Finding Gold Districts in Sweden & Finland
Market Capitalization: US$55M
Stage: Exploration/Development
Category: Gold
First Nordic Metals is a gold development stage company focused on projects in Sweden and Finland. They are one of the largest mineral claimholders in Sweden, controlling over 100,000 hectares on the Gold Line Belt, one of the least explored greenstone belts in the world. Their flagship project is the Barsele Gold Project, a joint venture with Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd, which holds 2.4 Moz of gold (all categories) at an average grade above 2.5 g/t Au (combined open pit and underground). First Nordic Metals also holds 100% ownership of 100 km of strike surrounding the Barsele Project on the Gold Line Belt (approximately 50 km to the north and 50 km to the south), with multiple drill targets identified.
Additionally, the company recently acquired 100% ownership of the Oijärvi Gold Project in Finland, which includes the high-grade Kylmäkangas gold deposit. The Oijärvi Project covers 17,600 hectares and has an indicated resource of 159,000 oz AuEq and an inferred resource of 152,000 oz AuEq, with an average Indicated and Inferred grade of approximately 4 g/t AuEq.
In July 2024, Agnico Eagle became the largest shareholder of First Nordic, taking their position to up to 13.3% with an investment of C$8.1M into First Nordic.
Why Sweden & Finland
The region is the leading producer of metals in Europe, with Sweden ranked #1 and Finland #2. Sweden has a rich history of mining, secure tenure, and offers attractive taxation incentives, including no mineral tax and a 20.6% corporate tax rate. The area boasts low political risk, with mature, well-defined environmental and permitting procedures in a mining-friendly country. In 2024, the Fraser Institute ranked it among mining's top jurisdictions to do business.
The Gold Line Belt (Sweden)
First Nordic Metals is the largest development-stage claim holder in Sweden, with interests in over 100,000 hectares of mineral concessions along a contiguous 100 km strike length. The FNM portfolio is anchored by the flagship Barsele Project, which boasts 2.4 Moz of gold in the Indicated and Inferred category. The belt hosts numerous historic and recently-permitted active mines and contains gold-rich intrusive-hosted and VMS deposits. The geology and mineralization are similar to the prolific greenstone belts of northern Ontario and Quebec.
The Barsele Project (Sweden)
Since 2015, Agnico Eagle has operated this joint venture (Agnico Eagle 55% / First Nordic Metals 45%), which includes an extensive land package of 24,980 ha. Agnico Eagle has invested US$55M in the JV to date, resulting in 165,936 metres (m) of diamond drilling from 453 drill holes. First Nordic holds a free carried interest, and Agnico Eagle can earn an additional 15% through the completion of a Pre-Feasibility Study. This collaboration offers the opportunity to share technical expertise, targeting resource growth and high-grade ounces.
The current resource covers 3.6 kilometres (km) of strike along a potential 8.0 km mineralized trend. Drilling has intersected mineralization down to a depth of 925 m and remains open in all directions. The resource only goes to approximately 550 m so there is significant potential for the resource to growth at depth. Additionally, geophysical results suggest continuity of granodiorite host rock to at least 2.0 km depth.
Metallurgical testing from the main zones—Avan, Central, and Skiråsen—yielded a 92.6% recovery rate, with 45-50% recoverable via a conventional gravity circuit. New targets that have been identified and drilled but have not been included in the current resource, include Risberget, Norra, and Bastutrask.
Paubäcken, Storjuktan and Klippen Projects (Gold Line Projects in Sweden)
The Paubäcken Project comprises three licenses over 17,000 hectares in the central Gold Line belt, positioned between Barsele and Fäboliden, near the Svartliden mine. It spans 22 km of the significant Gold Line structure, linked to regional mineralization. The Aida target, 3 km northeast of Svartliden, features a >5 km shear corridor with notable gold anomalies; drilling here in 2021-22 revealed 22.5 m at 2.4 g/t Au. Additionally in 2023-24, the Company discovered a new 5.5 km target, the Harpsund target; this will be drilled in 2024-25. The project's geology includes metamorphosed volcano-sedimentary sequences with orogenic gold potential. First Nordic believes the Paubacken project to be very similar to Barsele and, with two very large targets already identified, is hopeful that multiple gold deposits will be delineated here.
The Storjuktan Project, encompassing seven licenses over 30,000 hectares in the northern Gold Line belt, boasts excellent infrastructure within 50 km, including highways, rail lines, and a hydroelectric dam. Positioned north of the Barsele deposit, the project includes over 60 km of the Gold Line structure, significant for its orogenic gold deposit potential. The geology features a metamorphosed volcano-sedimentary sequence with gold mineralization linked to specific alteration assemblages. Historical exploration revealed gold at various targets, indicating high potential for expansion and new discoveries. In 2023-24 the Company discovered a +5 km target which has very similar geochemical, geological and geophysical properties to the Barsele project. Considering the size of this target is larger than the Barsele resource area, the Company is hopeful that a meaningful deposit can be discovered at Storjuktan.
The Klippen project is located in a southern extension of the Gold Line belt in northern Sweden. The geology consists of a sequence of inverted basin sediments and mafic volcanic rocks intruded by small syn-kinematic granitic intrusions within a broad, anastomosing high strain structural corridor. These lithological sequences are highly prospective for orogenic gold deposits and mineralization encountered to date is mainly hosted within a highly strained and altered syn-kinematic granodiorite measuring 5 km by 0.5 km. Gold mineralization mainly occurs as sulphide veins consisting of pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite veins hosted within the highest strain zones of the granodiorite and minorly within highly strained sedimentary and volcanic units along the margins of the granodiorite. Mineralization is associated with intense sericite, carbonate, epidote and biotite hydrothermal alteration assemblages extending laterally into wall rock.
Oijärvi Project (Finland)
Located approximately 85 km east of Kemi, Finland, the Oijärvi Greenstone Belt is a late Archean-age formation similar to those found elsewhere in Finland and the Canadian Shield. Spanning about 35 km in length, this relatively underexplored region has seen limited drilling, with only 217 holes averaging ~150 m depth drilled outside the defined Kylmäkangas deposit. The Kylmäkangas deposit has an indicated mineral resource of 159,000 oz AuEq and an inferred mineral resource of 152,000 oz AuEq. The average grade is 3.6 g/t AuEq (see more detail in the resource table below):
The mineralized system is open for expansion, and drilling has identified additional mineralized zones. The project includes 75 holes drilled (19,580 m), with significant gold and silver intercepts. Historical results suggest the Kylmäkangas zone remains open at depth and along strike.
Next Steps for the Company:
According to the Company’s latest news update the following will be the focus of the summer / fall exploration program:
25,000-hectare (“ha”) magnetic geophysical survey and regional-scale surface exploration program on its 100%-owned Storjuktan Project
Top-of-bedrock (base-of-till) (“BoT”) drilling programs to test kilometric till anomalies at its 100%-owned Paubäcken and Klippen projects.
Late 2024 / early 2025 – diamond drilling on highest priority projects (approximately 15 km)
The region is covered by glacial till and BoT drilling is well recognized as the main method for zoning in on the best diamond drilling targets in these terrains. BoT drilling was instrumental in the diamond drilling discovery at the Aida target on the Paubäcken project. BoT drilling programs will set up for diamond drilling on priority targets later this year.
Find more information about First Nordic Metals at: https://fnmetals.com
The information in this article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice.