Ardiden Building A Significant Gold Resource Base in Ontario’s High-Grade Pickle Lake Gold Camp

Summary

• Ardiden is seizing lucrative growth opportunities in tier-one mining jurisdiction of Ontario, Canada via its large high-grade portfolio of gold and lithium assets.
• Primary focus of ADV is to build a compelling gold resource base at its flagship Pickle Lake Gold Project, with immediate priority being extending current JORC Resource at the Kasagiminnis deposit
• ADV is planning to undertake resource definition drilling at Kasagiminnis in July this year, targeting gold mineralisation along strike at the deposit which has an exploration target of 0.5 – 1.0Moz of Au

A tier-one mining jurisdiction, Ontario contributes a significant proportion to Canada’s gold production each year. The province yielded nearly half of Canada’s annual gold production in 2018, producing 2.5 million ounces of gold.

Australian-headquartered exploration company, Ardiden Limited (ASX:ADV), holding a high-grade portfolio in Ontario, seizing lucrative growth opportunities in the prospective area. The Company possesses an exciting portfolio of predominantly 100 per cent owned gold and lithium assets within the high-grade northwest Ontario region of Canada.

Ardiden’s primary focus is to build a compelling resource base at its flagship Pickle Lake Gold Project, which offers considerable upside exploration potential and opportunities of resource growth. The Company is also seeking an alliance or a partner for its lithium projects in Ontario to draw value from them.

Flagship Project - Pickle Lake Gold Project

Ardiden’s assumed 100 per cent stake in joint ventured Pickle Lake Gold Project in July 2019, by exercising its option to acquire Murchison Minerals Limited’s 51 per cent JV interest in the high-grade gold project. The acquisition marked a considerable step for Ardiden, bolstering its ability to build shareholder value from its premium portfolio of gold and lithium assets within Ontario.

Historically, the Pickle Lake region has generated over 3 million ounces of gold since 1935 from 4 different underground operations within a greenstone belt, including Dona Lake, Golden Patricia, Central Patricia and Pickle Crow.

Despite being situated within a greenstone belt, Pickle Lake area is vastly under-explored, offering an outstanding opportunity for Ardiden to progressively build a substantial high-grade gold resource over time.

Pickle Lake Gold Project is well located in Canada’s mining hub of Ontario, with existing infrastructure in position:

• 8km from Pickle Lake Town
• 350km north of regional mining centre of Thunder Bay
• Flights from Thunder Bay to Pickle Lake or drive via sealed highway
• 35km from Pickle Crow underground gold mine and processing plant
• Close to 4 high-grade historic underground gold mines, which produced more than 3Moz Au

The Gold Project comprises multiple, yet connected gold properties, namely the Kasagiminnis, Dorothy-Dobie Deposit, and Gold Prospects at South Limb, New Patricia, West Pickle , Fry-McVean Esker and many more mineralised zones within their landholding..

The Company’s total landholding at Pickle Lake is 664km², while its connected gold properties extend over more than 100km across a district-scale package situated in Ontario’s Tier 1 mining jurisdiction. It’s worth noting that majority of the Company’s landholding at Pickle Lake is wholly-owned, with no immediate earn-in commitments or expenditure.

Moreover, ADV’s ground holding at Pickle Lake is comparable in size to that of the 30Moz Red Lake producing district next door.

Immediate Priority – Resource Definition Drilling at Kasagiminnis Deposit

Ardiden has an existing maiden JORC 2012-compliant Gold Inferred Resource Estimate of 790,000t at 4.3g/t for 110,000oz of contained gold at the Kasagiminnis deposit. The deposit’s JORC-Compliant resource is located within a limited 600m strike length that is part of a prospective (under-explored) strike of over 120km at Pickle Lake.

Recently, the Company has defined a conceptual exploration target of 4 to 5.8 Mt ranging from 3.9g/t to 6.6g/t (500,000oz to 1.2Moz gold) for the Kasagiminnis deposit to 500m below surface, despite the fact that two of the old mines in Pickle Lake were developed to depths well over 1km.

The Company has planned to commence resource definition drilling at Kasagiminnis in July this year, targeting gold mineralisation along strike at the Kasagiminnis deposit. To be funded from existing cash reserves, diamond drilling of up to 3,000m will target the western extension of the existing JORC (2012) Resource area at Kasagiminnis to a maximum depth of 500m.

Ardiden has additional drill programmes planned in 2020 and 2021 at Kasagiminnis to continue second and third phase of Resource Definition over the exploration target area.

Lately, the Company also signed a legally binding Gold Exploration MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Mishkeegogamang First Nation for the prospective Kasagiminnis project.

The MoU involves agreement to proceed with exploration activities at the Kasagiminnis project, including geophysics, geochemistry, exploration drilling, sampling (rock, soil, sediment and water), environmental studies, metallurgical testwork, processing testwork, trenching, economic evaluation and scoping/feasibility studies.

The binding MoU Agreement with the First Nation Community marked an important development in line with the Company’s planned drilling program at Kasagiminnis, which represents a logical starting point to build a significant high-grade resource base at Pickle Lake.

Ardiden’s significant landholding in Pickle Lake offers considerable opportunity to invest and explore for new high-quality gold deposits in one of the best jurisdictions, using modern exploration techniques and geophysical analysis. In line with its gold exploration strategy, the Company aims to continue identifying prospective ground complementing its landholding to enhance shareholder value.

ADV closed the trading session at $0.004 on 17^th June 2020.