Deep sea mining puts $560 billion in land extraction at risk — report
Even in optimal scenarios, the activity would generate only $6.25 million in tax revenue for countries involved, says Planet Tracker.
Latest drill results from Monarch Gold’s McKenzie Break gold property, 25 km north of Val d’Or, Quebec, suggest a new high-grade zone of gold mineralization to the east of the current resource.
Drill highlights include 7.1 metres of 32.3 g/t gold, 13.7 metres of 5.28 g/t and 11 metres of 10.5 g/t. All of these intercepts start below 300 metres down-hole.
“These are truly the best results we have encountered so far on McKenzie Break, with the discovery of a new high-grade mineralized horizon to the east and below the current resource,” Jean-Marc Lacoste, the company’s president and CEO said in a release.
“These are truly the best results we have encountered so far on McKenzie Break, with the discovery of a new high-grade mineralized horizon to the east and below the current resource,”
Jean-Marc Lacoste, president and CEO
“This drilling has shown excellent continuity of the mineralization between holes drilled on 50-metre centres and a significant thickening of the mineralization towards the east and south.”
Monarch (TSE: MQR) now plans to drill four additional holes to test potential extensions of this new zone; the 1,600 metres program is anticipated to start at the end of the first quarter.
Of the five holes reported in the release, three are new diamond holes drilled last year while two are extensions of holes completed in 2018 for a total of 1,462 metres of drilling.
The McKenzie Break project features a high-grade, multiple-narrow-vein deposit with a 2018 report outlining pit-constrained indicated resources of 939,860 tonnes grading 1.59 g/t gold for a total of 48,133 ounces.
Additional inferred resources stand at 574,780 tonnes at 3.46 g/t gold totaling 64,027 ounces. Indicated resources in the underground category are at 281,739 tonnes grading 5.9 g/t gold.
Monarch Gold holds over 300 sq. km within its projects in the Abitibi greenstone belt as well as the Camflo and Beacon mills; McKenzie Break is a potential source of feed for 1,600 t/d-Camflo, which is 62 km away.
The company’s flagship Wasamac deposit has measured and indicated resources of 29.9 million tonnes grading 2.7 g/t gold for a total of 2.6 million ounces. Additional inferred resources are at 4.2 million tonnes at 2.2 g/t gold for 293,900 ounces.
A 2018 feasibility study for the deposit outlined a 6,000 t/d underground operation producing an average of 142,000 ounces a year at all-in sustaining costs of $826 per oz. with a pre-production capital cost of $464 million.
Monarch started the permitting process for Wasamac in November 2019, which is expected to take two years to complete.
(The article first appeared at the Canadian Mining Journal)
