Explorer Kicks Off Drilling at Newfoundland Asset

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Northern Shield Resources Inc. (NRN:TSX.V) began diamond drilling at its 100%-owned Root & Cellar project on the Burin Peninsula in southeastern Newfoundland, noted a news release.

Plans call for eight to 10 holes to be drilled over 3,000 meters (3,000m), and MCL Drilling in Newfoundland will carry it out. The primary target is the epithermal gold mineralization in the southern Conquest zone, but one or two holes will be placed in central Conquest to test a prospective copper porphyry target there.

"Northern Shield has only penetrated the uppermost sections, with the primary objective — the boiling zone — now targeted at greater depths," wrote Malcolm Shaw, partner at Hydra Capital Partners Inc., in a May 28 article.

The current drilling follows up on the 2023 program in which a sinter and outflow zone was identified, marking the top of an epithermal gold-silver system, according to the release.

"It is unusual to see significant gold mineralization at the sinter level, and the visible gold found in the 2023 drilling and trenching programs bodes well for what may exist at greater depth in the boiling zone where higher grades, characteristic of low-sulphidation systems, are expected," Northern Shield President and CEO Ian Bliss said in the release.

Looking for Gold in All the Right Places

Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Northern Shield Resources generates and explores high-quality targets, looking for the next big discovery, or tier 1 asset.

"We believe that with new and unexplored terrain comes the opportunity to still discover world-class deposits, at or near surface, at low cost," the company noted on its Fact Sheet. "Our model-driven approach helps mitigate the risk associated with such early-stage projects."

The approach led Northern Shield to Root & Cellar, its flagship asset, in Newfoundland's Avalon terrane on the Burin Peninsula, an area broadly similar to British Columbia's Golden Triangle but underexplored, described Technical Analyst Clive Maund in a June 13 report.*

"The geoscience exhibits the hallmarks of being an 'alkaline-related' system, making it both unique in eastern Canada and highly prized," the company Fact Sheet reads. Modeling shows the epithermal system at Root & Cellar could extend to an 800m depth.

The property encompasses five gold zones over a 6 kilometer (6 km) strike length. In the Conquest zone, where drilling is underway, the gold system "looks like it is BIG, DEEP and RICH, " Maund wrote. Grab samples returned 111 grams per ton (111 g/t) gold, 1,395 g/t silver, 10.5% copper and 700 parts per million (ppm) tellurium, according to the Corporate Presentation. About 2 km southwest of Conquest is the large Creston zone, where high-grade copper mineralization has been found and believed to be part of a big copper porphyry system, also containing significant silver mineralization. Tellurium in high grades was found in the Drop and Creston zones. Moderate grade tellurium was shown in surface samples and drill core from the Windfall and Conquest zones.

Northern Shield has a second exploration asset, Idefix, containing nickel, copper and platinum group elements (PGEs) mineralization, the company's website notes. Consisting of 40 claims over 18 square kilometers, Idefix is in Quebec's Labrador Trough and 75 km northwest of the community of Kuujjuaq, in the Nunavik region. Between La Colline and the southeast end of the Idefix ridge, there is "a very interesting anomaly" that could underlie a massive sulphide body. 

Leading this exploration company is CEO, Ian Bliss, an avid explorer and mountaineer with 20 years of experience exploring numerous metal prospects. Prior to founding Northern Shield, he led exploration projects for NunaMinerals A/S (NUNA:CSE) in Greenland for six years and later for Crew Development Corp. Ltd. in Norway. In Greenland, Bliss worked in some of the most remote and rugged terrain using a model-driven approach to efficiently explore large tracts of land during short exploration seasons. He implemented a similar approach at Northern Shield to generate nickel-copper-PGEs targets that subsequently resulted in partnerships with Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP:JSE), South32 Ltd. (S32:ASX; S32:LSE), Teck Resources (TECK:TSX; TECK:NYSE), and more.

"Ian goes for big targets," Shaw wrote, adding that Bliss, "collaborates with academics across multiple universities, funds graduate-level research and cultivates extensive networks spanning business and industry sectors."

Bull Market Finally Hits Explorers

With respect to the gold sector, according to Brien Lundin of The Gold Newsletter, there is good news when it comes to the junior miners, or explorers, like Northern Shield. They have started to ascend from their long-term lows, he wrote on June 16. As proof, he cited the uptrend in the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (CNDX), comprised mostly of micro- to small-cap resource stocks.

"We've waited a long time in this new gold bull market for the excitement to trickle down to the junior mining sector," Lundin wrote. "Well, wait no longer . . . because it's happening now."

The gold price fell on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve maintained interest rates in the same, 4.25–4.50%, range, reported Reuters on June 18. At the end of the day's trading, the gold price had fallen to US$3,394 an ounce (US$3,394/oz).

"Gold needs to reclaim US$3,400 for bulls to take firm control," Tai Wong, an independent metals trader, told Reuters.

Barry Dawes with MP Securities shared a similar thought on June 18, writing that gold is "still vulnerable" and pointing out that two months have passed since its price peaked. "Are we still in a bull market for now?" he queried.

