Authored by John Mason, D.Sc., P. Geo., and backed by the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission, this article offers a comprehensive overview of mining and exploration activity in Northwestern Ontario for the fall/early winter of 2025.

Carcetti Capital Corp. purchased Hemlo Gold Mines from Barrick Gold for $1.09 B (U.S.). The new ownership name created is called Hemlo Mining Corp. (HMC). Bob Quartermain, an early Hemlo explorer and discoverer, returns as Director of HMC. HMC commenced trading on December 2.

Goldshore Resources Inc. was rebranded as GoldX2. The Moss Gold Project, the flagship of Gold X2 Mining, and located in the Shebandowan Lakes area, is the focus of a 50,000 m. drill program. Shallow shear zones in the Main Zone are one target. The deposit contains an estimated 5.2 M ounces of gold. A new mineral resource and Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) will be released in Q4 2025 or Q1 2026. On October 1, Gold X2 Mining acquired Kesselrun Resources Ltd. and its Huronian Gold Project, as well as other privately held claims.

Orla Mining Ltd. announced exploration success at the Musselwhite Mine, confirming a potential two kilometre extension of the PQ Zone, the mine’s down plunge trend. 4.1 metres of 15.1 g/t gold was intersected. In addition, exploration continues, designed ultimately to permit resource growth. 57,686 ounces of gold were milled in Q3.

West Red Lake Gold Mines announced that 7,055 ounces of gold were poured in Q3 at the Madsen Mine, located west of Red Lake. Ore production has increased by 24%. Sean McCormack is the new Mine GM. New underground equipment is arriving on site. The company previously released a positive PEA for the Rowan Project, located northwest of the Madsen Mine, illustrating a 5 year mine life (LOM), head grades of 8.0 g/t, and annual production of 35,230 ounces of gold. A 5000 m drill program commenced at Rowan.

Kinross Gold at the Great Bear Project focused on regional exploration outside of the known LP, Hinge and Limb Zones. The 2025 budget called for over 50,000 m. of exploration drilling designed to assess surface and underground gold targets, at the Red Lake property. Meanwhile Kinross has commenced an exploration decline that will allow an exploration drill platform(s) to be established underground. This approach will open up a more fulsome view of the gold deposit at depth, prior to any mine construction. CAPEX for the entire mine/mill build is estimated at $1.4B.

Frontier Lithium’s PAK Project located north of Red Lake, has been selected by Ontario for the new “One Project, One Process” framework. In addition, the company released a socio-economic study illustrating economic and labour impacts, based on the latest Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) with respect to mine/mill, and including the Thunder Bay Conversion Facility PreFeasibility Study (PFS) .

Clean Air Metals released a Preliminary Economic Assessment(PEA) for the Thunder Bay North Project. The Current and Escape deposits equate to an 11 year mine life producing 2500 tonnes per day of ore. Pre-tax IRR is 39%. The resource has been updated reflecting 14.9 M tonnes of indicated resource grading 2.66 g/t PGEs, 0.4% copper and 0.24% nickel. In addition, Clean Air released positive results of down plunge drilling on the Escape Deposit; 22 metres of 0.84 g/t Pt, 1.12 g/t Pd, 0.41% Cu and 0.21% Ni were intersected.

Alamos Gold continues with expansion at the Island Gold Complex. On September 9^th the TSX recognized Alamos as one of the 30 top performing stocks over a three-year period. An ongoing expansion study will be released in Q4 and is anticipated to illustrate an increase in milling rates from 12,400 tonnes per day to 18,000 tonnes per day at Island and Magino. Phase 3 expansion includes shaft development.190,400 ounces of gold were produced in the first 9 months of 2025.

Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd successfully extended the high grade 6 Central Zone 300 metres down plunge. Exploration drilling continues on other zones including: Falcon 311, Falcon 720 and in the 300 zone all specific to discrete mineralized lenses. 80,000 plus metres will equate to a new reserve/resource goal, within a technical report, for 2026.

Coeur Mining announced on November 3^rd, that the company had acquired New Gold Inc. for $7B, and the Rainy River and New Afton mines (B.C.). New Gold Inc. previously announced, that based on performance at the Rainy River Mine and the New Afton mines, the company ranked  11^th on the TSX list of top performing stocks. At Rainy River drill results have extended the Intrepid Zone and it is deemed open at depth. The Rainy River Mine produced an impressive 100,301 ounces of gold in Q3.

