A new junior explorer in British Columbia and Yukon will soon be publicly traded following the acquisition of ATAC Resources (TSX-V: ATC) by Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) earlier this month and the spin-out of ATAC’s assets as a result.
The copper and gold producer Cascadia Minerals (TSX-V: CAM) announced its new listing on the TSX Venture Exchange Tuesday and will have a total of 27.65 million issued and outstanding shares once trading begins at the opening of the market on Wednesday. The company is 80.1 per cent owned by ATAC shareholders and 19.9 per cent owned by Hecla.
Hecla made an additional $2 million investment in Cascadia following the acquisition and received 5.5 million shares at $0.36 a piece through that investment. Cascadia issued ATAC shareholders a total of 22.15 million shares.
Cascadia will be starting a new diamond drill program at its flagship Catch property in Yukon this August, which has yielded rock samples containing 3 per cent copper and 14.6 g/t gold. The company is also focused on the Rosy property in Yukon and the PIL property in B.C.
An agreement was reached for Hecla’s acquisition of ATAC in April following its completion on July 7. ATAC shareholders received 0.016 Hecla shares and 0.1 common shares of Cascadia for each of their shares.
We're excited to announce that Cascadia will commence trading at market open tomorrow on the TSX-V under the symbol CAM!
We've got exciting exploration plans for our portfolio of copper-gold projects in Yukon and BC. Stay tuned for more details!https://t.co/5XQJBRMNkp
— Cascadia Minerals Ltd (@CascadiaMineral) July 18, 2023
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Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: GOLD) (TSX: ABX) also announced Friday that it now had a 10.1 per cent interest in Cascadia after obtaining 2.8 million common shares of the company as a result of its previous share ownership in ATAC prior to the Hecla acquisition.
Barrick says it is holding Cascadia shares for investment purposes and may acquire additional stock or sell depending on the company’s progress at its Canadian sites.
“With backing from Hecla as a strategic investor and a strong and experienced management team, we are ready to hit the ground running with a robust exploration program for 2023,” said Cascadia’s President and CEO Graham Downs.
Cascadia currently has a cash position of approximately $2.8 million.
“We are just beginning to scratch the surface of a 5-kilometre long copper-in-soil anomaly and have identified two exciting drill targets for 2023,” said Cascadia’s Vice President of Exploration Adam Coulter in regard to targets identified at the Catch property.
Map via Cascadia Minerals
Cascadia says the PIL property has multiple untested copper-gold porphyries and gold-silver epithermal targets and that Yukon’s Rosy property has several low-sulphidation epithermal veins with high-grade gold and silver.
Other copper explorers in Yukon and B.C. include Granite Creek Copper Ltd. (TSX-V: GCX), owner of Yukon’s 177-square-kilometre Carmacks project; Minto Metals Corp. (TSX-V: MNTO), owner of the Minto mining operation that has produced more than 500 million pounds of copper since 2007; and NevGold Corp. (TSX-V: NAU) (OTC: NAUFF), a company that recently formed a subsidiary to solely focus on the Ptarmigan copper-silver-gold project in southeastern B.C.
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