Mayfair Gold: Fast-Tracking a Major Gold Deposit Towards Development

It’s been a whirlwind eight months for Mayfair Gold (TSX-V: MFG; OTC: MFGCF), an advanced stage gold exploration and development company, since going public with its IPO in March 2021. With an ambitious four-drill, 50,000 metre drill program, Mayfair is fast-tracking their way to the development of their flagship asset, the Fenn-Gib gold project near Timmins, Ontario.

Mayfair Gold was formed in late 2019 with the goal of finding a gold asset in a tier-one jurisdiction. After searching 90 projects throughout North America, Mayfair CEO, Patrick Evans and his team discovered that the Fenn-Gib project ticked most of the boxes. “What we were looking for was a deposit with favorable mineralization, that is one with disseminated mineralization rather than narrow vein, which is fairly typical in the Timmins area. We hit the ground running hard and fast. The first drill rigs were turning within three weeks of closing.”

Evans is a savvy industry veteran with an impeccable pedigree and 20 years of senior management experience leading multiple mining companies across four continents. He has an extensive track record of finding misunderstood, underappreciated assets, taking them up the value curve, and selling them for a substantial profit. For 12 years he fronted Mountain Province Diamonds in Canada’s Northwest Territories, which discovered one of the largest diamond deposits in the world, before bringing in diamond giant DeBeers as a joint venture partner. He made similar moves as CEO of Weda Bay Minerals in Indonesia and Norsemont Mining in Peru, junior companies that were both sold off to major players for significant returns. Evans plans to replicate that strategy with Mayfair Gold, and he believes that with Fenn-Gib, he’s found the ideal project to see the strategy through.  

Mayfair acquired 100% of the Fenn-Gib gold deposit in December 2020 from Pan American Silver for $11 million and a 1% royalty. The project is situated in the middle of the prolific Abitibi sub-province gold belt, Canada’s leading gold mining district, around 80km east of Timmins in Northern Ontario. Mines in the surrounding area have produced upwards of 70 million ounces of gold within the last century. Having led exploration companies around the world, Evans has high praise for Northern Ontario. “Timmins is the very best place in the world to mine for gold. In terms of the inputs for the mining operation, the critical things such as skills, labor, power, water access, Timmins is unbeatable.”

Major gold players like Agnico Eagle (NYSE: AEM, TSX: AEM) and Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KGI, AIM: KGI) have exploration projects in Northern Ontario, but none are singularly focused in taking an underappreciated asset up the value chain like Mayfair Gold is with Fenn-Gib.

A February 2021 resource estimate at Fenn-Gib reported a total indicated resource containing 2.08 million ounces at a grade of 0.921 g/t Au, and an inferred resource of 75,000 ounces at a grade of 0.618 g/t Au. It’s a number that Evans hopes will increase to around three million ounces by the end of Mayfair’s 2021 drill program, which is currently in its late stages. With four drill rigs turning, Mayfair has completed over 46,000 of the 50,000 metres planned, and the latest results are encouraging. The most recent findings from late October show significant high-grade intercepts in the Footwall Zone of the deposit, a priority area not included in the current resource estimate.

DDHFROM (m)TO (m)INTERVAL (m)Au (gpt)FG21-166 251.0317.066.01.42 including269.8289.019.23.40 including269.8279.09.26.20  468.0502.034.01.02 including470.5471.51.011.49FG21-170 142.7145.32.637.51 including142.7143.71.086.94  199.0200.01.059.05FG21-186 186.0216.030.02.31 including198.0205.07.06.58FG21-195 250.0278.028.01.28 including261.0277.016.01.74Table 1: Fenn-Gib 2021 Footwall Zone Drill Results Summary

The findings are exactly what Evans had been hoping for. “The new drill holes at the Fenn-Gib Footwall Zone confirm the continuity of the significant high-grade gold mineralization immediately to the north of the deposit. It is very encouraging to see the gold mineralization present in multiple zones.”

On the ESG front, Mayfair Gold is partnering with a leading sustainability advisor to make Fenn-Gib Canada’s first carbon-neutral gold project. To bring their goal of carbon neutrality to life, the company plans to take advantage of the existing renewable energy sources around the project, including a major Ontario hydropower line that traverses the property, and the high voltage transformer station located just southwest of the project. “Mayfair Gold, like all resource companies, has a responsibility to reduce carbon emissions from operations. We take this responsibility very seriously. As a carbon-neutral gold operation, Fenn-Gib will account for all carbon emissions over the life of the project and, to the greatest extent possible, aim for zero emissions.”

Evans and his executive team have lined up an ambitious schedule for the next two years at Fenn-Gib. The company is planning a PEA-preliminary economic assessment for early 2022, which will feed into a pre-feasibility study. 2023 will see a full feasibility study, environmental monitoring, and if all goes well, to have the asset ready for permitting by the end of 2023.

It’s all part of Evans’s plan, which he has executed repeatedly throughout his career. “The nature of the deposit, the surrounding area ensures that we're going to be able to build a mine relatively easily and relatively quickly. At the end of the day, that's what the shareholders want.”

Both shareholders and investors are hoping that history repeats itself for Patrick Evans and Mayfair Gold.

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