BBA Consultants has been hired to begin engineering and baseline studies in preparation for the Frotet underground gold project adjacent to the past-producing Troilus gold-copper mine 100 km north of Chibougamau, Quebec.
Kenorland Minerals (TSXV: KLD), the current operator and holder of a 4% net smelter return royalty on the project, updated recent events at the project. Frotet is 100% owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining Canada.
BBA has been engaged to develop a scoping study that will assist with permitting an exploration decline at Frotet and a preliminary cost estimate prior to application. Development of an underground exploration decline will facilitate year-round drilling to define the Regnault gold deposit with a resource estimate anticipated by late 2025. Baseline studies are included in the contract.
The Regnault deposit is a greenfield discovery made by Kenorland and Sumitomo in 2020. Since then, 220 drill holes totalling 100,721 metres have been drilled. The property has a network of forestry road and a crossing over the Route du Nord in the southwest part of the property. A power transmission line, which served the Troilus mine, also crosses the property.
The deposit is hosted within quartz-calcite stockwork vein systems, and pyrite is the dominant sulphide mineral with gold mineralization. Visible gold has been logged in several high-grade veins.
Late last month, Kenorland reported exceptional gold grades, including:
There were several other short intervals of roughly 45 g/t, 73 g/t and 22 g/t gold.