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Alamos Gold has released exploration results from its Island Gold mine in Ontario, which extend high-grade gold mineralization within the Island Main, East and West zones.
Underground drilling at the Island Main zone, completed off of the 840-level exploration drift, expanded high-grade gold mineralization by up to 200 metres to the east of existing reserves, in a 300-metre gap between reserves and resources. The latest intercepts are from depths between 850 and 1,100 metres. Drill highlights include 5.9 metres of 18.64 g/t gold and 2 metres of 97.76 g/t gold.
At the Island East zone, surface and underground directional drilling extended gold mineralization by 110 meters down-plunge of the nearest inferred resources, and up to 70 metres west of prior intercepts. Notable drill results from this area include 6.54 metres of 54.18 g/t gold, 5.1 metres of 123.74 g/t gold and 2.5 metres of 21.88 g/t gold.
This year, Island Gold is expected to generate 130,000 to 145,000 gold oz, at mine site all-in sustaining costs of $750 to $800 per oz
Underground directional drilling at Island West extended high-grade mineralization by up to 45 metres beyond inferred resources. Highlights from this area include 2 metres of 72.45 g/t gold.
“Despite not completing as much drilling as planned due to Covid-19, the 2020 program included some of the best exploration results drilled to date at Island Gold. We expect these results to drive further growth in high-grade mineral resources at Island Gold with our 2020 year end update, improving already attractive economics with the Phase III shaft expansion, while also clearly demonstrating the significant ongoing growth potential of the deposit,” John McCluskey, Alamos Gold’s president and CEO, said in a release.
Last year, Alamos focused on new near-mine resource definition in its exploration program. The company completed 21,415 metres of surface directional drilling, 8,352 metres of underground directional drilling and 15,170 metres of standard underground exploration drilling. This was under its budget for 76,000 metres due to downtime associated with Covid-19 at Island Gold in the second quarter.
This year, $25 million is budgeted for surface and underground exploration at Island Gold, focused on new resource definition across the 2-km long Island Gold Main zone. Work is also planned for regional targets with 25,000 metres of drilling to evaluate targets outside the main Island Gold area. In December, the company expanded the Island Gold property to 149 sq. km, adding approximately 54 sq. km to the project, through a $25-million acquisition of Trillium Mining.
This year, Island Gold is expected to generate 130,000 to 145,000 gold oz., at mine site all-in sustaining costs of $750 to $800 per oz In July, the gold miner announced plans to go ahead with an expansion of Island Gold, which includes a new shaft build, to grow output to 2,000 t/d by 2025, from 1,200 t/d currently.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
