Goliath Gold Complex toward construction. First Mining's
portfolio of gold projects in eastern Canada also includes the Pickle Crow (being
advanced in partnership with Auteco Minerals Ltd.),
Hope Brook (being advanced in
partnership with Big Ridge Gold Corp.), Cameron, Duparquet, Duquesne, and Pitt gold projects.
First Mining was established in 2015 by Mr. Keith Neumeyer, founding President and CEO of
First Majestic Silver Corp.
ON BEHALF OF FIRST MINING GOLD CORP.
Daniel W. Wilton
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This news release includes certain "forward-looking
information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively
"forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable
Canadian and United States
securities legislation including the United States Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements are made as of the date of this news release.
Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always,
identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes",
"plans", "projects", "intends", "estimates", "envisages",
"potential", "possible", "strategy", "goals", "opportunities",
"objectives", "targeted", "advancing", "proving" or variations
thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may",
"could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved,
or the negative of any of these terms and similar
expressions.
Forward-looking statements in this news release relate to
future events or future performance and reflect current estimates,
predictions, expectations or beliefs regarding future events and
include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: (i)
the timing of any further news releases from the Company in respect
of regional drilling plans for Springpole and the progress of
technical and environmental work at Springpole; (ii) the
advancement and merits of the Goliath Gold Project; and (iii) the
submission of the EIS for the Springpole Gold Project. All
forward-looking statements are based on First Mining's or its
consultants' current beliefs as well as various assumptions made by
them and information currently available to them. There can be no
assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and
actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect
the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements
are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates
that, while considered reasonable by the respective parties, are
inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive,
political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Such factors
include, without limitation the Company's business, operations and
financial condition potentially being materially adversely affected
by the outbreak of epidemics, pandemics or other health crises,
such as COVID-19, and by reactions by government and private actors
to such outbreaks; risks to employee health and safety as a result
of the outbreak of epidemics, pandemics or other health crises,
such as COVID-19, that may result in a slowdown or temporary
suspension of operations at some or all of the Company's mineral
properties as well as its head office; fluctuations in the
spot and forward price of gold, silver, base metals or certain
other commodities; fluctuations in the currency markets (such as
the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar); changes in national
and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations
and political or economic developments; risks and hazards
associated with the business of mineral exploration, development
and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents,
unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins and
flooding); the presence of laws and regulations that may impose
restrictions on mining; employee relations; relationships with and
claims by local communities, indigenous populations and other
stakeholders; availability and increasing costs associated with
mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral
exploration and development; title to properties; and the
additional risks described in the Company's Annual Information Form
for the year ended December 31, 2020
filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities under the
Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com, and in the Company's
Annual Report on Form 40-F filed with the SEC on EDGAR.
First Mining cautions that the foregoing list of factors that
may affect future results is not exhaustive. When relying on our
forward-looking statements to make decisions with respect to First
Mining, investors and others should carefully consider the
foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events.
First Mining does not undertake to update any forward-looking
statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to
time by the Company or on our behalf, except as required by
law.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/first-mining-announces-birch-uchi-greenstone-belt-consolidation-around-springpole-gold-project-301371954.html
SOURCE First Mining Gold Corp.