Abitibi Metals boosts resource by 62% at B26 polymetallic deposit in Quebec
Indicated resources increased to 11.3 million tonnes from 6.9 Mt.
Treasury Metals has reported the results of three holes completed within the Main zone of the deposit at its 50-sq.-km Goliath gold project in Ontario.
The drill highlights include 19.5 metres of 6.3 g/t gold, 9 metres of 4.8 g/t gold and 4.9 metres of 2.9 g/t gold.
The company indicated that these results show strong continuity of the mineralization in proposed mining areas with potential to upgrade existing resources to the measured category. Additional assays are pending with a resource update expected in the second quarter.
Treasury has drilled 9,000 metres of a 15,000 metres drill program planned for Goliath this year
To date, Treasury has drilled 9,000 metres of a 15,000 metres drill program planned for Goliath this year. The company also announced that it has temporarily deferred drilling at the project due to the threat of covid-19.
Results from the second phase of a soil gas hydrocarbon (SGH) program, a geochemical surface sampling exploration technique, highlighted two prospective target areas east of the existing resource. One is the regional fold nose to the northeast of the deposit while the second is within the eastern limb of the fold.
“We are pleased to see that the SGH results are helping to substantiate our hypothesis that there are prospective new targets across our property, in particular the nose of the large regional fold structure to the northeast of the deposit,” Greg Ferron, the company’s CEO, said in a release. “Results like these give confidence that step out exploration is the next approach for us to grow our resource.”
Measured and indicated resources at Goliath total 16.2 million tonnes at 2.29 g/t gold for a total of 1.1 million oz. with a further 2 million tonnes grading 3.43 g/t gold for 330,100 oz. inferred. A total of 780,600 oz. is pit-constrained within these categories.
Treasury holds the only permitted mill in an area with several active exploration and development projects. In August, the company received federal and provincial environmental approval for Goliath.
In 2017, a preliminary economic assessment outlined a combined open-pit and underground operation producing an average of 90,000 oz. of gold-equivalent a year over a 13-year mine life. With a total initial capital outlay of $133 million and all-in sustaining costs of $611 per oz., the associated project net present value estimate, at a 5% discount rate, came in at $306 million.
A pre-feasibility study for the project is expected later this year.
The Goliath site, 20 km east of Dryden in northwestern Ontario, covers approximately 10 km of prospective strike with the current resource contained within 1.4 km of this trend.
The project features a regional fold nose structure with a deformed iron formation.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
