Japan Gold (TSXV: JG, OTCQB: JGLDF) is a Canadian mineral exploration company seeking opportunities solely for gold in Japan. The company owns a portfolio of 31 gold projects, all of which cover areas with known gold occurrences, have a history of mining, and are prospective for high-grade epithermal gold mineralization. Some positive news has been shared from the Saroma prospect, which has encountered multiple intersections of high-grade silver with gold mineralization along a 1 Km length of the Saroma Vein.

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Why Japan?

You might know Japan for many other subjects, but the country also has a strong mining history, good grades, and five +1 Moz deposits. Similarly to Canada, Australia, and the USA, Japan is one of the world's most stable and corruption-free jurisdictions. The country appears to be significantly underexplored with an absence of competition, and the revised mining law demonstrates government commitment to developing Japan's resources.

Company Overview

Japan Gold (TSXV: JG, OTCQB: JGLDF) is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused solely on gold exploration across the three largest islands of Japan: Hokkaido, Honshu, and Kyushu. The company has a country-wide alliance with one of the biggest mining companies in the world: Barrick Gold Corp. (USD $32.2B). The Barrick alliance provides management support via the Barrick Alliance Executive Committee and technical support through the Barrick Alliance Technical Committee.

The alliance goes through 5 steps:

-Initial Evaluation Phase (3 projects)

-Second Evaluation Phase (6 projects)

-Identification of a Designated Project

-Upon completion of a PFS (prefeasibility study)

-Completion of a BFS (bankable feasibility study)

Barrick Gold chose 6 projects because they meet the criteria of a potential Tier 1 or Tier 2 body. The six projects are:

• Hokkaido: Aibetsu, Tenru, Hakuryu

• Honshu: Togi

• Kyushu: Ebino, Mizobe

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The second evaluation phase will include geophysics and exploratory drilling, including drill-site preparation, exploration drilling, trenching, digging test pits, and assaying. Barrick will fully fund this exploration phase for 3 years.

On December 14, Japan Gold announced it intersected high-grade silver with gold mineralization along a 1 Km length of the Saroma vein. The Saroma vein is part of the 100%-owned Ikutahara project in Hokkaido. Quartz veins at Saroma show a diverse range of low-sulfidation epithermal textures, brecciation, and mineralogy, suggesting a dynamic system with multiple fluid phases amenable to gold deposition. All the six drill holes intersected quartz vein zones (up to 8m wide), and detailed mapping has confirmed multiple vein zones with broad silicification envelopes along a 3.5 km long mineralized corridor which hosts the Saroma, Chitose, and Taiho historical workings.

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The Saroma prospect structure remains open an additional 5 km southwest towards the historical Jomon mine workings, where numerous quartz boulders sampled in a small open pit reported grades averaging 25 g/t gold and 50 g/t silver. High-grade silver with mineralized gold intervals includes solid results:

• IKDD22-012: 1.05 m @ 1.3 g/t Au & 1,449.5 g/t Ag (19.0 AuEq) from 90.55 m (incl. 0.4 m @ 3.2 g/t Au & 3,570.0 g/t Ag (46.7 AuEq) from 90.8 m)
  

• IKDD22-010: 3.1m @ 0.4 g/t Au & 475.7 g/t Ag (6.2 AuEq) from 104.75 m (incl. 1.0 m @ 0.6 g/t Au & 1,128.8 g/t Ag (14.3 AuEq) from 105.5 m)
  

• IKDD22-009: 4.1m @ 0.7 g/t Au & 124.8 g/t Ag (2.2 AuEq) from 55.65 m (Incl. 0.75m @ 2.7 g/t Au & 425.0 g/t Ag (7.9 AuEq) from 56.25 m)

"The confirmation of wide coherent chalcedony-rich veins, and high-grade silver with gold intersections along an open-ended district-scale structure are very encouraging outcomes from the initial drill program at Saroma. Both gold and silver-biased mineralization events are seen in adjacent prospects, including Showa, Ikutahara, and Taihoku, and along the same structure 5 km to the SW at the under-explored Jomon workings. It is assumed the same gold-rich events occur at the Saroma prospect based on historical production data."

Andrew Rowe, Japan Gold's VP of Exploration.

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Share Structure/Financials

The company shared its financials for the period ending September 30. About the balance sheet, Japan Gold has $4.9M in cash and cash equivalents and $27.1M in total assets for no liabilities. The company has an $811k loss, most due to office expenses ($167k was spent on management fees and $103k for consulting costs°.

The biggest asset from the company is the Ikutahara project, worth $14.1M, followed by the Ohra-Takamine project, valued at $5M. The Barrick Alliance does not include the Ikutahara Project in Hokkaido or the Ohra-Takamine Project in Kyushu, and Japan Gold will continue to advance these two projects independently. During the period ended September 30, 2022, Barrick paid $2,189,041 (US$1,751,793) (December 31, 2021 - $4,435,403 (US$3,498,504) to the company as partial funding for the Initial Evaluation Phase. On receipt of funds from Barrick, the company records amounts received as restricted cash with an offsetting payable to Barrick.

Regarding the share structure, investors will be very pleased. More than half of the structure is detained by institutional investors (55%), the management holds 7%, and Newmont Corporation owns 10%. It leaves only 28% room for general investors, making it a tight float. 225M shares are issued, and outstanding, 21.7M options are available at an exercise price of $0.30, and the company doesn't have any warrants. The stock price is relatively steady, with a value hovering around $0.25 ($56M market cap), the 52-week low is worth $0.20, and the 52-week high is worth $0.34.

Bottom Line

Japan Gold (TSXV: JG, OTCQB: JGLDF) is a Canadian mineral exploration company seeking opportunities solely for gold in Japan. The company has recently updated information showing high-grade silver with gold mineralization, and Barrick Gold supports the company's operations. Moreover,

Japan Gold is well-financed to undertake an effective exploration campaign and rapidly advance the projects.

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