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As developer Pure Gold Mining prepares its PureGold mine in Red Lake, Ontario, for a first gold pour by year-end, the company has reported high-grade intercepts from its 30,000-metre infill and step-out program. These latest results include both surface and underground drilling.
Surface exploration work hit gold mineralization at both resource expansion and upgrade targets. Drilling at the Wedge target in particular has shown continuity of the high-grades down plunge and along strike. Notable intercepts from Wedge include 1 metre of 66.3 g/t gold from 110.1 metres; 1 metre of 24.3 g/t gold starting at 302.5 metres; and 1 metre of 20.5 g/t gold from 11 metres.
The Wedge zone is 3 km from the PureGold processing plant; this area is an extension of the mineral system host to the current reserves.
Two surface rigs will continue drilling into next year, with underground drilling expected to continue through the mine life
Underground, stope definition drilling hit “bonanza-grade” mineralization in areas scheduled for early production.
The underground intercepts include 4.9 metres of 296.1 g/t gold, within a 7.3-metre interval of 198 g/t gold; 2.2 metres of 40 g/t gold; and 2.8 metres of 18.7 g/t gold.
“Over the last several months our exploration team has been intently working to achieve our objective of growing resources at our high grade discoveries, as well as infill and expansion of stopes that form part of our near-term mine plan,” Darin Labrenz, Pure Gold’s president and CEO, said in a release. “Today’s exploration results continue our success at Wedge where we are pushing well beyond the boundaries of our phase I mine plan, demonstrating the high-grade nature and growth potential of our large gold system.”
Labrenz added that drilling along the 7-km long gold trend has hit the same styles of mineralization, geology and alteration, which suggests potential for long-term project scalability and growth.
Two surface rigs will continue drilling into next year, with underground drilling expected to continue through the mine life.
Probable reserves at the site stand at 3.5 million tonnes, grading 9 g/t gold, for a total of 1 million oz. A feasibility study for the mine released last year outlined an operation producing up to 125,000 oz. of payable gold annually. The PureGold property covers 47 sq. km.
Midday Tuesday, PureGold’s stock was up 9.5% on the TSXV. The company has a C$993 million market capitalization.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
