Integra Gold Rush Challenge

Integra Gold (www.integragold.com) is excited to host the Integra Gold Rush Challenge, one of the largest ever mining industry incentive prize competitions.  We are seeking your help to hunt down the next big gold discovery on our property located in Val-d'Or, Canada - which literally translates to the "valley of gold".  If you're entering - don't delay! Submissions are due by 11:59pm PT on Dec. 1st, 2015!

Val-d’Or, located on the eastern tip of the prolific Abitibi Gold Belt, has been on the map since 1923 when gold was first discovered in the area. The surrounding belt has produced more than 135 million ounces of the mineral.

Adjacent to the town of Val-d'Or is the Lamaque Mine. Opened in 1935, it remained in operation for 50 years, processing more than 24 million tons of ore and 4.5 million ounces of gold.

But in 1985, faced with labour unrest and a low international gold standard, the owners decided to cut their losses and closed production at their Lamaque Mine, leaving it to collect dust and fade into history as one of the longest operating and highest producing mines in the Abitibi Gold Belt.

Enter: Integra Gold. 

The Lamaque mine remained untouched and relatively forgotten for nearly 30 years, until Integra purchased the original land, permits and infrastructure of the old Lamaque and Sigma mines out of bankruptcy in October, 2014.

While the initial aim of this acquisition was the milling facility at surface, the truly important part of the purchase turned out to be... data. Lots of it. Over 6 terabytes of data was discovered, spanning 75 years of mining data from the historic Sigma and Lamaque mines.

We believe the production closure of the Lamaque Mine in 1985 had nothing to do with dwindling deposits. The Lamaque main plug had only been mined to a vertical depth of 1,100 meters, while its immediate neighbour the Sigma Mine was mined down to a depth of 1,830 meters, and there were indications that the Lamaque mine still offered significant untapped resources.

Somewhere within the 2.7-million-year-old geology of the Canadian Shield, there was a treasure waiting to be found. However, at over 6 terabytes, the sheer volume of data we now have on these mines would take Integra years to analyze on our own. We need a faster and more cost-effective method to analyze and interpret the data to identify additional gold targets.

Welcome to the Integra Gold Rush Challenge, an incentive prize to point us towards the next big gold deposit on our Sigma-Lamaque property. We want to unlock the value of this database by harnessing the collective brainpower of thousands of individuals around the world. We will be turning over our database to the public to help direct us towards this next discovery. The challenge is open to anyone, from any background. Integra will be offering prizes totalling CAD $1 million for the most innovative and comprehensive solutions.

Prizes

Subject to the terms outlined in these rules, semi-finalists and finalists, as determined by the judges, will be eligible to win cash prizes based on how they are ranked by the judges. All awards will be paid at the conclusion of the Challenge.

The odds of winning depend upon the number and calibre of eligible entries received during the Challenge Period.

The Prizes must be accepted as awarded and cannot be transferred, assigned, sold, substituted or redeemed for cash, except that the Integra Gold Corporation (“Integra”), in their sole discretion, reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value if the Prize (as defined herein) cannot be awarded as described due to unavailability for any reason. In the event that the Prize consists of or includes attendance at an event that is cancelled, delayed or rescheduled for any reason whatsoever, a substitute prize or cash equivalent will not be provided.

The Semi-finalists and finalists may claim their Prize from Integra after they have been successfully contacted and notified of the Prize, has complied with the Challenge Rules and executed and returned any waivers, releases and/or documents that may be requested by the Integra. A maximum of three attempts will be made to contact each finalist. If a finalist is unreachable during the period of 72 hours, an alternate finalist may be selected.

Proposal and Data Requirements

The merit of your work will be assessed based purely on the proposal package that you submit. Therefore, the proposal should be thorough, specific, clear, and easy to read. While you will not be able to include the entirety of your work in your proposal, this section contains guidelines for elements that are expected to be addressed in a complete proposal identifying potential high-grade targets

Background or introduction

Be sure to demonstrate in your introduction your thorough understanding of the project background, constraints, and short- and long-term goals. Describe any requirements for the project you may have derived.

