A decade ago, what is now Altamira Gold Corp. (ALTA:TSX.V; EQTRF:OTCBB) started out as a private company called Alta Floresta Gold, which held a mineral property package in the heart of Brazil. In 2015, Alta Floresta Gold vended its properties into a public company that has since metamorphosed into Altamira Gold.
President and CEO Michael Bennett told Streetwise Reports that the company went through major changes, "new management, change of directors, a name change to Altamira and a new shareholder base as management restructured the company to make it a financeable entity."
Altamira's focus is centered on the Alta Floresta/Juruena Belt, which historically produced 7-10 Moz of placer gold, where its flagship Cajueiro property straddles the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Para and produced more than 250,000 ounces. The area is mostly cattle ranches and features a network of roads, highways and power lines with hydroelectric dams including the large Teles Pires facility, which recently came on line and is located near Cajueiro, as well as a regional airport at Alta Floresta.
To date, Altamira has conducted over 14,000 meters of drilling in 105 holes and in 2017 completed over 2,800 meters of trenching at Cajueiro. A small NI 43-101 compliant resource covering less than 5% of Altamira's land at Cajueiro estimated a 214 Koz gold Indicated resource, 204 Koz Inferred resource, plus 79 Koz gold in the surface saprolite. All the data utilized for this resource was obtained from drilling prior to 2013.
Late in 2017, three new high-grade zones were discovered at the Baldo East area of Cajueiro; trenching in 2018 discovered two more high-grade zones at the Matrincha area. These new zones trend east to west and are significantly higher grade than the north-south features that currently comprise the resource.
Michael Bennett commented, "The recent discovery of two new high-grade mineralized zones in the Baldo–Matrincha area of the Cajueiro project now brings the total number of sub-parallel east-west trending high grade structures to seven, with a cumulative strike length of more than 4km. We are delighted by the progress to date which suggests a much higher average grade to the Cajueiro deposit and leads us to believe that similar east-west mineralized structures will be found in the other target areas within the project area."
Altamira notes that it will put together a detailed exploration plan that will include drilling these new high-grade areas for the first half of 2019 with the aim of updating the Cajueiro resource estimate.
Just 13km south-southwest of Cajueiro, Altamira holds a claim covering the Porta Aberta property, where recent rock samples have returned values as high as 242 g/t gold. Like all of Altamira's projects, the depth extent of the gold mineralization is currently unknown.
But the Alta Floresta/Juruena belt now appears to contain copper as well as gold on its vast lands. The belt has become the site of one of the largest staking rushes in South America over the last year, with some of the largest copper mining companies taking large land positions.
In September 2017, Anglo American and Nexa Resources staked 3 million hectares through the belt and Chile's state-owned Copper giant Codelco recently staked 800,000 hectares in what could be the first known porphyry copper belt in Brazil. Altamira has continued to increase its initial land position by adding 58,000 ha at its Santa Helena property and more than 15,000 ha at Colider. Altamira has been and continues to be the only junior on the belt.
Anglo American is actively drilling in the belt and flying district-scale airborne surveys throughout the region, which it's rumored to complete at the end of the year. "Earlier in the year there were rumors that Anglo American has made a significant copper porphyry discovery, since then all of the major mining companies' technical teams have been actively visiting, discussing and surveying the region. The airport close to our Cajueiro project has seen a steady flow of helicopters and service providers daily. Last month Anglo's CEO Ruben Fernandes hinted at a major copper discovery in the region and indicated that results may be available by the end of the year," Bennett told Streetwise Reports.
Altamira is anchored by experienced management. President and CEO Michael Bennett is a geologist with over 30 years of mining experience, much of it in South America, and has the Cajueiro, Coringa and Puquio North gold discoveries to his credit. Chairman Alan Carter also has more than 30 years of mining experience under his belt, where he worked with major miners including Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and then Peregrine Metals, Peregrine Diamonds, ECI, and was the founder of Magellan Minerals that was acquired by Anfield Gold (now Equinox Gold) in 2016. Altamira's general manager for Brazil is Sergio Amaro Aquino, who has over 35 years of experience including a successful track record of exploration, government and local relations, as well as development and construction of mining projects in Brazil.
Altamira Gold has 57.6 million shares issued and outstanding, and 97.3 million shares fully diluted, with about 25 million shares closely held. Altamira's market cap is around CA$4.61 million.
Disclosure:
1) Patrice Fusillo compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.
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