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NORTH COUNTRY GOLD CORP. Gold Explorer Could See Shares Triple on Higher Valuation
Rob Goldman [email protected] August 6, 2014
NORTH COUNTRY GOLD CORP. (TSX: NCG.V, OTC:QX - NCGDF - $0.065)
Price Target: $0.21	Rating: Speculative Buy
COMPANY SNAPSHOT	INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
North Country Gold Corp. controls the gold-rich Committee Bay Greenstone Belt located 180 km northeast of the of Agnico Eagle's Meadowbank gold mine in Nunavut Canada. It is one of the largest under-explored greenstone belts in Canada with numerous drill-ready high-grade gold targets. The Company holds a 100% interest in 243,620 acres along the 300km long belt and has identified 5 distinct exploration centers with numerous high-grade gold drill intercepts. North Country operations are currently focused on advancement of the Three Bluffs deposit, which is geologically comparable, with similar grades, type of mineralization and age, to the Lupin, Meadowbank and Meliadine gold deposits.   KEY STATISTICS   Price as of 8/5/14 $0.065   52 Wk High - Low $0.11 – $0.03   Est. Shares Outstanding 121.8M   Market Capitalization $7.9M   3 Mo Avg Vol 69,000   Exchange: TSX:V     COMPANY INFORMATION North Country Gold Corp. 9797 North 45th Avenue NW Suite 220 Edmonton, AB T6e 5V8 Canada www.NorthCountryGold.com Phone: 780.437.6324 [email protected]	Trading at a big discount to its peers despite holding a 100% interest in 243,620 acres along the 300km long belt and with the identification of 5 distinct exploration centers with numerous high-grade gold drill intercepts, we believe that North Country Gold offers investors huge upside. In the past few years, the Company has doubled the resource on the flagship Three Bluffs property. The deposit currently hosts a resource of 4.30 Mt at 4.91 g/t gold for 683,000 ounces gold (indicated) and 5.52Mt at 5.43 g/t gold for 965,000 ounces gold (inferred).  A key competitive advantage of the property’s resource is its unusually high grade subset. With a combined $80M invested in its properties, North Country Gold has significant competitive advantages over its peers. These include the unique Arctic site, multiple high grade targets, a higher grade of resource than most comparable companies, favorable drilling costs, and its 100% ownership stake, which can provide it with future joint venture flexibility. Near term milestones include bulk sampling which should serve as a catalyst for the shares. The bulk of the resource is from the surface down to 250 meters. Separately, a number of Wall Street firms, now predict that gold may have bottomed and is coming back into favor. Given its competitive advantages and low valuation, we believe that NCG’s shares could triple in the next 6-12 months. If the stock were to trade to the $0.21 per share level, NCG.V would trade at a roughly 50% discount to its peer group. We believe that NCG.V offers investors a compelling, once-a-year opportunity to buy an undervalued stock potentially poised to move substantially higher.  We rate these shares Speculative Buy.

COMPANY OVERVIEW

North Country Gold Corporation (TSX:V – NCG, OTC:QX - NCGSF) controls the gold-rich Committee Bay Greenstone Belt located 180 km northeast of the Agnico Eagle's Meadowbank gold mine in Nunavut Canada. This 300 km (185 miles) belt contains five additional gold exploration projects and more than 50 high grade gold occurrences and is one of the largest under-explored greenstone belts in Canada. The Company holds a 100% interest in 243,620 acres along the along belt and has identified 5 distinct exploration centers with numerous high-grade gold drill targets, including its flagship property, Three Bluffs.

Image I. North Country Gold Properties
Source: www.NorthCountryGold.com

North Country Gold was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta.  The Company’s primary near term focus is to expand and develop the Three Bluffs property which management believes represents a large untapped resource that could emerge as a significant gold deposit.  In the past few years, the Company has doubled the resource on this property. The deposit currently hosts a resource of 4.30 Mt at 4.91 g/t gold for 683,000 ounces gold (indicated) and 5.52Mt at 5.43 g/t gold for 965,000 ounces gold (inferred).  A key competitive advantage of the property’s resource is its unusually high grade subset. In fact much of the drilling has been from the surface down to 250 meters with some depths as low as 550 meters where mineralization still persists. To date, more than $80 million has spent on all five projects, with an estimated $40-50M spent on Three Bluffs.

Image II. North Country Gold Geological Indications by Site
Source: www.NorthCountryGold.com

North Country Gold uses state of the art geological modeling tools as well as modern and efficient drilling methods.  Moreover, drilling costs could decrease 140% over traditional methods from just two years ago, as management estimates it has reduced the drilling cost to $500 per meter versus $1200 per meter. 

