Overview
Canadian North Resources (TSXV:CNRI, FSE:EO0) is a mineral exploration and development company advancing a critical minerals project in Nunavut, Canada. The Ferguson Lake project has historically completed over 200,000 meters of exploratory drilling and has proven critical mineral deposits. Canadian North Resources is a relatively new market player with a tight shareholder structure and 65 percent insider ownership.
Nunavut is an emerging major mining district in Canada that has received minimal attention. Miners have historically focused more on Ontario, Quebec and BC, but Nunavut is now gaining more attention as new discoveries are made. The global transition to clean energy is driving demand for critical minerals and creating the need to secure domestic supply chains in stable jurisdictions. Nunavut is emerging as a new frontier for exploration and mining of these critical minerals.
Ferguson Lake is a historical asset dating back to 1952, with C$160 million already invested in the project since its inception. These investments include infrastructure, metallurgy, drilling and exploration. The asset contains known deposits of critical minerals, including copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum and palladium.
Canadian North Resources updated Ferguson Lake’s historical 43-101 resource estimate in June 2022. In the same year, the company completed 18,144 meters of drilling and is undertaking a further 20,000-meter drilling program in 2023. The current resource estimate shows an indicated 24.3 million tonnes and an inferred 47.2 million tonnes of ore.
With data from the last three years of drilling campaign, Canadian North Resources plans to further update the 43-101 and take the inferred resources to indicated, all while moving toward a pre-feasibility study (PFS) over the next 12 months.
A seasoned management team with expertise throughout the natural resources industry leads the company, with expertise in geology, metallurgy and international business administration.
Company Highlights
Canadian North Resources is an exploration and developing company with a prolific critical minerals asset in Nunavut, Canada.The company has a tight shareholder structure with 65 percent insider ownership.Canadian North’s Ferguson Lake asset has completed a total of over 200,000 meters of drilling since its discovery in the 1950s.Nunavut is an emerging mining district due to its critical mineral deposits that are rapidly growing in demand as the world transitions to clean energy.Canadian North Resources updated the historical 43-101 resource estimate in 2022 with an indicated 24.3 million tonnes and inferred 47.2 million tonnes of ore, which the company will be updating.Canadian North Resources will soon proceed with a PFS as it moves toward development.The Ferguson Lake project contains known deposits of several in-demand critical minerals, such as cobalt, platinum, copper, nickel and palladium.An experienced management team with a track record of success leads the company.
Key Project
Ferguson Lake Project
The company’s critical minerals project covers 253.8 square kilometers and includes known deposits of nickel, copper and PGM. Canadian North Resources is currently working towards additional drilling and testing as it moves toward a PFS and, subsequently, a preliminary economic assessment. Once complete, the company will work towards bringing the asset to production.
Project Highlights:
Prolific 43-101 Resource Estimate: Ferguson Lake’s 43-101 compliant resource estimate describes prolific deposits throughout the asset.Indicated 24.3 million tonnes of ore, including:455.36 million pounds of copper321.43 million pounds of nickel37.5 million pounds of cobaltInferred 47.2 million tonnes of ore, including:946.92 million pounds of copper551.5 million pounds of nickel62.43 million pounds of cobaltSignificant Historical and Recent Work Completed: The asset has undergone decades of exploration and drilling and is now nearing production:Ferguson Lake was initially claimed in the 1950s and received 173 drill holes totaling 30,000 meters in the following decades. Between 1999 and 2012, an additional 158,528 meters were drilled in addition to significant exploration surveys and metallurgical test work. Canadian North acquired the asset in 2013 and completed 18,144 meters of drilling in 2022, updated the resource estimate, conducted additional exploration campaigns and commissioned NI 43-101 Technical Reports.Potential to Expand Known Deposits: Results from a newly completed drill campaign indicate that known resource deposits can be expanded, with 68 new holes hitting mineralized zones. These new results will be included in the new data set for the updated mineral resource estimate.
