Sirios Resources ($SOI | $SIREF) CEO on Growing the Cheechoo Project’s Gold Resource
Summary
Sirios Resources is drilling 20-25,000 meters at its 3 million ounce Cheechoo gold project in James Bay to expand resources by year-end.
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA — the first formal study of a project's potential economics) is targeted for Q2 2027 once the resource is updated.
Cheechoo hosts ~3M ounces (1.3M indicated plus 1.7M inferred) at over 1 gram per tonne with a 2.9 to 1 strip ratio, a quality combination for open-pit economics.
Lepage argues Cheechoo trades around $25 per ounce versus a $130M Canadian market cap, implying re-rating potential as the PEA converts inferred ounces into a mine plan.
Quebec's Cree Nation territory and a streamlined joint provincial-federal permitting process support development, with relations already in place.
Key points on Sirios Resources Inc
- Sirios is repositioning Cheechoo from explorer to developer: Lepage argues the ~3M oz resource (1.3M indicated + 1.7M inferred) at roughly 2 g/t and a 2.9:1 strip ratio gives mine-quality economics, with phase-1 drilling of 20-25,000m underway to grow the resource before end of 2026 and a PEA targeted for Q2 2027.
- He frames an additional 1.2-1.8M oz exploration target (31-40Mt at 1.27-1.45 g/t, per the 2025 43-101) sitting inside or just below the current pit as risk-adjusted upside that expansion drilling is converting into the resource.
- Roughly 90% of time and capital goes to Cheechoo; Sirios is also advancing Aquiline (Sumitomo JV, with both narrow high-grade and wide lower-grade intercepts) and Plex/Orfade (historical 125,000 oz resource, dormant ~10 years, with fieldwork planned early 2027) as secondary growth options.
- Operationally, Sirios has upgraded access road in 2025, expanded the camp to 444 rooms and is running four drills on site as it transitions toward development.
- On valuation, Lepage puts the market cap near C$130M and value per ounce near US$25/oz, arguing the upcoming PEA, drilling news and conversion of ounces into a mine plan should rerate the stock.
Jean-Félix Lepage's takeaways
- Top takeaway Lepage's CEO thesis is to convert Cheechoo from an exploration success into a mining project: he joined via a recent transaction in which Sirios bought out his private company, with founder Dominique Doucet now chairman and a refreshed board in place.
- He argues Cheechoo's combination of roughly 2 g/t grade and a 2.9:1 strip ratio puts it in the ballpark of operating open-pit mines, using contained gold per ton mined as a KPI and pushing back on simple dollar-per-ounce benchmarking.
- He defines 'critical mass' as approaching ~4M oz, with the next drilling focused on the Western extension and zones inside or just below the current pit, ahead of a year-end 2026 resource update and a Q2 2027 PEA.
- On macro, he expects gold-price volatility but says the project already worked at $2,500 gold and he does not watch gold weekly — he focuses only on what he can control: delivering the work plan.
- He frames the next ~6 months as a catalyst-rich window: drilling results through end of October 2026, a year-end 2026 resource update, phase-2 Cheechoo drilling late 2026/early 2027, and a Q2 2027 PEA.