Kenorland Minerals (KLD.V) has announced joint venture partner Auranova has completed the phase 2 drill program at South Uchi, which was designed to follow up on the results of the 2025 winter drill campaign. That winter drill program confirmed the presence of a five kilometer long structural corridor. The most recent drill program consisted of 13 holes for a total of just under 7,100 meters of diamond drilling.
The recent drill program aimed to test the continuity of the gold mineralization at the eastern end of the Papaonga target area and step-out holes have extended the deformation zone by approximately two kilometers to the east.
While assay results are only expected to be published in Q1 2026, Kenorland has already decided it will maintain the camp and infrastructure at Papaonga for an additional three months. This seems to indicate the likelihood of a follow-up winter drill program is high.
Auranova has now completed its initial earn-in commitment and has earned a 51% ownership in the project after having made C$0.5M in cash payments and offering 19.9% of its share count to Kenorland. Additionally, the recent drill program resulted in Auranova meeting the C$8M exploration spending threshold. Auranova can now further increase its stake in the project to 70% upon spending an additional C$10M in qualifying expenditures within the next 2 years. From that point on, Kenorland will be carried until Auranova publishes a PEA on the asset, where after a 70/30 joint venture will be created and Kenorland will have contribute to future expenditures on a pro rata basis.
Disclosure: The author has no position in Kenorland Minerals. This post is for educational purposes only; be mindful investing in junior mining stocks is risky and you may lose your entire investment if things go wrong. Please read the disclaimer.