North Country Gold’s property rights to vast Arctic lands clearly offer vast mining potential.  To leverage the high grade resource further, the Company has executed a series of initiatives that serve as additional differentiators in the region.  For example, North Country Gold has extended the season for work on these sites by two months through innovative projects such as the construction of an ice airstrip, housing for personnel and equipment, and a heated drill water system for the winter drilling season, which extends the Company’s exploration season.

In the near term, the Company seeks to execute a series of milestones including the engagement of bulk sampling permitting by year end for Three Bluffs and executing the first stage of the sampling in mid-2015, pending the timing of the receipt of a capital for the project.

It should be noted that there is a great history of mining success in this Arctic region. In fact, the Company’s ideal model is the Lupin Arctic Gold Mine used by Elgin Mining, Inc. (TO – ELG). This site started production with 2.7Mt grading 11.82 g/t with a planned 7 year mine life, produced 3.36 Moz averaging 8.9 g/t over its 22 year life. With a similar grade to Lupin, North Country Gold could emulate much of the success enjoyed by the Lupin mine.

Although there are strong indications that the favorable monetary policies of the United States and other industrialized nations is coming to an end, gold remains a key tool in hedging stock portfolios, combating inflation, and protecting downside risk for fixed income.

With respect to pricing, the timing could not be better for North Country Gold. A renewed physical demand in the yellow metal especially by emerging markets has occurred, driving gold prices incrementally higher of late. Although gold prices tend to move largely based on macroeconomic themes, emerging markets players tend to have a long term approach toward their physical investment in gold. Clearly, this bodes well for North Country Gold and its investors.

The figure belowpresents a sample of the latest estimates for the price of gold over the next two years from some leading Wall Street banks.  The consensus seems to indicate a stable environment where prices remain somewhere in the $1,200 - $1,400 per ounce range.  It should be noted that earlier this week Bank of America Merrill Lynch and other major market prognosticators have declared that the worst is over for gold. Therefore, we can expect incrementally higher pricing, especially next year.

Figure I. Recent Gold Forecasts
Source: Goldman Small Cap Research

 

THE NORTH COUNTRY GOLD TEAM

The C-Level management and Directors of North Country Gold have nearly 150 years of experience in mining,  mineral exploration, marketing, management, technology, finance, real estate and law that will enable the Company to maximize shareholder value and optimize the firm’s resources.

John Williamson – Chief Executive Officer & Chairman
Mr. Williamson has over a quarter of a century in mineral exploration with nearly 20 years at the management level.  He has served as Chairman, President, CEO, CFO, Director and or Advisor of TSX Venture and ASX listed companies that include Niblack Mineral Developments, Inc.(TSX-V – NIB), Brilliant Resources, Inc., (TSX-V – BLT), Indicator Minerals, Inc. (TSX-V – IME), Kaminak Gold Corporation (TSX-V – KAM) , and CBR Gold Corporation (TSX-V – CBR) among many others.  The impressive financial statistics for Mr. Williamson include deals involving over $250 million in debt or equity financing, $200 in capital expenditures in mining, and $95 million in precious metal revenue. He has founded 10 junior resource and mining companies, including North Gold Country, on four different continents.  Finally, Mr. Williamson is a Fellow of the Geological Association of Canada and Member of the Society of Economic Geologists and has a B.S. with Specialization in Physical Geology.

Brian Budd – President & Director
Mr. Budd has over 25 years in technology in roles that include experience in entrepreneurial and sales leadership, business and financial planning, corporate communication, and strategic planning in domestic and international markets.  He currently serves as a Director for Graphite One Resources, Inc. (TSX-V – GPH) and served as CEO of Altiplano Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V – APN).

Sean Mager – Chief Financial Officer & Director
Mr. Mager has over 25 years of related experience with 15 of them being in the junior mining industry.  He has developed several public companies that have conducted mineral exploration and mining worldwide. These companies have conducted mineral exploration and mining worldwide, with precious metal, base metal, diamond and industrial mineral interests in North and South America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Africa.  Additionally, he has served as President & Chief Operations Officer for Brilliant Resources, Inc., (TSX-V – BLT), Director for Altiplano Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V – APN), and as an Advisor for Graphite One Resources, Inc. (TSX-V – GPH), among others.  Early in his career he worked for the Canadian government as a financial analyst for Resources and Economic Development for Canada’s Northwest Territories.  Finally, Mr. Mager has a Bachelor of Commerce (1989) from the University of Alberta.

Peter Kleepsies – Vice President of Exploration
Mr. Kleepsies has over 25 years of experience honing vast knowledge and expertise in conceptual project generation, grassroots exploration, large-scale surface and underground drill programs, bulk sampling, deposit modeling and resource estimation, complex geological and geochemical integration, and development of economically viable mineral deposits on four continents.  He has worked for several mining and exploration firms of all sizes including BHP Billiton (NYSE – BBL) to Miramar Mining Corporation.  Mr. Kleespies is a professional geologist registered with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) and has an M.S. in Physical Geology.

