I spoke to Cartier Resources (ECR.V) CEO Philippe Cloutier in early December of 2024. He had big plans for the Cadillac Project which included the Chimo mine and 15 kilometers of recently acquired and ground running along the Larder Lake/Cadillac fault in East Val D‘Or. How big were the plans? 500 diamond drill holes Big and aimed at testing ten target zones. Cloutier saw the project as a full-on emerging gold mining camp. All he needed was 10 million dollars.
Even with gold prices hitting historic highs, raising money for a junior exploration company is tough. Gold bug money, a traditional source for junior financing, was flowing into the booming big company producers. Why not, with gold over $3300, Barrick, Newmont, Agnico Eagle are coining money. Institutional investors, high net worth individuals, family offices are much more comfortable putting their money into multi-million-ounce producers with multi-billion dollar market caps.
Cartier Resources is not producing any gold at all and has a market cap of around 38 million dollars. Where was Cloutier going to get 10 million dollars?
Cloutier said in our follow-up phone interview. “In December 2024, when Agnico Eagle took over O3 Mining they added O3’s shares in Cartier to their own position it took them to 27% ownership.”
“Cartier and Agnico spent the early part of the year amending an Investor Rights Agreement. Then Cartier launched its private placement while having Agnico exercise it’s right to participate to maintain its pro rata share in Cartier or just over 3 million dollars worth.,” said Cloutier. “The rest of the private placement, which included both premium flow through and hard dollar units was taken up by a small number of high net worth individuals and institutions.” Adding, “A strong endorsement that the Big plan was Good, a total of $11.4M good.”
”So what’s this plan all about?” I asked. “We’re not prospecting with a drill. Last season we confirmed by drilling the gold endowment on ten separate targets. We’re going back to expand on the high-grade gold results, test new VRIFY AI (artificial intelligence-generated targets),” said Cloutier. “And one more thing. The gold resource and PEA serve to calibrate all future drilling to ensure we get the most bang for the buck from this extensive program.”
The plan includes 24/7 drilling over 18 months. “We’ll have two drills on site over the spring and summer. That number may go up to four in the winter when the swampy parts of the property are accessible. Ten different targets. 500 holes over 12 to 13 kilometres,” said Cloutier.
“A lot of juniors are having trouble raising money to drill,” said Cloutier. “We waited until we had the cash in the bank to launch all call for tenders to drill contractors and labs.”
“Tough financing conditions are leaving many juniors stranded and the few like Cartier get very competitive bids,” said Cloutier.
“Our plan is to drill short holes, 150 to 300 meters,” said Cloutier. “We want to get a handle on how large each of the deposits can be and the overall center of gravity of the system out there. With the sheer amount of drilling and assaying to be done we are looking to have an all in, drilling and assaying, cost per meter around $120.”
“We’re looking for many more ounces,” said Cloutier. “When we’ve defined them, will issue a revised Mineral Resource Estimate and then a substantially revised PEA.”
ECR’s current PEA is based on a gold price of $1750 and a $0.77 Canadian dollar. Without finding a single additional ounce of gold, that PEA points to significant upside in value with gold trading over $3300 an ounce and the Canadian dollar at around 0.72.
Eyeballing only the gold sensitivity, the Internal Rate of Return is well over 50% with $3300 gold.
If Cloutier’s drilling rolls up the ounces and the gold price stands or rises, Cartier is well on its way to becoming the owner of a district scale gold camp.
Retail investors are, understandably, grumpy about a share price which bounces around $0.10 implying a market cap of under 40 million dollars. The private placement was priced at $0.13 per unit with a “Hard Dollar” warrant at 0.18. A clear premium.
Cloutier is not worried. He has a plan. His plan has been funded. The drilling contracts will soon be let. With two drills and short holes, plus labs eager to assay the hundreds of meters of core produced monthly, Cloutier knows he will have solid news flow for the next year and a half.
As money flows into the junior exploration sector, Cartier has positioned itself at the front of the line. Right where Cloutier thinks it should be.