“In our business, you make it taking shots.”
Ron Netolitzky, 2014 Canadian Mining Hall of Fame inductee
Prospector Ron Netolitzky found his footing exploring for uranium in the northern Saskatchewan muskeg while oil patch consulting on the side, but it was in the mountains of northwestern British Columbia that he found his fortune.
In the late 80s, the geologist discovered the rich Snip and Eskay Creek mines in northwestern B.C.’s Golden Triangle, sparking both a staking rush on the ground and a trading frenzy on the old Vancouver Stock Exchange. Here—through a junior called Delaware Resources—Netolitzky and his partners optioned the Snip property from Cominco, who had held it for around twenty years but had never drilled it.
“We had enough money in the company to do the first drill program. We didn’t have enough for the second phase of the same year. Thank goodness, the holes ran,” Netolitzky recalls.
As did Delaware’s stock price. The company—and its 40% interest in Snip—was taken over by Pezim and rolled into Prime Resources. The mine eventually produced about a million ounces for Cominco, then Barrick, at grades averaging 25 g/t.
After Delaware, Netolitzky turned his attention to nearby Eskay Creek, a prospect he secured through a company called Consolidated Stikine Resources. His partners at Eskay were John Toffan, George Oughtred, Larry Nagy, and Marguerite Mackay. Eskay had previously been staked in the 1930s by prospector Tom Mackay and drilled by several majors, but with no success. Netolitzky’s group ran out of money to drill, though, so they went to Pezim, who invested $900,000 through Calpine Resources.
And when Hole 109 hit 682 feet averaging 25 g/t gold and 27 g/t silver, Netolitsky told us it was game on.
By the time a bidding war between players like Canadian mining legends Pezim and Ned Goodman had come to an end, shareholders of penny stock Consolidated Stikine sold for $67 a share to International Corona.
Eskay went on to churn out 3.3 million ounces of gold at 49 g/t and 160 million ounces of silver at 2,400 g/t for Homestake and Barrick, and Netolitzky left the discoveries a multi-millionaire.
“I guess I could say I got lucky in northern B.C.,” Netolitzky said.
Now Netolitzky, who was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame earlier this year, has his sights set on a third Northwestern BC discovery.
For the rest of this article, click here: http://ceo.ca/2015/07/20/ron-netolitzky-walt-coles-skeena-resources-interview/