B.C.’s new Golden Boy makes history this week

By Jagdeesh Mann
Postmedia News

Company: Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd.
Employees: 100
Company philosophy: Perseverance commands success
Analyst’s quote: “Barkerville Gold Mines will definitely be a company to keep an eye on.” -The Prospector

Nobody put much stock into the Englishman, William “Billy” Barker when he went hunting for gold below the canyon at Williams Creek in what is now known as Barkerville Historic Town some 150 years ago.
He struck pay dirt on August 17, 1862 to become the most successful miner of the Cariboo Gold Rush and a city grew out of his find to become the largest settlement north of San Francisco and west of Chicago with a population of over 10,000.
This week history will repeat itself in B.C.’s central interior when the modern day version of Billy Barker – J. Frank Callaghan – will retrieve his first gold bar after the inaugural pour at the revamped QR Mine and Mill property.
The event culminates a two-decade odyssey through Howe and Bay Street boardrooms to the backwoods of B.C. for Callaghan, who like the legendary Barker, fought the skeptics by keeping true to his vision.
 “I won’t be able to purchase the first gold bar -. it will be 500 ounces and about $640,000, but its proof to all the people that said I couldn’t do  it.” said Callaghan, President & CEO of Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. (BGM) who plans to pour bars weekly.“The start of mining operations is definitely a milestone for BGM but it is also a much needed economic boost to the interior of British Columbia bringing employment and economic development opportunities to stakeholders,” reported The Prospector, an investment and exploration newsletter.
With gold trading at over US$1220, the future looks bright for Callaghan, who has a mineral property package in the Cariboo District. BGM’s land tenure is approximately 112,000 hectares over a 60km by 20km wide belt in the prolific Barkerville Gold Camp that has hosted seven former producing mines..
Callaghan said his company is aiming to produce 50,000 ounces of gold in its first year of production from QR and another flagship property called Bonanza Ledge, for which permits are being processed.
Characterized as a gregarious and tenacious, old-style Howe Street promoter, Callaghan describes himself as having graduated from “Jimmy Pattison’s school of hard knocks.”
“Sometimes my confidence gets the better of me,” said Callaghan explaining an episode of unwanted scrutiny by the Stock Exchange regarding his discoveries.
“After the Bre-X fiasco, some people made allegations about our assay results. The securities commission exchange investigated and checked assays to prove those allegations false”.
This discovery also marked a new style of gold mineralization from bedrock that had not been known to be gold-bearing before.  According to an earlier technical report, the high grade of many drilling intersections position it as a potential contributor or source of placer gold in the area. The nearby Williams Creek was known historically as “Canada’s richest mile”.  There are 101 creeks and streams that have reported placer gold production on the Barkerville Gold property.  Reported historic production from the property is 3,900,000 ounces of gold, 2.6 million placer and 1.3 million lode gold.
Introduced to the world of mining by a friend at the iconic but now closed Bombay Bicycle Club in Vancouver, Callaghans’ first foray into mining was with a company named Carpenter Lake Resources.
“After realizing that the board of directors was not as keen to do much to move the corporation forward, I took over the company by paying the sustaining fees to the Vancouver Stock Exchange with my credit card,” he said.
“My idol was Murray Pezim, who made the Hemlo and Eskay Creek Mines.”
With a lot of hustle and extended credit lines, Callaghan’s Carpenter Lake Resources morphed into International Wayside Gold Mines Ltd and matured to what BGM is today, which is worth about $54 million.
“At some points I used to drill with nothing but my credit card,” said Callaghan, whose philosophy is, “mines are made not found”.
The company now supports a variety of charities like the Nature Trust of B.C., the Zajac Ranch for Children and the Vancouver Police Pipe band.
B.C.’s latest Golden Boy said next week’s first pour at the QR property has given his company a renewed impetus to mount aggressive research on 60km by 20km gold belt in the Cariboo.
“There is still lots more gold in them thar hills,” said Callaghan, whose efforts have some mining analysts talking about a new gold rush in B.C.