Approach

Include descriptions of processes, tools, and techniques utilized in your project. Be sure to go into sufficient detail, especially in areas there your approach may deviate from conventional or traditional methods.

Description of the mine and regional geology

Describe your hypotheses regarding the geology of the Sigma and Lamaque mines in the Val-d'Or region. Provide insights into geological criteria used for exploration targeting and the relationship to existing and proposed sites of gold mineralisation. Include descriptions and comments on the role of the host rock, relationship to structure, the timing and number of mineralising events, and any other relevant factors controlling the precipitation and localisation of gold from the mineralising fluids. Describe your approach and predictive models used to reach your insights. For submissions or conclusions using non-traditional, non-geological methodology, a geological description may be replaced with a non-geoscientific working hypothesis.

Targets

Propose targets for exploration and exploitation in the Sigma and Lamaque properties. Be as specific and possible and offer sufficient support and reasoning for your recommendations.

Path forward

Describe your recommendations for a path forward for advancing exploration at the Sigma-Lamaque property. Include a prioritization of activities and events. Keep in mind the cost-effectiveness of your proposal (budgets and estimates are not required).

In this or a separate conclusions section, be sure to show a clear connection between your presented work and the top-level goal of the Gold Rush challenge – to have an exploration target with the highest potential for a large gold discovery.

Additional sections

In addition, for clarity and completeness, please include an executive summary (one page maximum), a table of contents, and a list of cited references.

Proposal Submission Format

Proposals are limited to 30 pages maximum, including the title page, table of contents, appendixes, etc. Paper size must be 8.5 by 11 inches, with the exception of up to one 11” by 17” foldout. Minimum margins are one inch. Font must be minimum 12 pt, double-spaced (text in tables and figures may be as small as 9 pt). No logos, names, or other markings that could be used to identify the proposing team or any team members are allowed anywhere in the proposal (your proposal will be assigned a number upon upload to facilitate blind judging).

Proposals must be uploaded as a single unlocked PDF document, 20 MB maximum. Embedded hyperlinks to external content, such as videos or animations (maximum two minutes duration recommended) or anything else that might help the judging panel come to a decision on a winning idea or concept, are allowed. However, there is no guarantee that judges will view external content, so the proposal document itself must stand on its own.

Basis for Judging

Based on the entirety of all proposals received, the top 20 submissions will be selected as “Semi-Finalists”. The top 20 submissions will be will be selected based on the criterion listed below.

The individuals or teams with the five highest rankings will be selected as “Finalists” and be invited to the 2016 PDAC Conference in Toronto to make a presentation to a judging panel.  The panel will evaluate the submissions and presentation (based on the same criterion listed below) of the 5 Finalists and select a single Grand Prize winner.

The judges’ decisions are final and binding. Integra reserve the right at any time, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any entry that they determine does not comply with the criteria stated below or with these official Challenge Rules generally.

Communication

English is official language for submissions, proposals, presentations, and all communications.

Applicants may be contacted for follow-up information by Integra Gold Corp or its partners; telephone or Skype interviews may be requested.

Eligibility

The Challenge is open to all individuals or groups of individuals who are over the age of majority in their province, state, territory or country of residence. It excludes employees representatives, relatives, dealers and agents of Integra Gold Corporation and/or HeroX (and their respective affiliates).

While companies, firms, and individual professionals are welcome and encouraged to participate, the Challenge is an amateur competition. The Challenge is not soliciting expert and/or professional opinions but rather, simply soliciting ideas. Any ideas that may be acted on in the future will first be fully vetted and deemed reasonable by a geologist member of the Ordre professionnel des géologues du Québec.

You do not need to be a geologist or geoscientist to enter the Gold Rush Challenge. Anyone from any academic field or discipline, may enter the Gold Rush Challenge.  If one of the Top 5 Gold Rush Challenge finalists are not already a member of either a) A professionally recognized geoscience organization in their home country or b) The Order of Quebec Professional Geologists, Integra will provide the resources and support for the finalists to become automatically sponsored by a Quebec Registered Professional Geologist who will provide professional support for their challenge submission. Note that these finalists will not be obliged to share prize money with the sponsoring Quebec Registered Professional Geologist

All members of a declared academic team, with the exception of a maximum one faculty advisor, must be students at the time of the proposal submission. The status of academic team members is subject to verification.