Management Team
Lee Q. Shim – Chairman and Director
Lee Q. Shim is a Canadian entrepreneur and investor with over 36 years of experience in businesses operating in Canada and overseas. In 1984, Lee founded the Lee Li Group in Toronto, operating as a food distributor and wholesaler of premium meats. He later built state-of-the-art food processing and beverage manufacturing plants to provide high-quality healthy products. With his dedication and vision, he continuously reinvested in the companies by automating facilities to maximize efficiency where possible, enhance service and support long-term stability and sustainable growth. His success has yielded long-term relationships with established companies and brands such as Walmart, Coca-Cola, Loblaws, KFC, Wendy’s, Sobeys, Metro, Costco, Minute Maid, Earth’s Own, Sysco Canada and Gordon Food Service.
Throughout his career, Lee has diversified his portfolio with long-term investments in Canada, the United States, China, and Southeast Asia. His portfolio includes high- and low-rise residential developments and commercial shopping centers, medical infrastructure and facilities, medicare services, food and beverages manufacturing, cold storage warehousing and distribution logistic centers, and wood veneer manufacturing. He is a partner in a private equity firm and has served as a director (often as a significant shareholder) in private and publicly listed companies, capital funds as well as in many successful ventures. As a venture capitalist, he has raised significant capital to fund projects around the world. In July 2020, he was appointed a director of Enercam Exploration Ltd., subsidiary of Angkor Resources Corp.
Kaihui Yang – President, CEO, and Director
Dr. Kaihui Yang has over 30 years of experience as an exploration geologist developing resources within discovery, resource definition, feasibility and mining stages. Early in his career, he was a research scientist in the department of geology at the University of Toronto, and also served as a senior consultant for Canadian mining companies (Barrick, Inco, Falconbridge, etc.) and the World Bank Group.
Recently, Yang has been an independent consultant and director for several major Chinese gold companies and many Canadian mining and investment companies. He previously served as executive vice-president of exploration and international operations for the Zijin Mining Group, a diversified mining conglomerate listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges (more than C$540 billion market cap). He also served as the chairman for the Sprott-Zijin Joint-Venture Mining Fund, an offshore gold mining fund focused primarily on equity and debt funding for precious metal and copper mining companies.
Yang was also a founder and president of a Canadian public company that conducted mineral exploration in China that won the Prospection and Exploration Outstanding Achievement Award from the China Mining Conference in 2011. He also served as the chairman and general manager for several Chinese-foreign joint ventures.
Yang studied geosciences at the University of Toronto, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, and obtained his PhD in Geology in 1990 from the China University of Geosciences (Beijing). He has published numerous articles and conference papers, many focused on massive sulphides, metal-rich-magmatics, and regional precious metal potential and exploration. He is active in associations such as the Society of Economic Geologists (Fellow), Australian Institute of Geoscientists (Fellow), and Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (Core Member).
Trevor Boyd – Vice-president, Exploration
Dr. Trevor Boyd is a professional geologist with over 30 years of experience in the mining industry working worldwide as a consultant, qualified person, officer and director with both private and public companies. Since 1987, Trevor has worked with numerous mining companies for a variety of commodities on projects in North America, Asia and Europe. His experience includes base and precious metals, uranium, nickel-copper-PGM, and specialty metals projects including tungsten, tin and indium. He is a member of the Association of Professional Geologists of Ontario and the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists, and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Boyd has a PhD in geology from the University of Toronto (1996) and an MSc (applied) MINEX degree from McGill University (1988).
Carmelo Marrelli – Chief Financial Officer
Carmelo Marrelli brings more than 20 years of financial reporting experience, specializing in management advisory services, accounting, and financial disclosure. Marrelli is the principal of The Marrelli Group of Companies that provides corporate, financial accounting and reporting services in the Canadian capital markets. Over his career, Marrelli has been director and held senior financial roles in private and publicly listed companies across many industries including mining. He takes a value-based approach as a chartered professional accountant with his expertise spanning all phases of capitalization and growth. Since 1999, Marrelli has been a member of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators since 2000. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto.
