Endurance Gold Corp. (EDG:TSX.V; ENDGF:OTCQB; 3EG:FSE) intends to complete a maiden mineral resource estimate this year for its Reliance gold project in southern British Columbia (B.C.) and just launched its 2025 exploration program to support it, reported Ben Pirie, equity research analyst at Atrium Research, in a May 20 research note.
"The program, notably starting well ahead of B.C. peers due to its location, will consist of diamond drilling as well as several other initiatives intended to expand the known mineralization, derive new drill targets and prepare for Endurance's inaugural resource estimate," Pirie wrote.
194% Uplift Implied
On the news, Atrium reiterated its CA$0.50 per share target price on the Canadian gold company, now trading at about CA$0.17 per share, noted the analyst. From here, the return to target is 194%.
Endurance remains a Buy.
Several Drilling Objectives
Pirie highlighted that what is new in Endurance's latest announcement is its 2025 target for completing a maiden mineral resource estimate for Reliance. Already the explorer had released the details of its 2025 exploration program.
One component is the 7,000-meter (7,000m) diamond drill program, now underway, with which Endurance aims to achieve three goals, Pirie noted.
One is to expand new gold zones identified via last year's drilling, one being Lower Imperial. This zone, discovered 210m vertically below the Imperial zone, returned high-grade intercepts, such as 7.18 grams per ton gold (7.18 g/t Au) over 8.3m, including 28.08 g/t Au over 1.7m. Further, six more high-grade veins/breccias between Imperial and Lower Imperial indicate potential exists for stacked mineralization. So Endurance plans to test Lower Imperial's updip potential with several holes.
Another objective is to further drill test two new discoveries in the Crown zone: Upper Crown and Lower Crown. Upper Crown, encountered in hole DDH24-093, intersected 147.5 g/t Au over 1m within 74.29 g/t Au over 2m from a quartz-sulphide vein with coarse visible gold. Lower Crown, discovered in hole DDH24-103, hit 7.61 g/t Au over 5.7m at the Royal Shear contact. A deeper intercept, in a quartz-calcite vein, was 49.1 g/t Au over 0.3m.
The third objective is to infill drill and expand the high-grade zones to support the upcoming mineral resource estimate.
Also on the Agenda
Pirie relayed that Endurance's work plan includes metallurgical test work and flowsheet design to maximize gold and antimony recoveries at Reliance.
Geochemical work is to be done, targeting the Enigma and Olympic anomalies east of the Royal Shear, both of which have shown gold-arsenic-antimony signatures similar to that seen in the high-grade Eagle zone.
Also planned are soil sampling, geological mapping and prospecting of the new 500m-long anomaly about 700m south of Eagle, discovered last year. This area is significant because it may be an offset extension of the Royal Shear-Eagle trend or a new subparallel structure with surface geochemical and gold-bearing features like Royal Shear's.
"These efforts aim to define drill-ready targets, supported by anticipated permits, as the company explores extensions of known mineralization and new structures," Pirie wrote.
What to Watch For
Upcoming catalysts for Endurance include results of this year's drilling, metallurgical testing and other exploration work conducted at Reliance, on an ongoing basis, the analyst reported.
Later in 2025, the company will complete a first mineral resource estimate on the project.
What Stands Out
Pirie presented some of reasons Endurance is a compelling investment. The project location is one. Reliance is in a historical mining camp, near infrastructure and 10 kilometers from the Bralorne mine that decades ago produced 4,000,000 ounces of 17.7 g/t Au.
Also notable is Reliance's epizonal orogenic gold system, a "multimillion-ounce, high-grade deposit in the making," Pirie described. Drill results thus far have been consistent and "best in class."
Atrium likes the many high-grade zones on the property, such as Eagle. The 40 holes drilled at Eagle over the 550m strike showed a weighted average grade of 4.7 g/t Au. All drill intercepts were within 100m of surface.
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