Yes, and gold is headed higher, asserted Ron Struthers in the Struthers Resource Stock Report on June 18. Stocks are getting close to the end of their long-term bull market, creating a scenario like the one in the late 1960s and 1970s when gold and silver soared.

"Gold has already confirmed its breakout from a 13-year cup and handle pattern, and once the stock market finally rolls over, we can expect an explosive move in gold," he added.

Likewise, Garrett Goggin, Golden Portfolio lead analyst, purported on June 16 that the current gold uptrend is not a typical short-term lift. Rather, "it's a long-term, widespread sea change in the currency markets."

George Milling-Stanley, chief gold strategist at State Street Global Advisors, predicted, in a June 3 "Money Life with Chuck Jaffe" interview, that gold will keeping breaking through record prices throughout the rest of 2025. He attributed these future climbs to ongoing geopolitical turbulence, and both macroeconomic and interest rate uncertainty.

"Our bullish case suggests that we could actually take out whatever resistance is available at the US$3,500 area, and possibly even trade as high as US$3,900," Milling-Stanley noted.

Citi, however, is less optimistic, having just lowered its six- to 12-month gold price target to US$2,800/oz from US$3,000/oz, Reuters reported on June 17. Gold could drop to US$2,500–2,700/oz by H2/26, the bank noted.

"We see investment demand for gold abating in late 2025 and 2026, as ultimately, we see the President Trump popularity and U.S. growth 'put' kicking in, especially as the U.S. midterms come into focus," Citi wrote in a note, according to Reuters.

Longer term, Incrementum in Liechtenstein, bullish, sees gold reaching US$4,800/oz by 2030, its base case scenario in a recent report, noted Trade Brains on June 1. Conceivably, though, Incrementum wrote, gold could reach US$8,900/oz by 2030, due to inflation, central bank policies, worldwide economic uncertainty, and under-allocation of gold in investment portfolios.

As for the copper market, the near-term outlook is uncertain as the metal is being influenced by "dueling forces," wrote MetalMiner in a May 29 article. Robust long-term demand drivers, such as electrification and the green energy transition, support the price. In contrast, the threat of an escalating U.S.–China trade war and a potential copper oversupply have the opposite effect.

The International Copper Study Group forecasts a 2025 copper surplus of 289,000 tons, more than double last year's amount, reported The Rio Times on June 17. This is due to increasing mine output, particularly from new projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mongolia, and Russia. The group anticipates 2.3% growth in global mine production this year and further gains in 2026 as new and expanded capacity comes online.

"Despite these surplus projections, short-term market sentiment remains cautious," The Rio Times noted. "The technical picture matches the fundamentals: copper is consolidating, with neither bulls nor bears in clear control."

Chile's state copper commission Cochilco indicated it expects an average copper price above US$4/lb this year, reported MetalMiner. However, unless trade tensions between the U.S. and China ease, copper may not advance anymore in 2025. (The copper price was US$4.92/lb when the markets closed on June 18.)

Long Forecast, more optimistic in its prediction, has the copper price hitting US$5.23/lb by the end of this year, increasing further to US$5.71/lb by year-end 2027 and jumping to US$7.06/lb by year-end 2029.

The Catalysts: Drill Results

With Northern Shield's drill program underway at Root & Cellar, investors should watch for the results in the near-term, which could boost the explorer's share price.

Stock on the Verge of a Breakout

Technical Analyst Maund explained that Northern Shield's stock had been in a long bear market that ended in early 2024 at a low of CA$0.025. However, a basing had begun to form about three years ago. Starting in April of this year, the stock has rallied "as the investment world starts to wake up to the prospect of the company sitting on a potentially massive gold resource in Newfoundland" but now is overbought. At this point it may react back some or press on.

"Northern Shield Resources is on the verge of breaking out of a large base pattern that started to form in early to mid-2002," Maund wrote. "Although it may pause for a little while here at resistance before it does so, it is set up to overcome this resistance and then advance swiftly to a first target at the next significant resistance at the CA$0.24–0.28 zone."

Beyond that, the subsequent resistance target is about CA$0.50, added the analyst. Once the price surpasses that level, the stock should climb to the CA$0.80–0.90 range. Long-term charts show that much higher targets are possible. At the time of Maund's report, NRN was trading at the exact same price it is now, as of the market close on June 18.

According to Hydra Capital's Shaw, the market has largely ignored Northern Shield's recent activities as evidenced by its "tiny" market cap and its stock trading near its historical lows. He highlighted that the investment proposition with the company is highly prospective and risky but could yield big gains.

"On the roulette wheel that is the junior exploration business, I believe [NRN] isn't a crazy bet," he wrote. "The potential is substantial (envision millions of gold ounces). The risk-reward equation appears compelling."

Shaw has a long position in the stock and participated in the initial tranche of Northern Shield's April-May financing.

Ownership and Share Structure

According to Refinitiv, three insiders own 11.85% of Northern Shield. The major shareholder is Chairman Russel Richards with 9.67%. President/CEO and Director Ian Bliss and Director Peter Dimmell each also own an interest.

The rest is in retail. There are no institutional investors at this time.

The company has 112.74 million (112.74M) outstanding shares and 99.37M free float traded shares. Its market cap is CA$9.97 million. Its 52-week range is CA$0.035–0.125 per share.