There’s not very many people who with their identical twin brother go off the beaten track to stake almost 24,000 hectares within a highly prospective copper-gold porphyry region of northern British Columbia, but twin brothers Malcolm and Cameron Dorsey are amongst the few who have. It’s possible that there is a genetic disposition to rocks, with both brothers achieving a Master of Science, specialized in structural geology, that was parlayed into mineral exploration that has since covered three continents. When the brothers met John Williamson and the Metals Group of Professionals (MPG) they were handed an opportunity to expand and develop their original 24,000 hectares, backed by MPG’s proven expertise in exploration, mining and the finance sectors.
In 2021, Torr Metals (TSX-V:TMET) was born with Malcolm as CEO and Cameron serving as technical advisor. The company went public, incorporating and expanding the original hectares through staking, to amass what is now known as the Latham copper-gold project; a 68,900 hectare property located within the Golden Triangle region of northern British Columbia. Torr’s team has amassed the largest district-scale land package held by any junior exploration company within a 100 kilometre radius of the mammoth Red Chris and Saddle North copper-gold porphyry deposits.
In this interview, Torr’s Malcolm Dorsey tells Proactive about the company’s plans for the exciting Latham project.
Proactive: Coming up on your one-year anniversary as a public company, give us a quick introduction. Who is Torr Metals (TSX-V:TMET)?
Malcolm Dorsey: Torr Metals is currently focused on advancing our Latham Project, which has a number of unique regional advantages in terms of exploration and expansion potential as well as access to provincial infrastructure. Gnat Pass has a defined copper-gold porphyry deposit, with a historical, non-compliant resource of 33 million tonnes indicated at 0.39% copper. Drilling in the 1960’s only tested the top 200 vertical metres of the copper system and neglected to test for gold content. We know from two 2012 drill holes that mineralization extends beyond 500 metres vertical depth and that there is background values of gold in the system typical of regional porphyry systems, with the potential for higher-grade gold being hosted within discrete vertical shear systems that remains untested. This knowledge provides potential significant opportunities for Torr to systematically test the expansion potential of Gnat Pass, which has a surface footprint similar to the Saddle North deposit and very comparable if not better grades than nearby major copper-gold porphyry deposits including Red Chris, Schaft Creek, and Galore Creek.
The earlier-stage, kilometre-scale Dalvenie exploration target is where we have been focusing much of our efforts in 2022 as we see significant potential for this area to host a potential major new copper-gold discovery. Based on historical exploration work we have compiled, the Dalvenie copper-gold system covers a sizeable 2.1 square kilometres with multiple highly-anomalous copper soil anomalies together with select historical rock grab samples that yielded assays up to 8.86 % copper, 6.45 g/t gold, and 62.4 g/t silver. None of our targets at Dalvenie have ever been drill tested, which provides Torr with significant exploration upside in addition to potential resource expansion of Gnat Pass. Add to this the fact that Gnat Pass and Dalvenie are within two kilometres and road-accessible from Highway 37 as well as within 24 kilometres of the town and regional airport of Dease Lake; giving us year-round operating potential and optimization of future exploration costs while putting more of our working capital into the ground.
Most recently we have also generated multiple copper-gold targets within the Hu Zone, located within the northwest portion of Latham, approximately 28 kilometres west of our Dalvenie and Gnat Pass targets.
The Golden Triangle is one of the best areas for mining and exploration in Canada – and a hotbed of activity. How did you and the team manage to stake such a large land package?
At the time, copper prices were relatively depressed and companies were focusing on more heavily explored regions in northern BC. Myself and my brother have always enjoyed going off the beaten path and looking in regions that are underexplored but with substantial historical data indicative of a high degree of prospectivity. Our systematic approach led us to what is now the Latham project, which checked all of the right boxes. Being ahead of the curve allowed us to move in and stake the land with 100% ownership at minimal cost and without notice.
When we brought the project to John Williamson he immediately saw the significant potential of the project. This is a new story within the prolific Golden Triangle, providing new opportunities and supported by an experienced technical and management group that has collectively raised over $700 million to consistently deliver value to shareholders.
You’re expecting drill permits in the near future to begin drilling at Latham. What will it entail and what are you hoping to achieve?
Our planned drilling campaign will consist of two objectives that focus on developing the Gnat Pass deposit and Dalvenie target. At Gnat Pass, we plan to first confirm historically reported grades and continuity of copper-gold mineralization from surface and then extend beyond 200 metres vertical depth to test the robustness of the system.
We see significant upside potential to expansion at Gnat Pass, as the anomalous copper-gold surface footprint is comparable the nearby Saddle North copper-gold porphyry deposit, located approximately 50 kilometres to the south. Importantly, the majority of Gnat Pass has only been tested to 200 metres vertical depth and remains open, whereas the Saddle North deposit has a vertical span of 1600 metres typical of deeply-rooted porphyry systems in this region. The question is does Gnat Pass have the potential to go much deeper? Based on our modelling we believe it does, as characteristics suggest we are seeing only the upper portions of a porphyry system. As well, there is also significant potential to expand the width and along-strike extent near-surface, which together with historically neglected gold content provides significant potential to improve future porphyry economics.
At Dalvenie, we will use geochemical and geophysical IP data collected in 2022 to de-risk our preliminary drill targeting, as these targets have never previously been drill tested. Dalvenie will be the first early-stage exploration target ever drilled on the project, providing significant upside as a potential major new copper-gold discovery as well as an exploration model for another 13 known mineral occurrences on the property.
Take us through your capital structure. Are you well-funded to complete an initial drill program?
The company has a very tight share structure with only 35.9 million shares outstanding, and we're well funded for an initial drill program with approximately $2.8 million in working capital.. As a result, we are ideally positioned to test Gnat Pass and Dalvenie without having to raise additional capital, which I think gives us a very good competitive advantage compared to many of our peers.
Torr is celebrating its one-year anniversary as a public company. What are some of the key takeaways from the last year?
Torr is a new story with a largely underexplored district-scale land package in a region that has never before been fully consolidated. We have a solid foundation with a copper-gold porphyry deposit open to expansion in the shadow of two world-class copper-gold porphyry deposits at Red Chris and Saddle North, which were two of the largest acquisitions made in British Columbia in the last three years. We also possess significant exploration upside with two road-accessible targets at Dalvenie and Hu, which contain multiple kilometre-scale copper-gold anomalies that have never been drill tested. Latham’s location, coupled with distinct regional advantages, allows us to check all of the boxes required to effectively test the full potential of the Latham project.
Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com
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