Bulk Sampling at The Pardo Gold Project: Bridging Exploration and Economic Reality
When it comes to proving the feasibility of a gold deposit it goes far beyond just exploration drilling. You need to understand the costs of extraction and processing that ultimately need to be less than the value of gold in the rock . That’s where bulk sampling comes in.
What Is Bulk Sampling?
Bulk sampling is a critical step between exploration and production. It involves extracting a large volume of mineralized material often hundreds to thousands of tonnes from a deposit to test its grade, continuity, and milling recoveries under real-world conditions.
Unlike traditional drilling or small-scale sampling, bulk sampling provides a much more reliable representation of the deposit, particularly for projects like Inventus Mining’s Pardo Gold Project, where the gold grade can be variable. This process determines the true gold grade and metallurgy that smaller samples cannot.
Think of bulk sampling as a “real-world test drive” of a mining project. It helps determine if the project is economically viable and builds confidence for future permitting, development, or processing.
Bulk sample grade control drilling and site clearing preparation prior to drilling and blasting.
Why Is Inventus Pursuing Bulk Sampling at Pardo?
Inventus Mining is taking this important step at its 100%-owned Pardo Gold Project, located just 65 km northeast of Sudbury, Ontario. The project is Canada’s first known paleoplacer gold deposit, a unique type of deposit where gold occurs in ancient riverbed gravels, now preserved as hard rock conglomerate gold-bearing reefs. These reefs occur at or near surface making bulk sampling at Pardo viable with no underground infrastructure needed and minimal costs for extraction using surface mining methods.
While traditional drill core gives useful data for a resource estimate, the coarse and often uneven gold distribution in the rock can lead to misleading results on smaller samples. Bulk sampling allows Inventus to better assess:
The “true” gold grade in larger volumes
Thickness and consistency of the mineralized reef
Gold recovery during milling
Economic viability at surface-mining scale
With past bulk samples at Pardo returning grades of 3.4 gpt gold (in 5,000 tonnes) and 4.2 gpt gold (in 1,000 tonnes), the current 2025 program will provide even more clarity on the deposit’s gold grade and commercial potential.
Large diameter drill core from grade control drilling at 007 north illustrating occurrences of visible gold.
What’s Happening Now?
Inventus has launched grade control drilling and site clearing at the 007 North and Trench 1 Bulk Sample sites which is an important first step in the bulk sampling process. This involves grid drilling shallow holes, each targeting the gold-bearing reef within five metres of surface. The goal is to precisely outline where the mineralized material lies and its gold grade to design a pit for extraction.
As of this writing, grade control drilling is now complete, and visually the gold-bearing conglomerate reef is looking strong with assays expected soon.
Adding to the momentum, both McEwen Mining and Eric Sprott, two of Inventus’ largest shareholders, have recently increased their support. McEwen Mining exercised 9.2 million warrants early, contributing $828,000, while Eric Sprott invested $1,040,000 through a flow-through private placement, increasing his ownership to 10.6% of the Company. These strategic investments validate the potential of our projects and provide the capital needed to move forward without further dilution.
Example of visible gold in drill core from the 007 North grade control drilling
What Are the Benefits for Inventus?
Bulk sampling is a cost-effective way for Inventus to:
✅ De-risk the project before full-scale production
✅ Attract potential partners or investors
✅ Generate near-term data to support future feasibility studies
✅ Demonstrate the economics of low-cost, shallow surface mining
If successful, this round of bulk sampling could support the processing of up to 45,000 tonnes of material over the next 12 months, potentially at McEwen Mining’s nearby Stock Mill thanks to a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding between the two companies.
The Road Ahead
Inventus is taking a smart, strategic approach at Pardo. By advancing the project through bulk sampling, we are undertaking an aggressive step to deliver important results maximizing value in a financially efficient way.
Stay tuned for updates as Inventus reports its grade control drilling, initiates sample extraction, and begins to process material that could shape the future of one of Ontario’s most intriguing gold prospects.