Golden Cariboo/GCC

Golden Cariboo Resources Ltd. (GCC:CSE; GCCFF:OTC; A0RLEP:WKN; 3TZ:FSE) has announced its exploration plan for the 2025 field season at its Quesnelle Gold-Quartz Mine in British Columbia.

The company said it hopes to build upon successes from 2024, including the discovery of the Halo and North Hixon zones and the new staking of more than 91,000 hectares (ha) of claims across the northern Cariboo Gold District.

"The 2024 exploration program was nothing short of spectacular, centered around a major gold discovery that redefined the Cariboo Gold District as we know it," President and Chief Executive Officer Frank Callaghan said. "Looking to 2025, our focus is set not only on growing the discovery but pushing beyond that to prove that a major gold camp exists at Hixon. Even further to this, the field campaign will unlock the potential for major gold systems across the northern Cariboo where previously unimagined."

As currently defined by released drill hole assays, the Halo zone contains a strike length of approximately 210 meters with a 292-meter width along a northwest-trend, the company said. The northwestern extent of the zone has not been defined and remains open, including 574 meters of untested strike.

"The initial focus of the drill program will be to continue northwest step outs along this trend, and to target for further high-grade domains in the Halo zone, such as that encountered in QGQ24-13 which returned 136.51 meters of 1.77 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au)," the company said in a release.

'A Significant Extension'

The company is rediscovering the Cariboo Gold Rush with highly targeted drilling and trenching programs on the Quesnelle property, which is almost fully encircled on three of four sides by Osisko Development. Historically, over 101 placer gold creeks on the 90-kilometer trend from the Cariboo Hudson mine north to the Quesnelle Gold-Quartz Mine property have recorded production, and successful placer mining continues to this day, the company said.

Earlier this month, the company released further results leading to "a significant extension" of the Halo zone with drill hole QCQ24-19, which returned 349.36 meters of 0.31 g/t Au, including 164.97 meters of 0.44 g/t Au from a depth of 7.85 meters. Intercepts from the same hole included 11.27 meters of 1.12 g/t Au and 16.6 meters of 1.05 g/t Au.

"In the zone, strong gold grades have been encountered in the southwest portion surrounding the initial discovery," Callaghan said at the time. "This brings us strong confidence as we move forward to further define the Halo zone and explore the remainder of our multi-kilometer gold trend yet to be tested."

Golden Cariboo said diamond drilling beyond the Halo zone along the several kilometers of untested strike on multiple parallel trends remains a high priority.

Other High Priorities

According to the company, the historic Quesnelle Quartz Mine contains an about 150-meter-by-150-meter footprint of underground workings and "exists on a separate parallel trend to the North Hixon zone."

"Drill testing the northwest or southeast extensions to the mine has never been undertaken in the property's history and is a high priority target for the company," the release said.

The newly staked 91,085-ha claim group will be the primary focus of fieldwork at the project, as officials try to "establish northwest continuity of major gold systems in the Cariboo Gold District."

Field crews are anticipated to start prospecting and mapping in late spring with an airborne LiDAR survey planned to support the mapping activities, Golden Cariboo said.

During its exploration, Golden Cariboo has found multiple occurrences of visible gold in its core results from the project.

"Visible gold in current drilling indicates potential for high-grade assays from mineralized targets," Couloir Capital Senior Mining Analyst Ron Wortel wrote of the project in a recent research report as he assigned a Buy recommendation for the company's stock, citing Golden Cariboo's exploration initiatives as a unique opportunity for exposure to a gold resource discovery in a Tier 1 jurisdiction.

The Catalyst: How High Can Gold Go?

Investors continue to flock to gold and its safe-haven qualities in uncertain times. Spot gold went as high as US$2,956.15 earlier in its session on Monday, according to Reuters, "its 11th record high in 2025."

But how high will it go?

"Investors who expected the price of gold to moderate in 2025 may have to rethink their predictions," wrote Matt Richardson for CBS MoneyWatch on February 24. "Currently, it's consistently sitting in the US$2,900 range with many expecting it to surpass the US$3,000 price mark and, thus, another record, any day."

Affecting whether it will get there or go higher will be inflation, interest rates, and further geopolitical tensions, Richardson wrote.

Lyle Niedens wrote that for Investopedia last week that the threshold of US$3,000 appears in reach.

"Several Wall Street firms have raised their gold price forecasts to US$3,000 or higher," Niedens wrote. "Goldman Sachs, for instance, cited 'structurally higher central bank demand' for gold in addition to investors' appetite for parking assets in safe havens when it early this week raised its gold-price forecast to US$3,100 by the end of 2025, up from US$2,890 previously."

Ownership and Share Structure

According to Golden Cariboo, management and insiders own 12.2% of the company, and President and Chief Executive Officer Frank Callaghan owns nearly 11%.

Retail investors hold the remaining. There are no institutional investors.

The company said it has 60.3 million shares outstanding, and its market cap is CA$8.74 million. Over the past 52 weeks, Golden Cariboo has traded between CA$0.11 and CA$0.36 per share.