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Mineral Property Interests

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Mineral Property Interests

Mineral Property Interests

Note 10: Mineral property interests

The Company’s principal resource properties are located in Canada.

Quebec

The Company maintains interests in 12 properties within the James Bay region of Quebec. The principal projects are:

Eau Claire

The Company owns a 100% interest in the Eau Claire project located immediately north of the Eastmain reservoir, approximately 10 kilometres (“km”) northeast of Hydro Quebec’s EM-1 hydroelectric power facility, 80 km north of the town of Nemaska, 320 km northeast of the town of Matagami, and 800 km north of Montreal, Quebec. The property consists of map-designated claims totaling approximately 23,000 hectares.

Eastmain Mine

The Eastmain Mine project hosts the Eastmain Mine gold deposit. The past-producing Eastmain Mine project comprises 152 mineral claims and an industrial lease. Located on the eastern most part of the Upper Eastmain River Greenstone Belt of the James Bay District of northern Quebec, the property covers approximately 80 km² of highly prospective terrain.

In 2019, Benz Mining entered into an option agreement with Eastmain to allow Benz Mining the option to earn a 75% interest in the Eastmain Mine property in return for making option payments of $2,320 between October 2019 and October 2023, and incurring exploration expenditures of $3,500 on the property. The option payments may be settled in both cash and shares. Upon completion of the first option to earn 75%, Benz Mining may acquire the remaining 25% interest upon payment of $1,000 upon closing of project financing, and $1,500 upon commencement of commercial production. This option agreement was subsequently amended in April 2020 to grant Benz Mining the option to earn up to 100% of the Ruby Hill properties located to the west of the Eastmain Mine project. The Company would retain 1-2% net smelter royalties in respect of the properties following completion of the option agreement requirements.

Éléonore South Joint Venture

The ESJV project consists of two separate blocks of map-designated claims, comprising a total of 282 claims covering approximately 147 km2 of the Opinaca area of James Bay, Quebec. The Éléonore West block consists of 34 mineral claims covering approximately 18 km2, while the Éléonore South block contains 248 claims extending over an area of approximately 130 km2. The project is a joint operation and project ownership is based on participation in the funding of annual exploration programs. At December 31, 2022 the project was held by the partners approximately as follows: Fury Gold 50.022% and Newmont 49.978%. The Company is the operator of the project.

Nunavut

Committee Bay

The Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary North Country, owns a 100% interest in the Committee Bay project located in Nunavut, Canada. The Committee Bay project includes approximately 280,000 hectares situated along the Committee Bay Greenstone Belt located within the Western Churchill province of Nunavut. The Committee Bay project is subject to a 1% Net Smelter Royalty (“NSR”) on gold production, with certain portions subject to an additional 1.5% NSR. The 1.5% NSR is payable on only 7,596 hectares and can be purchased by the Company within two years of commencement of commercial production for $2,000 for each one-third (0.5%) of the 1.5% NSR.

Gibson MacQuoid

In 2017, the Company acquired a number of prospecting permits and mineral claims along the Gibson MacQuoid Greenstone Belt in Nunavut, Canada. In 2019, the Company staked additional claims, which overlapped the Company’s prospecting claims that expired in February 2020, to maintain a contiguous land package over the Company’s current areas of interest. The Company’s claims, which are located between the Meliadine deposit and Meadowbank mine, cover approximately 120 km of strike length of the prospective greenstone belt and total 51,622 hectares collectively.

	Quebec			Nunavut			British Columbia			Total

Balance at December 31, 2020	$	125,354		$	19,358		$	16,060		$	160,772
Purchase of Homestake Ridge royalty		-			-			400			400
Option payment received		(260	)		-			-			(260	)
Disposition		(50	)		-			-			(50	)
Change in estimate of provision for site reclamation and closure		50			(219	)		-			(169	)
Balance at December 31, 2021	$	125,094		$	19,139		$	16,460		$	160,693
Sale of Homestake Resources (note 1)		-			-			(16,460	)		(16,460	)
Acquisition of additional ownership interest in ESJV (note 1)		1,281			-			-			1,281
Option payment received		(310	)		-			-			(310	)
Change in estimate of provision for site reclamation and closure (note 13)		(409	)		395			-			(14	)
Balance at December 31, 2022	$	125,656		$	19,534		$	-		$	145,190

In July 2021, the Company sold certain mineral claims on the Radisson property for $50, payable in 18 months from date of purchase in either cash or common shares, at the election of the purchaser. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company received settlement of the sale in common shares of a publicly traded entity. These have been classified as marketable securities (note 7).

In October 2022, the Company received an option payment in cash of $310 from Benz Mining in respect of the option agreement for the Eastmain Mine and Ruby Hill properties (year ended December 31, 2021 - $260, comprising of $150 cash and 174,658 shares with a fair value upon date of receipt of $110).