Rapid discovery of high-grade gold has won peer acclaim for Vancouver gold explorer Pretium Resources Inc.(TSX, NYSE:PVG).
The two-year old company has just snagged a prestigious award from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada(PDAC) for advancing the Valley of the Kings deposit at its Brucejack project into a “world-class, high-grade gold deposit.”
The PDAC’s 2013 Bill Dennis award recognizes a Canadian discovery or prospecting success.
In announcing the win, the PDAC commended Pretium for a successful exploration program that, since 2011, has resulted in a high-grade indicated mineral resource base of 8.5 million ounces of gold at the deposit, which is near Stewart in northwest B.C.
“The speed and efficiency with which the exploration program was conducted and the extremely high grade of gold that was discovered make this a very exciting story for us in the mineral exploration community,” PDAC executive director Ross Gallingersaid of Pretium’s win.
Pretium might be a relatively new player in Vancouver, but it’s led by a local mining veteran.
Pretium president and CEO Bob Quartermaincredits his 35 years in the business for enabling him to identify and efficiently develop the Valley of the Kings deposit.
Quartermain was president of Silver Standard Resource Inc. from 1985 to 2010, but said he’d retired from that company by the time it bought Brucejack and hit six very high-grade intersections in the Valley of the Kings area.
Quartermain said those drill results caught his attention and, when Silver Standard decided to sell the project, he stepped forward as a buyer.
“It struck me, when you get six really high-grade hits like that, it’s likely there are going to be more of them.”
But Quartermain said that, even with his optimism for the project, the discovery has panned out far better than original expectations of between four and five million ounces of high-grade gold.
Quartermain said Canada’s mining industry watches the PDAC awards closely and he’s heard them called Canada’s “Academy Awards of geologists.”
“To receive one of the most prestigious awards they have in such a short period is not only a great corporate achievement but one personally for me, after 35 years in the business,” he said.
Gavin Dirom, president and CEO for the Association for Mineral Exploration BC (AME BC), said AME BC recognized Quartermain in 2008 with the Murray Pezim award for his achievements in financing mineral exploration.
“The success of Bob Quartermain and his team with the Brucejack property is only the latest example of his solid track record of building shareholder value in precious metals.”