Aier Wang – Director
Aire Wang is the founder of Guangdong Grandee Investment Group Co., Ltd. and is currently the executive director of the group. Since Wang started her own business in 1991, she has successively founded Dongguan Loyal Woods Industry Co., Ltd., Guangdong Hopson Wealth Financial Leasing Co., Ltd., Dongguan Golden Valley Credit Investment Consulting Co., Ltd., and Guangdong Grandee Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. Grandee Group was founded in 2011 by integrating all the companies founded by Wang. Grandee Group focuses on investment management in real estate, commercial real estate, finance, health and the wood industry.
Wang has been responsible for the management of family businesses including Dongguan Xingye Finance Guarantee Co., Ltd. and Kanghua Renkang Hospital. Wang has more than 20 years of experience in investment management of real estate, commercial real estate, finance, health and the wood industry. Wang holds an Executive Master’s Degree in business administration from Sun Yat-sen University.
Rick Brown – Director
Rick Brown has spent over 30 years in the financial capital markets in North America where he successfully completed numerous financings, mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. Presently, Brown manages the China desk at Sprott Capital Partners in Toronto, where he is responsible for foreign and institutional client investments in the resource sectors across the Americas and Europe.
In 2001, Brown co-founded Osprey Capital Partners, a mid-market firm assisting mid-sized companies in all types of fundraising and M&A activities. Prior to this, Brown spent time with Scotia Capital Markets in New York, where he worked on some of the largest M&A and financing transactions at that time.
Brown holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in finance.
Michael Weeks – Director
Michael Weeks has over 25 years in the power generation and resource industries. Mike was a founder, president and CEO, and is presently a director and executive VP of operations of Angkor Resources Corp. He has an engineering background and holds a First Class Power Engineering Certificate. Over his career, he has spent more than 14 years negotiating with governments, communities, and stakeholders in developing and implementing natural resource concessions.
In developing countries and communities, Weeks is instrumental in the implementation of training programs for local labor force development, skills and professional accreditation, and has made significant strides in self-sustaining community growth and enhancement. He was a founding director of a petroleum training company as well as two financial service companies.
He has an engineering background and holds a First Class Power Engineering Certificate. He has managed major projects in Canada, Asia, Africa, and Europe, including several major production facilities in North Africa.
Xian Jian Guo – Technical Advisor
Xian Jian Guo has over 35 years of experience in process development, plant operation, optimization, engineering, and project management in the mining and mineral industry.
He has successfully managed a number of large international mining/mineral projects with multi-billion dollar investments covering project evaluation, engineering, construction, and commissioning.
As a Canadian and professional engineer, Dr. Guo was a director at Hatch Ltd. in Ontario and senior scientist at the Noranda Technology Center in Quebec. He has held a number of international positions, including: technical director (for China) at Hatch Ltd.; chief engineer of Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd.; vice-president of Ramu NiCo Management Ltd. in Papua New Guinea; and director of the Metallurgical Department in Beijing Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals. He is currently a senior advisor with the Zijin Mining Group.
Dr. Guo obtained a PhD in Metallurgy from Kunming University of Science and Technology in China (1989) and completed postdoctoral studies at Mackay School of Mines at the University of Nevada in Reno, USA.
Stephen du Toit – Advisor
Stephen du Toit has over 30 years of experience spanning executive, strategic, tactical, and transformational and operational initiatives for manufacturing, product supply, and facility operations. His roles as EVP, VP, COO and in other executive positions encompass multinational operations in Canada, Saudi Arabia, Russia and other countries.
Prior to joining Coca-Cola in 1999, du Toit spent over a decade in the consumer goods industry with Diageo, Penguin Foods, SAB Miller, and Lever Brothers (Unilever). He joined Coca-Cola as manager of, Country Supply Chain in Saudi Arabia and in 2000 was director, Middle East Regional Supply Chain. From 2005 to 2011, as VP he headed up the Commonwealth of Independent States Cluster Procurement, Planning & Supply. In 2011, he became VP, of Manufacturing in Canada, lead Minute Maid Canada (2013 to 2015), then became SVP, Product Supply System, and is currently EVP and COO for Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Limited a newly created, independent bottler.
du Toit holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce specialized in Accountancy, Statistics and Computer Science from the University of Pretoria. He is also a certified Chartered Management Accountant (CMA) and a Fellow of the Procurement Institute of Europe.