Monarch Gold (TSX: MQR) announced that it has signed an agreement with institutional investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec to sell a 3% net smelter return royalty on gold production at the Beaufor mine for $5 million.
In a press release, Monarch said that in agreement with CDPQ it is going to retain the services of GoldSpot Discoveries (TSXV: SPOT), a technology company that applies expert geoscience and advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to increase the efficiency and success rate of mineral exploration.
GoldSpot will assist Monarch in selecting the optimal drill targets throughout the program based on the historical data compiled over the past two years at Beaufor
“The objective is to optimize the drilling program on the Beaufor property using advanced analytical technology,” said Jean-Marc Lacoste, president and CEO of Monarch, in the press brief. “This investment is a turning point for the Beaufor mine, which still has considerable high-grade gold potential, as we demonstrated during our last drilling campaign in 2018.”
According to Lacoste, the ultimate goal is to bring Beaufor into production within 12 to 18 months, which will allow the company to take advantage of the bull market for gold.
The Beaufor underground mine includes two mining leases, a mining concession and 23 mining claims covering an area of 5.9 square kilometres. It is located 20 kilometres northeast of the town of Val-d’Or, in the Abitibi-East township, in the Province of Quebec,
Commercial gold production began in the 1930s with the Perron, Beaufor and Pascalis mines. Overall, the property has produced approximately 4,854,000 tonnes of ore grading 7.5 g/t Au, for a total of 1,169,000 ounces of gold. Production was temporarily suspended on June 30, 2019, and the Beaufor mine is currently on care and maintenance.