No individual may be a member of more than one team. One entry per individual or team allowed. Participation is void wherever restricted or prohibited by law.

Integra reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any participant who is (i) found to be tampering with the entry process or with the operation and administration of the Challenge; (ii) acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with the intent to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the Challenge; (iii) or in violation of the Challenge Rules. 

Automated entries or votes sent via bots will be disqualified. Automated and/or repetitive electronic submissions (including but not limited to entries made using any script, macro, bot or contest service) will be automatically disqualified and transmissions from these or related accounts may be blocked. Integra reserves the right to seek damages and other remedies from any such entrant to the fullest extent permitted by law, including but not limited to criminal prosecution.

Participants must comply with these Challenge Rules. Participants will be deemed to have received, understood and agreed to these Challenge Rules through their participation in this Challenge.

No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win the competition.

Travel and Prize Monies

Finalists must be available to travel to Toronto, Canada in March of 2016 to participate in the Gold Rush Finale event. Travel (airfare/hotel) and registration expenses will be paid for one representative from each finalist team to attend the event.  Each finalist team member is solely responsible for obtaining any requisite visas or travel documents.

Teams are solely responsible for any taxes that they might incur from their prize money.

Licensing and Copyright

Any submission submitted in connection to the Challenge must be an original work created by the participant or the participant team members and the participants must have all necessary rights in and to the submission.

The submission must not infringe upon or violate any laws or any third party rights, including, but not limited to, copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, privacy, publicity or confidentiality rights or other proprietary or contractual rights and must not include material that is libelous, defamatory, or tortious.

Participants must obtain, and make available to Integra upon Integra’s request, all necessary permissions, licenses, releases, waivers of moral rights and other approvals from third parties necessary for Integra to use and exploit the submission, in whole or in part, including without limitation, to reproduce, make derivatives, edit, modify, translate, distribute, transmit, publish, license and broadcast the submission worldwide, by any means.

Participants must assign to all of their rights in the submission and the intellectual property embodied therein, to Integra.

Participants must keep confidential the geological data and other information disclosed by Integra and the contents of participants' submissions, during the Challenge and thereafter, unless Integra Gold authorizes disclosure of the information or Submission.

To participate in the Challenge participants must agree to these terms and other terms described in the Integra Gold Rush Challenge Intellectual Property Agreement.

Submissions will be retained by Integra for use by Integra Gold, its affiliates, licensees and Challenge partners.

Applications will be retained by Integra Gold; information and data will be accessed only by Integra Gold and its competition partners and not sold or shared.

Disclaimers

The Challenge Rules are subject to change. Registered participants will receive notification when changes are made. However, participants are encouraged to visit the Challenge Site often to review updates.

Integra is not responsible or liable for late, lost, incomplete, illegible, misdirected, stolen, delayed, damaged or destroyed entries, notifications, replies or any Challenge Release; for lost, interrupted, inaccessible or unavailable networks, servers, Internet Service Providers, websites or other connection, related to the Challenge; for errors of any kind, including but not limited to human, electronic, mechanical and/or technical in nature; for failure or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer and online systems, servers, computer equipment, software, e-mail, players, or browsers on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet, any websites related to the Challenge, including without limitation the Challenge Webpage, or any combination thereof or otherwise; for any injury or damage to participant, participant’s computer, or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating in or downloading material in connection with the Challenge; for incorrect or inaccurate information; and/or for weather conditions, event cancellations, delay or rescheduling or other factors beyond the Integra’s control. 

CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THIS CHALLENGE MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, INTEGRA RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES OR OTHER REMEDIES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON(S) RESPONSIBLE TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

Governing Law

The Challenge is subject to applicable federal, provincial and municipal laws and regulations and is void where prohibited by law. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of the Challenge Rules or the rights and obligations as between the entrant and the Integra in connection with the Challenge shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the province of British Columbia including procedural provisions without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions that would cause the application of any other jurisdiction’s laws. The decisions of the Integra with respect to all aspects of the Challenge are final and binding.