How to revive a gold mine

Gold has been sought throughout history—found by some, but elusive to others. What’s the common denominator for those fortunate enough to grasp that valuable mineral—what’s the best way to strike gold? “I like to explore in an area where I know there’s minerals—past-producing mines,” said Duane Parnham, chairman of Broadway Gold Mining. “There’s no better place to look for more ore than in a spot where they’ve been mining before. We’ve seen that over the years many times.” 

That spot is Madison, located in Montana’s Butte-Anaconda mining region, which Parnham said “is probably the richest concentration of metal anywhere in the world. It’s a significant piece of ground.”

There’s gold in them hills

Butte has mined 10 million metric tonnes of copper and three million ounces of gold. The site has also yielded zinc, manganese, silver and other metals.

The Butte copper mine is world-famous but no longer exists as its own entity. It’s been a historic producer for many decades and still boasts three active operations. A school of museums has been built in the area, showcasing the mine’s past.

Madison has a long history of mining dating back to the 1850s. Since then, it’s gone through various stages of development by different groups ranging from booming success to fizzled failure.

“What typically happens is you get squeezed on your operations from a lack of funding,” said Parnham. “In some cases, companies just can’t hold on to property, so properties get dropped off or sold to other groups. This is the ideal time for companies like us to take these projects, apply our expertise, and then upgrade them and get ready for this next time.”

Combining new with old

Broadway is a new company, just getting listed on the stock exchange late in 2016. The organization will rely heavily on Parnham’s 30-plus years of experience in the mining industry to get it started on the right track. Broadway has raised over two million dollars in a recent private placement financing, which will fund its exploration project.

Broadway’s opportunity stems from finding an undervalued asset, upgrading it and finding out what its true potential is. Around 2008, another company went back in and did some bulk sampling and drilling. “It’s left us with an advanced-stage exploration project,” Parham said. “It’s got an amazing data room, underground workings, equipment, great infrastructure and a decent drill database. Everything is more or less there.”

Parnham feels now is the right time to utilize a Canadian company with a mine in the United States. “You have very strong political aspirations at a time when all this infrastructure rollout is coming,” he said. “That’s only going to help the commodity boom and create huge demand for copper. It’s a perfect storm.”

When asked if a similar mine rebirth could happen in the Great White North, Parnham stated, “It’s going to happen in Canada.”