Can you explain how Newrange Gold Corp went about acquiring its current portfolio of assets?

Newrange Gold Corp started its journey as Colombian Mines Corp. in 2006 with the aim of exploring gold deposits in Colombia. However, in 2016, the company shifted its focus to the US and changed its name to Newrange Gold Corp. The company acquired its first project, the Pamlico project in Nevada, which is a past-producing historic gold mine. Robert Carrington, one of the co-founders of the company, had previously worked on this project and was familiar with the site. In addition to the Pamlico project, the company acquired two projects in Ontario and plans to start working on those in February 2022.

Can you provide some information about the historical exploration conducted at the Pamlico gold project?

The discovery of gold at the Pamlico site dates back to the 1880s, and the mine was put into production in 1896 by a family who mined it until the 1920s. It was then sold to a different family followed by a third one, from whom Newrange Gold Corp ultimately purchased it. Despite the early days of production, the site has seen little in terms of modern exploration. Two other junior companies were there in the late 1990s and early 2000s when the price of gold was relatively low. Newrange Gold Corp picked up on their work and conducted its exploration to better understand the gold mineralization that was mined in the past.

What have you learned about the type of mineralization present at Pamlico?

At Pamlico, high-grade gold mineralization occurs in fractures and quartz veinlets as well as in lower-grade disseminations in the wall rocks. In the past, miners focused on high-grade gold that they were able to see. The fine gold currently present in Nevada would not have been economic or even known to miners in the 1800s. At Pamlico, there are high-grade veins and fractures adjacent to low-grade material. Another important factor at Pamlico is the depth of oxidation, which at some points reaches 300 m. This presents a strong metallurgical response in the sense that recoveries are up to 97% from some of the preliminary testing done, with mineralization right at the surface. With this in mind, the company has targeted its drilling to better understand the mineralizing system and how to trace it out.

In 2021, the company also expanded its geophysics beyond the gold zone and discovered several strong induced polarization anomalies. Based on these findings, the company more than doubled the size of the property, to more than 5,700 hectares that is largely unexplored. Here, the company is finding strong signs of copper mineralization ranging from 1% to 5.5%. There is potential for a porphyry copper deposit, but the company is still in the early days of discovery.

What was the decision-making process towards acquiring the Argosy gold mine in Ontario?

In the early 2000s, the CEO of Newrange Gold Corp was the CEO of a different exploration company that had the opportunity to acquire the Argosy gold mine. The company drilled several holes and saw great potential, but at the time it was difficult to attract investor attention to narrow-vein, high-grade deposits in Canada, as the focus was largely on Mexico. In 2015, the CEO’s previous company, Great Panther, acquired Cangold, which gave them control of the Argosy project. However, Great Panther was focused on Latin America and viewed the mine as a non-core asset.