Equinox Gold added Bryan Wilson as VP of Operations on September 3^rd, and Roger Souckey as Director-External Relations, to the Greenstone Mine leadership team. Q3 mill grades have improved to 1.34 g/t gold; guidance, for a full production calendar year, will be approximately 220,000 ounces. The company is mining 205,000 tonnes of ore per day.

Dryden Gold have commenced an initial exploration drill program at the Sherridon Project, located 35 km south of the historic Gold Rock Gold Camp and south of Dryden. Drill hi-lites include 2.55 g/t gold over 9.0 metres, amid a broad 100 metre-wide alteration zone. In addition, a new gold discovery was made at the Hyndman Project in a channel sampling program.

Laurion Mineral Exploration Inc. undertook a power-stripping and channel sampling program on the Cyril Knight Property (Twin Falls), located 7 km west of the Sturgeon River Mine. Results include: 1.90 m. grading 32.42 g/t gold and 1.05 m. grading 2.34 g/t gold. In addition, 7700 metres of drilling was completed for the season on M1, M24 and M25 vein systems. Intersections at M25 include:   0.50 m. of 16.9 g/t gold.

Thunder Gold Corp. commenced the Phase Three drill program at Tower Mountain, on October 1. Focus will be in-fill drilling along a 1.8 km western contact zone of the Tower Mountain Intrusive Complex. Goal is to advance an open mineral resource estimate.

Delta Resources initiated a baseline environmental program at the Delta-1 Gold Property, located 50 km west of Thunder Bay. Groundwater and surface water monitoring, “Species at Risk” assessment, and an archeological assessment are included in the study. In addition, the company completed the third phase of a regional till sampling program focused at the western portion of the property.

Bold Ventures completed mechanical stripping and sampling at the 111 Gold Zone, and at seven additional areas, on the Burchell Lake Property. VLF-EM has been undertaken on two zones. In addition, at the Northwest Property, which is interpreted as the strike extension of the main Moss trend of the adjoining GoldX2 Moss Property, soil sampling and VLF-EM surveys were conducted. In the Atikokan area, Bold Ventures, made a new gold discovery on the Wilcorp Property.

Landore Resources will release an updated independent mineral resource estimate in Q4 for the BAM Gold Project, located north of Lake Nipigon. A drill program from mid 2025 will feed the reporting; drilling extended mineralization to the east of BAM.

Goldfinder Resources remain active on four gold exploration projects in the Uchi Subprovince. Soil geochemistry, prospecting, geophysical interpretation, exploration drilling and sampling have been undertaken.

Thunder Bay’s Kane and Associates in association with Fulcrum Metals, have initiated a Northern Ontario assessment of historic mine tailings (and waste rock) that could be reprocessed for recovery. Gold is the main focus. New provincial legislation introduced July 1,2025, encourages clean-up of these legacy mine waste sites, reducing waste and at the same time creating a revenue stream.

Impala Canada announced that the closure of Lac des Iles has been pushed back until 2027, due to rising palladium prices. This decision will allow the company to invest in its facilities, including the tailings management area.

First Mining Gold released an updated Prefeasibility Study (PFS) for the Springpole Lake Gold Project. Capex for the mine/mill build is $1.104B; IRR is 41% after tax.

Seva Mining Corp. have acquired the Cameron Lake Gold Project from First Mining Gold. The project located east of Lake of the Woods, hosts approximately one million ounces of gold in various categories, grading 2.54-2.62 g/t gold.

Vault Minerals, at the idled Sugar Zone Mine, White River, are working on permitting, a new life of mine (LOM), as well as a lower cost tailings storage facility. Regulatory approval is now the remaining trigger for a restart of operations.

Juno Corp. raised $18M for the Ring of Fire project. The company is the largest mining claim holder in the Ring of Fire with 5300 sq km of claims held. The company holds $150M in exploration data to date.

Green Technology Metals, have chosen Altris Engineering to optimize and lead the Seymour Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS). Altris has deep experience in mineral processing.