In the Val d’Or region of Quebec, there sits a mineral explorer called Probe Gold (PRB.T) that most would agree is on the brink of something great.
Probe is not a misnomer – the company has been drilling hard and expanding its resource and moving along towards production like one would hope a $200 millin market cap company would. It’s raised money. It’s intersected thick zones of gold. It’s expanding it’s team.
Probe is a win on it’s way to a bigger win. All involved should be applauded.
But you know what it isn’t, just yet?
It isn’t complete.
Take a look at this map.
To the north of this map is the McKenzie Break. Probe recently acquired this plot.
To the south of the map is the Novador. Probe got where it is on the strength of this plot.
Both have ounces in the ground and a lot of promise. Both are being worked hard. And when the McKenzie was acquired, there was much talk about how the two parcels reflect each other, how they’re so close, how they seem to run to each other.
But if that’s the case, what’s going on in that empty bit, right between the two?
Why aren’t those north-south properties connected? What’s going on there?
Perhaps this map clues us in.
That empty part is Troubadour Resources (TR.V).
Troubadour is less than 10% of Probe’s $200 million market cap, but it holds the ground right between the two patches Probe has pegged its future on, with an underexplored 11.5 km strike length, hosting blocks of massive sulphide.
According to the Trobadour crew, the project “is contiguous in the south to Probe Metals’ Novador project, host to the 2.04-million-ounce Monique resource grading 1.42 grams per tonne gold, and in the north to Monarch Mining’s Beaufor mine, which has produced over 1.1 Moz Au.”
That means this isn’t just a patch of grond that ruins the graphic appeal of Probe’s investor deck by squeezing into the middle of it, it’s also likely to host similar showings as those found in the more explored areas surrounding.
In other words, every time Probe puts out news of new holes and discoveries, Troubadour’s pot sweetens. Every time they yank a fat intersect out of the ground to the north or south, Troubadour smiles. When they update an NI 43-101, the numbers help tell the story of the land around.
And, in fact, when Probe flew over their properties and took mag pics, they inadvertently gave Troubadour FREE exploration data for their entire property between the two.
When your neighbour does the exploring for you, that’s about as neighbourly as it gets.
LET’S BE CLEAR: There’s no guarantee Probe will ever need, want, or try to acquire Troubadour’s property. Maybe they’ve got everything they could ever ask for in what they have. Maybe they’re fine as is.
But, they did happen to fly over Troubadour’s property and take mag photos.
And, they’ve not been slow to grow their land holdings as opportunities arise, as recently as April of this year.
As well, when they acquired the McKenzie Break, there was much discussion of how close it was to the Novador property, suggesting they shared some chemistry.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
We’ve all seen closeology plays before, where activity is going on furiously in one camp, and a bunch of guys ring-claim that patch and just sit in tents waiting to get bought out.
That’s not the play. The move is to actually work the property and PROVE the connection with your neighour, and that’s what Troubadour has planned for the coming year.
The company is [pleased] to announce that it is preparing to launch its 2024 field programs at its Senneville copper VMS (volcanic massive sulphide) property. The initial work at the property will be to complete a biogeochemical survey before embarking on ground geophysics which will lead into Troubadour’s maiden drill program planned to commence later this fall.
NOTE: DRILLING.. “LATER THIS FALL.”
Not in 2025.
Not ‘down the road.’
N0t ‘financing dependent.’
The fall.
These guys could easily phone it in and wait for the call that may come in a week, a month, or a year.
Or they could do the work and help build the case that Probe – OR SOMEONE ELSE – might like to take the centrepiece in what is increasingly seen as not a potentially producing mine, but an inevitably producing mine.
The stock chart over the past 12 months, in an economy where other gold explorers are getting killed, shows two things:
- People are starting to take notice.
- People are taking this crew seriously.
But do they have cash to do the work?
Yep. $4m in the bank right now – and raised without blowing out a nice tight share structure.
And there are other properties in hand.that can be worked/monetized later.
Sometimes the deal is just pretty all over.
— Chris Parry
FULL DISCLOSURE: Not a client, just a deal we’ve been noticing and plan to watch closely.