Toby Pierce – Director
Mr. Pierce has a unique skill set to offer as a director with development of expertise over 15 years in the geological sector with experience in financing through Merger & Acquisition activity, Initial Public Offerings (IPO), general fund raising, and equity and asset valuations and investment advice.   His roles include stints at Hunter Dickinson, Inc., Kennecott Canada and the Geological Survey of Canada, and a company that provided well-site geological services in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.  Finally, Mr. Pierce received his MBA from Rotman School of Business and a B.S. in Earth Sciences from the University of Victoria.

Craig Bentham - Director
Mr. Bentham will provide legal counsel to North Country Gold as a Director.  His corporate and commercial law practice specializes in the structuring, negotiation and closing of real estate financings both domestically and internationally.  He has been a member of the Law Society of Alberta since 1992.  He has served on the boards of many mining and exploration companies including Bluestone Resources Inc. (TSX-V - BSR).

RISKS

As with most pre-production companies, North Country Gold’s biggest overall risk factor is not achieving success in “striking gold” in its primary project.  However, in our view, this risk is largely mitigated by the project’s large indicated and inferred high grade resource and the associated tens of millions put into the project for infrastructure and other purposes. Looking ahead, the Company’s bulk sampling initiatives should provide investors with confidence in this earlier stage of development. When considering the relative size of the region and site’s production history and data, we deem it unlikely that mineralization will not occur. Still, given that the need for capital exists is a risk but it represents a fraction of the typical requirements for a property of this size due to management’s clever approach.

Investor risks include the small capitalization of North Country Gold, its relatively low trading volume, and low investor awareness at this early stage. In its favor, North Country Gold’s market value shares could result in a greater degree of future recognition and value by investors as the Company achieves its objectives.

A COMPELLING VALUATION

In our view, North Country Gold is a compelling opportunity that has significant competitive advantages over its peers. These include the unique Arctic site, multiple high grade targets, a higher grade of resource than most comparable companies, a recent doubling of the resource size, and its 100% ownership stake, which can provide it with future joint venture flexibility.  Moreover the stock’s valuation pales in comparison to the peer group below, despite the fact that in most cases the North Country Gold is further along in its business model.  Clearly, these shares offer significant upside at current levels.

Figure II: Peer Group Analysis
Source: Goldman Small Cap Research

Figure III. NCG Resource Estimate Source: North Country Gold Corp.

1 Please see “Technical Report on the Three Bluffs Project, Nunavut Territory, Canada” filed on SEDAR May 18, 2012 and press release dated 23 April 2013

2 Please refer to press release dated 10 July 2014.

*Underground high grade subset constrained by applying strict 5.0 g/t block cut-off to the existing 1.0 g/t wireframe block grade estimation. This subset is not in addition to the current open pit and underground indicated and inferred resource but rather is that portion of the 1.0 g/t Au mode resource that reports to the higher block grade cut-offs.

CONCLUSION

Trading at a big discount to its peers despite holding a 100% interest in 243,620 acres along the 300km long belt and has identified 5 distinct exploration centers with numerous high-grade gold drill intercepts, we believe that North Country Gold offers investors huge upside going forward. In the past few years, the Company has doubled the resource on the flagship Three Bluffs property. The deposit currently hosts a resource of 4.30 Mt at 4.91 g/t gold for 683,000 ounces gold (indicated) and 5.52Mt at 5.43 g/t gold for 965,000 ounces gold (inferred).  A key competitive advantage of the property’s resource is its unusually high grade subset, which sets the Company apart from peers in the region.

With a combined $80M invested in its properties, North Country Gold has significant competitive advantages over its peers. These include the unique Arctic site, multiple high grade targets, a higher grade of resource than most comparable companies, favorable drilling costs and its 100% ownership stake, which can provide it with future joint venture flexibility. Near term milestones include bulk sampling which should serve as a catalyst for the shares. The bulk of the resource is from the surface down to 250 meters. Separately, as noted by comments by Wall Street firms, gold may have bottomed and is coming back into favor. It should be noted that at its peak, the stock traded at a market value of around $200M, yet is currently valued at 410 million, despite its more advanced asset.

Given the sheer number of competitive advantages and its low valuation, we believe that North Country Gold’s share could triple in the next 6-12 months. Even if the stock were to trade at $0.21 per share, the shares would trade at a roughly 50% discount to the Company’s peer group. As a result, we believe that NCG.V offers investors a compelling, once-a-year opportunity to buy an undervalued stock potentially poised to move substantially higher.  We rate these shares Speculative Buy.

Recent Trading History For NCG.V
(Source: www.Stockta.com)