The Tertiary volcanic arc terrains of Japan host more than seventy significant historic producing gold mines, including five greater than 1 million-plus-ounce gold deposits. This includes one of the world’s highest-grade gold mines, the Hishikari Mine on the island of Kyushu. The Hishikari Mine produced approximately 9 million ounces of gold (8.6 Moz Au past production 1985-present, 4.98 Moz Au reserves) between 1985-2024 at an average grade of +30 g/t Au and is still producing today.

Despite being a first-world country with a rich history of gold mining, there has been very little exploration in Japan since World War II when gold mining was suspended due to a government moratorium. When the Japan Mining Act was amended in 2012 for the first time allowing foreign mineral companies the ability to hold exploration and mining permits, Japan Gold was the first company to seize this opportunity.

Japan Gold completed a review of the Metal Mining Agency of Japan database, which includes detailed and relevant information about historical drilling results and mine production. The review of Japan’s extensive geoscientific database and historical gold production data served to pinpoint areas with good exploration potential and led Japan Gold to build an exploration portfolio with its first submission of prospecting rights applications in late 2014.