Gatling Exploration (OTCQB:GATGF)

For thousands of years, gold has been used by countless civilizations for currencies and trades. It was used as the basis of tremendous empires and was the cause of hundreds of wars. Historically and still to this day, the use of gold has been money, trade, and wealth, but in the 21st century, its uses are greater than that. Gold is used in billions of electronics around the world as the basis of its technology.

The gold mining process is not an easy one and Gatling exploration is one of those companies that has taken that challenge head-on. Gatling exploration (OTCMKTS: GATGF) is a gold mining company that is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, and was founded in 2018. The stock of the company can trace its start in quarter 4 of 2018, which is when the stock started to trade. The company operates mines in Ontario Canada, which are located about 400 miles north of Toronto.

In late 2018, the stock was trading at about $0.55 per share, remaining relatively the same until mid-2019, when the stock increased drastically to $0.98. By late 2020, the stock declined drastically and was trading at $0.36. The stock has continued to decrease in price and is currently trading at $0.18 per share.

Gatling exploration has a market capitalization rate of about $8 million, with a 52 week high of $0.42 and a 52 week low of $0.16. The volume of the stock is 55,000, with an average volume of 88,453. The company’s total cash is $107.09k and its total debt totaling $167.85k. An interesting aspect of one of the company’s financial metrics is its beta. The average beta of all stocks on the market is one and the beta of Gatling exploration is 0.16. The low beta indicates the company is much less susceptible to stock declines during economic downturns.

The mines are comprised of 3 high-grade gold deposits that span more than 1.7 square miles. Between 2019 - 2021, drilling has connected all of the 3 deposits for a total of 1.73 miles of strike and almost 1 mile of depth. The company has tremendous short-term exploration potential at all of the 3 deposits, with an additional satellite prospect Kir Vit. The Kir Vit deposit is expected to be utilized sometime in 2022 and has great potential.

The 3 high-grade projects are all in Gatling’s Larder Gold Project, which is an excellent and established gold camp that has produced more than 70 million ounces of gold or 4,375,000 pounds of gold or 35,000 tons. The entire project is owned by Gatling exploration with a combination of claims that are patented and unpatented. The entire property of the Larder Gold Project is accessible by truck or all terrain that use non-serviced roads.

The Larder project includes 3 mines, which are Fernland, Cheminis, and Bear. The Fernland mine has 50,000 m drilled, with 115,000 indicated and 156,000 inferred oz Au, both from in-pit and underground mining. The majority of the gold mineralization is mostly in the south sheer hosted mafic volcanics, with the north zone being a secondary zone at depth.

The Cheminis deposit has 105,000 drilled, with 165,000 indicated oz Au and 238,000 inferred oz Au. The main zones of the Cheminis mine are lithologically controlled and occur in the northern mafic volcanics, with a maximum depth of 1,000 meters or 3280 feet. Two pits have been proposed previously that can easily capture mineralization at no deeper than 200m of the deposit.

The Bear deposit has 140,000 m drilled with 108,000 indicated oz Au and 539,000 inferred oz Au underground. The Bear deposit has the highest grade deposits of the 3 mines at the Larder project. The bear mine spans 1.5 km of a strike at a depth of 1.5km (4921 feet). This deposit has the greatest potential of all of the deposits in terms of gold grade, depth, and strike.

Below: a map of the area surrounding the Larder project, showcasing the many different mines in the region due to its richness and concentration of gold deposits.

In order to improve their mining operations, Gatling exploration has conducted a new global mineral resource estimate (MRE) that is in accordance with NI 43-101 standards of disclosure for mineral projects with interesting results. The study has found there are 388,000 ounces of gold in the Indicated category and an additional, 933,000 ounces of gold in the Inferred category, which is spread across all 3 deposits. The study includes open pit and underground mining.

Above: The map above showcases all of the mines in the area as well as the location of the different mining projects that belong to the company, which are Swansea, Fernland, Cheminis, Bear, and Kir Vit.

The company has been successful with drilling from its start in 2019, starting with a 10,000 m program that was a success in connecting all of the deposits together. The company has a 25,000 m program for 2021 that is now completed and due to its success, the program has been expanded.

In mid-October of 2021, the company announced that it has procured private placement to raise proceeds of up to $2,500,000. The offering will be 5,882,352 common shares of the company that are issued on a flow-through basis at a price of $0.34 per share. Part b of the offering will include 1,562,500 units of the company at a unit price of $0.32. Each unit will include one common share in the company, plus an additional one-half of one transferable share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant is able to be exercised into one additional common share at a price of $0.50 per share for a period of 2 years from the date of issue.

The $2.5 million that was raised will be used for Canadian exploration and will qualify as flow through mining expenditures. All of the offered securities will be subject to a 4 month hold period from the date of issue in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Although the company’s stock has been declining in the past few years, Gatling exploration does have some redeeming qualities to it. The qualities are in the form of 3 productive mines, especially with the Bear deposit and its high-quality ore. In the past year, the company has accomplished many different things that will significantly benefit the company in 2022, such as a new raising $8.8 million in new capital, adding a new mining rig, extending multiple zones beyond the original estimate model, and identifying significant gold intersections within the new host target at the Larder Gold Project.

For 2022, the company has many different goals and objectives they hope to achieve. The company wants to increase surface and drill exploration at the Swansea deposit, expand and extend newly defined zones from the 2021 mineral resource estimate, compile & interpret new data from the 2021 Kir Vit program in anticipation for mining and drilling in 2022. Lastly, the company hopes to expand its operations, mining, and drilling into new areas that contain high-quality gold ore. Despite having a turbulent stock price past, the company should still be of interest to investors.