Region
James Bay
Introduction
The Kaanaayaa property (459 claims, 235.9 km²) is 35 km south of the Trans-Taiga Road, a nearly 600-km-long gravel highway running east-west through the James Bay region, and a powerline next to the highway, and 42 km south of the LG-4 airport. It is located east of the Corvet property.
Kaanaayaa was generated using the AZtechMine™ expert system following regional predictive modelling for gold and copper, and is considered largely underexplored. It hosts strong multi-kilometre-long geochemical anomalies in lake sediments, notably Au-As-Mo-Sb in the western sector and Ag-As-Bi-Cu in the northeast. Grab samples from the Moly prospect, discovered in the northeastern part of the property in 2024, returned values of up to 7.39 g/t Au, 3.98 g/t Ag, 0.95% Mo, 0.33% Bi and 0.14% Cu. The property’s geology is characterized by metasedimentary rocks and mafic to intermediate volcanics bordering a potentially fertile granitic intrusion. A kilometre-scale fold that likely controls the location of the intrusion may act as a structural trap for mineralization within the host metasediments.
An adjacent property, jointly held by Osisko Exploration James Bay Inc. and Newmont Corporation, hosts several gold prospects.
Together with the Corvet property to the west, Kaanaayaa covers a combined surface area of 556.3 km² (1,082 claims) over a cumulative strike length of 57 kilometres along or near the major La Grande–Opinaca subprovince structural boundary.
Option Agreement with Centerra Gold
In October 2026, Azimut signed a definitive option agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of Centerra Gold Inc. ("Centerra") for the Corvet and Kaanaayaa properties (PR of October 13, 2026), subsequently amended (PR of October 19, 2026). Centerra can earn up to a 70% interest in the properties, in two stages, by delivering a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") with a minimum mineral resource estimate of 1 Moz AuEq, funding cumulative exploration expenditures of $15,750,000 and making cash payments totalling up to $850,000:
- First Option: an initial 51% interest over four years by funding $6,000,000 in exploration expenditures (including a firm commitment of $1,250,000) and making cash payments totalling $250,000. A minimum of $1,500,000 in expenditures per property is required to vest an interest in that property.
- Second Option: an additional 19% interest (for a total of 70%) over six years by delivering the PEA, incurring $9,750,000 in exploration expenditures and making cash payments totalling up to $600,000.
If Centerra does not exercise the Second Option, its interest will be adjusted to 49% and Azimut’s interest will be increased to 51%. Azimut will act as operator during the First Option. If either partner’s interest is diluted below 10%, it will convert to a 2% net smelter return royalty, of which 0.5% can be repurchased for $2,000,000.
An initial systematic till sampling program is underway on both properties and will lead to a field validation phase next spring.
From 2023 to 2025, the property was subject to option agreements with Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc., which were terminated at the end of 2025.
Grab samples are selective by nature, unlikely to represent average grades, and may not represent true underlying mineralization.
