Why now is the perfect time to invest in junior gold exploration company, Eastmain Resources?
Company: Eastmain Resources, ER. TSX ; OCTCQX. EANRF
President & CEO: Claude Lemasson
Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Number of locations: Focus on 2, total properties – 11
Education: Bachelor of Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada and an Executive MBA from the Kellogg-Schulich program at York University.
In current role: 3 years
A friendly jurisdiction with accessible infrastructure, an experienced team of mining professionals, and three superior, high-grade gold assets – any of these three as a stand-alone feature would pique the interest of a savvy investor. Combined, says Claude Lemasson, President and CEO of Eastmain Resources, these highlights make his company’s stock the one to purchase now. “From my past work in the James Bay region, I have known of the Eastmain assets for 13 years and always believed in their potential,” he explains. “As the projects advanced, I was approached to join the Board of Directors in 2015. I then had the opportunity to step in as President & CEO in April 2016 with the intent of creating a new vision, which was to develop a strategy and execute a clear plan to create value for the company and its shareholders.”
Eastmain Resources is a junior gold exploration company with two main assets located in Canada’s James Bay region. “We’ve started pre-development activities on our Eau Claire project in Quebec, including optimization, and baseline studies to begin the permitting process, advancing towards a feasibility study. Concurrently, we are focused on the exploration of two gold discoveries made in the past two years, including Percival, on the Clearwater property and the Moni-Contact Trend on the Eleonore South Joint Venture, in partnership with Newmont Goldcorp and Azimut.”
Tough decisions were made in 2016 when Eastmain’s management team had to be rebuilt. “The previous team did a great job exploring the assets. They were strong exploration geologists, but the shareholders found their lack of development experience a weakness that needed to be addressed. The Board discussed the recruiting of a new CEO with project development and construction experience.” That is when Lemasson was approached and accepted the opportunity.
His 30 years of mining expertise, including a six-year stint as general manager of Goldcorp’s Red Lake mine in the early 2000s, came in handy when it was time for Lemasson to rebuild. “I put the team together three years ago when we went through a radical change. After identifying and implementing the upper management changes, the rebuilding fell into place nicely. It was a seamless process where we identified and recruited some of the best individuals in their fields.”
In addition to trading on the TSX, Eastmain also began trading on the OTCQX in June 2017. “There is a significant amount of money in the US that wants to invest into mining and exploration companies in top tier jurisdictions like Canada, and more specifically, Quebec. Formalizing a listing in the US allows us to access those investors, while complying with US Blue Sky regulations, in a cost-conscious manner. Fundamentally, this means greater liquidity for our shareholders.”
The time that Eastmain took to rebuild the team, while taking a step back from the required exploration work, helped in the long run. Lemasson recalls one of his proudest moments. “Issuing a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) on the Company’s Eau Claire Project with robust economics was the Company’s most significant milestone to date. Initially, we improved the quality of the mineral resource estimate with an additional 100,000 metres of drilling. The drilling improved the confidence level of the gold ounces in the open pit and underground mining scenarios, which in turn supported the strong economics in the PEA. It detailed a payback within 3.1 years, low costs per ounce of US $574 per ounce All-in Sustaining Cost (AISC), and a high return mining operation, with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 27%. In addition to the strong economics of our Eau Claire Project, on the Clearwater property Eastmain has a huge exploration opportunity that exists at the project itself to lengthen the mine life at depth, as well as advancing other exploration targets on the large property.”
2019 will continue to be a busy year for Eastmain. A 5,000 metre winter drilling program has just been completed at the company’s Percival discovery on the Clearwater property, 14 km from the Eau Claire Project. “Additionally, we have recently started our Eleonore South Joint Venture spring/summer exploration program on the Moni-Contact Trend discovery.” Meanwhile, the Eau Claire project continues to advance through technical studies and permitting. “We are working towards a construction decision in late 2021, while we concurrently explore the Clearwater and Eleonore South Joint Venture properties.”
Summary – why investors should purchase Eastmain Resources stock according to the company’s President and CEO:
- Eastmain’s board, management and property location are all top tier.
- Eastmain is advancing its key assets with the superior infrastructure and in a friendly jurisdiction.
- All main gold assets are considered high grade gold and near surface
- The district potential offers a total property package of over 1,000 square kilometres.