2020/2021 Exploration Program
The Company has completed a systematic exploration program that comprises collection of 1,521 B-horizon soil samples, systematic prospecting and geological mapping, 229 line kilometre drone airborne magnetic surveys and a 2,123 metre Phase 1 diamond drilling program.
Results have been received for all 312 rock float and outcrop grab samples** from the 5.0 kilometre long Emilio Trend; the focus of early exploration at the Cape Spencer Project. Assays up to 21.2 g/t gold have been received from mineralized quartz vein boulders** from the Emilio Trend; two of which contain visible gold. 21 out of 312 (6.7%) float and grab samples assayed over 0.50 g/t gold and 36 out of 312 (11.5%) float and grab samples assayed over 0.10 g/t gold, with values including 3.75 g/t gold, 4.40 g/t gold, 7.12 g/t gold, 7.36 g/t gold and 21.2 g/t gold.
In June 2021, the Company announced the results of a Phase 1, 2,123 metre diamond drilling program that successfully tested priority targets within a 1.2 kilometre section of the 5.0 kilometre long Emilio Trend (Figure 3). The Emilio Trend comprises numerous gold occurrences, some with visible gold, soil geochemical anomalies with recent and historic rock float and grab assays up to 53.50 g/t gold; with 63 of 576 float and outcrop grab samples assaying over 0.5 g/t gold. The Emilio Trend had only been tested with cursory drilling (8 holes) with the majority of drilling (4 holes; 199 metres) testing one section of the Emilio Zone where drill core assays up to 7.86 g/t gold over 7.4 metres were intersected in near-surface drilling in hole AB-04-06.
Highlight assays (core length; true width unknown) of the Phase 1 drilling program include:
Exploration work to date has outlined the importance of two critical structural environments that host gold mineralization; 1) major faulted lithological contacts between the Millican Lake Granite and Cape Spencer formation sediments (hosts to the Northeast and Pit Zone Deposits) and; 2) a series secondary NNE striking fault splays off of the Millican Lake Fault. These fault zones, in certain cases, show strong coincidence with gold-bearing float and grab samples and wallrock alteration expanding the potential host structures for gold mineralization. These NNE striking faults were tested in the Drill Program and shown to host quartz veins that correlate with visible gold bearing quartz vein float samples in 2020. Mineralization typically comprises specular hematite and pyrite and hematite bearing quartz veins that are hosted within pervasively illite, pyrite and iron-carbonate altered and strongly deformed Millican Lake granite and Cape Spencer formation sediments, the same geological environment hosting the nearby Pit and Northeast Zones. Gold mineralization is hosted both in pyrite-bearing wallrock as well as low-sulphide (pyrite), visible gold bearing, quartz veins as observed in rock float, outcrop and in hole AB-04-06 at the Emilio Trend.
Drilling intersected broad zones of alteration comprising pervasive illite, Fe-carbonate, specular hematite along with quartz veining ranging in widths from <5 centimetres to ~3.0 metres with associated disseminated and stringer sulphides (pyrite and chalcopyrite) along with accessory malachite and native copper. Drilling successfully extended the zone of mineralization 25 metres down-dip to the southeast and 250 metres to the west of historic drilling at the Emilio Zone in hole AB-21-08 and AB-21-13, respectively and the zone is open to the west and down-dip for further expansion and discovery.
The Company has initiated a systematic exploration program that covers the remaining strike extent of the Emilio Trend and further northeast towards the Marigold Prospect in order to assess the gold potential of the larger Cape Spencer Project area. Work will comprise prospecting, geological mapping, soil/till sampling, magnetic and induced polarization geophysical surveys; in particular follow-up prospecting on soil anomalies generated from work in late 2020/early 2021 at the Emilio Trend. In addition, The Company will be completing a full review of the Phase 1 drill program at Emilio to further vector towards higher grade, broader mineralization within the Emilio Zone, particularly around drill holes AB-21-08 and AB-21-13.