Maple Gold Mines Ltd (TSX-V:MGM, OTCQB:MGMLF) reported complete assay results for four drill holes and partial assay results for five more drill holes from ongoing drilling at its 77-hectare Eagle Mine property, which is located several kilometres (km) west of the mining town of Joutel in Québec, Canada.
The Vancouver-based advanced exploration company said previously completed digitization and modelling of historical drill results and a review of drill logs identified a potential southern splay of the main mine horizon — the South Mine Horizon — located northwest of the past-producing Eagle mine in an area targeted for follow-up drilling.
The new results confirm the continuity of the South Mine Horizon at relatively shallow, < 275 metre (m) vertical depths, suggesting a local widening of the mineralized zone in this area, demonstrating the potential for additional subparallel gold trends at Eagle.
"These new results at Eagle confirm our modelling interpretations and demonstrate the potential to define significant zones of gold mineralization beyond what was historically mined at Eagle during a much lower gold price environment," said Fred Speidel, vice president of exploration at Maple Gold.
"Encountering relatively shallow multigram gold intercepts in an area that remains open for roughly 200m along strike within the Eagle property boundary and a further 1.5 km beyond that on JV-controlled ground highlights the exploration upside that remains along this past-producing mine trend."
Maple highlighted that drilling results, including the new ones, show the vertical continuity of the South Mine Horizon over a 350m vertical interval from the surface, and known mineralization extends to around 800m vertical depth on adjacent sections and remains open along strike to the northwest as well as at depth.
The company reported that drill hole EM-22-13 intersected 2.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) over 10.4m, including 5 g/t Au over 3.2m from 257m downhole.
Meanwhile, drill hole EM-22-16 intersected 3.1 g/t Au over 7.3m, including 4 g/t Au over 3.6m, the latter from 193m downhole.
In addition, drill hole EM-22-10 intersected 14 g/t Au over 0.5m from 539.5m downhole and 8.3 g/t Au over 1m from 543 m downhole. Significantly, this hole also tested the South Mine Horizon more than 200m further to the southeast.
Separately, all reported drill holes contained gold mineralization over 1 g/t Au and seven of the nine reported drill holes contained multi-gram gold intercepts of 2 g/t Au, or better.
Maple noted that there are still around 2,250m of assays pending at Eagle, and with three drill rigs actively turning another 1,500 meters of drilling is expected to be completed at Eagle this year.
Interpretation of results
The firm’s previously reported contoured longitudinal section followed the northern splay in this area of the Eagle deposit. The new drill results support earlier interpretations that gold mineralization occurs over multiple sub-parallel horizons extending along a northwest-southeast orientation, over an actual stratigraphic thickness of more than 100m.
Historical drill holes located 1.7 km to the northwest of the reported intercepts are associated with semi-massive to banded pyrite with quartz and iron-carbonate, with several intercepts over 1 g/t Au, including historical hole F-19 that intersected 3.1 g/t Au over 3.5m.
Maple said that once all assays have been received from the 2022 drilling at Eagle, the 3D model and longitudinal sections will be updated with the corresponding grade contouring.
In addition to its 100% controlled Eagle Mine property, Maple is in a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd (TSX:AEM) to advance the district-scale Douay and Joutel gold projects located in Quebec's prolific Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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