Gold loses some luster after Trump’s decisive win
Gold’s slide is a marked turnaround for a commodity that had surged by more than 30% in the year leading up to the US vote.
Probe Metals has released assay results for drill holes completed at its wholly owned Val-d’Or East property in Quebec, which covers 119 sq. km.
According to the company, this drilling has extended the Bussiere West and Southeast zones, which lie along the Courvan gold trend, on strike and at depth.
The drill highlights include 14.1 metres of 6.8 g/t gold starting at 168 metres from the Creek zone
The drill highlights include 14.1 metres of 6.8 g/t gold starting at 168 metres from the Creek zone, 10.8 metres of 8.9 g/t gold starting at 183 metres at the Southeast zone as well as 1 metre of 9.2 g/t gold from 120 metres at the Bussiere West zone.
Hole CO-139, which returned the 10.8-metre-long intercept above, targeted the near-surface eastern extensions of the Southeast zone and stepped-out this zone to over 300 metres of strike.
“Results from the winter drilling program continue to show strong expansion of gold mineralization at numerous sites across the project,” David Palmer, the company’s president and CEO, said in a release.
With the summer drill program, the company’s focus is now expected to shift to resource expansion around the higher-grade zones at Courvan in addition to infill work.
“These latest intercepts from Courvan show thick, high-grade mineralization located along trend of our current gold zones and represent some of the best results from the property to date.”
Palmer noted that while Probe did experience delays due to closures associated with covid-19 precautions in the province, the company does not expect this to impact its exploration plans for this year.
With the summer drill program, the company’s focus is now expected to shift to resource expansion around the higher-grade zones at Courvan
The Creek, Bussiere West and Southeast zones remain open on strike and below a depth of 250 metres.
There are two parallel gold trends at the Val-d’Or East property: Courvan and Pascalis; Probe sees potential for additional trends at the project. Courvan hosts the past-producing Bissiere mine, which generated approximately 42,000 oz. from an average head grade of 5.8 g/t gold until its closure in 1942.
Probe has been drilling within the Courvan trend since the fall of 2018. In September 2019, the company released a resource estimate for Val-d’Or East, with pit-constrained measured and indicated resources of 13.5 million tonnes at 1.69 g/t gold for a total of 733,100 oz. and measured and indicated underground resources of 1.1 million tonnes at 3.91 g/t gold containing 133,200 oz.
Additional inferred resources stand at 28.3 million tonnes in the pit-constrained category, grading 1.49 g/t gold, for a total of 1.4 million oz. Underground inferred resources include 9.6 million tonnes at 3.35 g/t gold, containing a total of 1 million oz.
The open-pit resources were derived using a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t gold whereas the underground resource was estimated using a 1.95 g/t gold cut-off. The resources are made up of several deposits along both the Courvan and Pascalis trends.
Probe Metals was formed as a result of the sale of Probe Mines to Goldcorp in March 2015. Newmont currently holds a 12% stake in Probe Metals.
Midday Wednesday, Probe’s stock was down nearly 4% on the TSXV. The company has a C$144 million market capitalization.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
