Ximen Mining poised to be British Columbia's next significant gold producer
The company has an acquisition option on the former Kenville gold mine, which produced 65,236 ounces of gold, and 27,686 ounces of silver intermittently between 1889 and 1956
A solid mining company with strong ties to the region
Kenville metallurgical test work has been very promising
Safe mining jurisdiction
What Ximen Mining does:
Ximen Mining Corp (CVE:XIM) (OTCMKTS:XXMMF) is a junior precious metals explorer with assets in prolific gold camps in southern British Columbia (BC).
The company has an acquisition option on the former Kenville gold mine, which produced 65,236 ounces of gold, and 27,686 ounces of silver intermittently between 1889 and 1956.
Ximen has been expanding its footprint in the area via several claim groups near Kenville and last June reported that its total land package in the Nelson-Ymir-Salmo area since first acquiring Kenville in early 2019 stood at 19,582 hectares.
Kenville was formerly known as the Granite-Poorman mine and lies 7 kilometres (km) west of the town of Nelson in the West Kootenay region. Ximen wants to exploit the vein structures to bring it back to life and establish a high-grade, 20-year, producing gold mine, while concurrently exploring the limits of the reserve.
Another of Ximen's key assets is the Brett epithermal gold project, which the company has controlled 20,025 hectares of since 2013, and where previous drilling has thrown up 168 grams per ton (g/t) of gold over 1.3 metres (m) and where visible gold is common.
In May last year, the group received approval for a surface drilling program to extend the known bonanza grade zones and test for lower-grade targets that could be amenable to a bulk mining scenario.
Ximen wants to extend the current mine at Brett by up to 200 metres and also aims to explore the Main Zone to the northwest where significant gold intercepts were intersected in surface drill holes. An application for underground exploration is still under review.
Ximen also owns the Treasure Mountain silver project, which is adjacent to the past-producing Huldra Silver mine. It is currently optioned to New Destiny Mining Corp (CVE:NED) for staged cash and stock payments. Treasure Mountain boasts multiple mineralization types, including polymetallic veins, gold-bearing quartz veins, and porphyry and porphyry-related mineralization.
Ximen's portfolio also boasts the historic Cariboo-Amelia gold mine in Camp McKinney. The mine was British Columbia’s first dividend-paying lode gold mine and recovery included 81,602 ounces of gold, 32,439 ounces of silver, 113,302 pounds of lead and 198,140 pounds of zinc.
In 2019, Ximen sold its Gold Drop Property in the Greenwood Camp option to GGX Gold Corp (CVE:GGX). Ximen still holds onto a 2.5% net smelter return royalty (NSR) on the property which GGX can buy down 1% of by paying C$1 million.
How is it doing:
News from Ximen in recent months has been dominated by construction work at its Kenville gold project in the Nelson camp of British Columbia, where it has been completing a new access to the historic mine.
On November 25, last year, Ximen told investors a new portal had been established and a new railway line had been connected to the tracks of the old underground mine. The idea is that the company can now access mineralization outlined in a resource estimate of 2009.
The mine reportedly produced 65,236 ounces of gold and 27,686 ounces of silver between 1889 and 1956, while the previous mine workings host an estimated 360,000 plus troy ounces of gold, according to an NI 43 101 report.
Elsewhere, in October, the group unveiled encouraging sampling results from work earlier in the season at the Amelia property, home to the historic Cariboo-Amelia gold mine, in southern British Columbia, which generated significant gold and silver assays.
Of 34 rock chip samples, ten returned significant gold results, and three significant silver results. Highlights included 103.5 g/t gold and 122 g/t silver in one sample. Another showed 32.10 g/t gold and 98 g/t silver. One sample from a historic dump on the Fontenoy claim assayed an impressive 1,465 g/t silver,
Follow-up exploration drilling is planned to test beneath the Cariboo-Amelia mine and trenching and drilling is planned to explore the east and western extensions, Ximen said.
The same month saw Ximen update on its exploration at the Providence project in British Columbia, where two rock samples have returned "significant results" and follow up investigation is planned. A drill program at the Providence project is underway with 755 metres drilled so far in four holes.
The company said 16 rock chip grab samples and 20 soil samples had been received from fieldwork which was completed at the start of the season.
One grab sample from a historic dump at the Providence mine returned values of 884 g/t silver and 1.36 g/t gold. Another assay from the historic Freemont mine dump returned values of 435 g/t silver and 4.4 grams per tonne gold, with 0.22% lead.
What the boss says:
Last summer, Ximen CEO Chris Anderson spoke to Proactive following news that it had increased its ground in the famous Greenwood mining camp in British Columbia (BC) and outlined the group's current priorities.
"The main focus for us though is obviously the Kenville. We want to get that up and running and we'd like to have that as a producing gold mine, so that's our objective - is to focus on that - and in the meantime we're just building our land base around while the opportunities are there because we believe we are moving into an extremely hot gold market."
