- Fireweed Zinc (TSXV:FWZ) has announced its intention to acquire the Mactung Tungsten Project
- The project, located in Yukon and Northwest Territories, next to the company’s Macmillan Pass Zinc-Lead-Silver Project
- The Mactung project is one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world
- Fireweed holds a right to a 100% interest in the Mactung project through a binding LOI with the Government of the Northwest Territories (“GNWT”)
- Shares of Fireweed Zinc are up 17.54% to C$0.67 as of 12:27 p.m. EDT
Fireweed Zinc (FWZ) has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to acquire a 100 per cent interest in the Mactung Tungsten Project.
The project is located in Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Under the terms of the agreement, Fireweed will purchase the Mactung Project from the government of Northwest Territories (GNWT) through an LOI for at total price of $15 million.
The company will first pay $15,000 to the GNWT under the execution of the LOI and an additional $3.5 million within 18 months of the agreement being finalized. An additional $5 million will be paid by Fireweed to GNWT once it plans to build a mine on either the Mactung Project or mineral property interests controlled by Fireweed in the Yukon.
The agreement is expected to be finalized before the end of 2022, after which ownership of the project assets will be transferred to Fireweed.
The project, which sits next to the company’s Macmillan Pass Zinc-Lead-Silver Project, is one of the world’s largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits. It is also one of the few potential sources of scale for tungsten that doesn’t come from China.
Although Macmillan Pass remains the company’s flagship project, the addition of Mactung and its recent staking of Gayna River puts Fireweed on the path to becoming one of the leading critical exploration companies.
“With both zinc and tungsten being designated as critical minerals by Canada, the US, and the EU, Fireweed is positioned to leverage the transition to a sustainable green economy,” Fireweed Zinc CEO Brandon Macdonald said in a press release. “We are excited to be advancing both projects under the Fireweed umbrella to not just maximize value for Fireweed shareholders, but to also create increased opportunities for local Indigenous groups and the people of both Yukon and Northwest Territories.”
Previous activity at the Mactung Tungsten Project includes 38,000 meters of historical drilling, which outlined a significant, high-grade tungsten resource and produced a positive historical feasibility study. The deposit is also roughly 13 kilometres north of the company’s Tom deposit and is easily accessible by the North Canol Highway.
The Mactung Tungsten Project is an advanced early stage project with extensive drilling, engineering, metallurgy, geotechnical, and environmental baseline data collected and supported in a Feasability study in 2009.
Moving forward, the company anticipates undertaking validation programs on previous work in order to support the development of a new mineral resource estimate for the Mactung Tungsten Project. In 2023, Fireweed plans to carry out a prefeasability study and will also be evaluating synergies with the Macmillan Pass Project for the future.
Shares of Fireweed Zinc are up 17.54 per cent to C$0.67 as of 12:27 p.m. EDT.
