Kenorland Minerals Ltd (TSX-V:KLD) has announced the 2023 winter drill program at its Frotet project in northern Quebec, which will include up to 22,000 metres (m) of diamond drilling over 25 drill holes.
The mineral exploration company said a total exploration budget of C$6.5 million has been approved by its joint venture with Sumitomo Metal Mining Canada Ltd (SMMCL) for the program at the Regnault gold discovery on the Frotet project.
Four drill rigs will be active from February until April 2023 and ice construction for drill pads is currently underway, the company added.
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Kenorland said approximately 50% of the proposed drilling will focus on broad step-outs expanding the recent vein discoveries along the R5, R6, R7 and R8 structures.
These 13 drill holes are planned to extend mineralisation from 500m to 650m depth from surface, stepping out from and below high-grade intersections returned from the 2022 program such as 22RDD133: 6.65m at 19.50 grams per ton (g/t) gold, including 1.06m at 98.34 g/t gold.
The company said all drill holes are optimized to infill mineralisation of the R1 structure at shallower depths, with three drill holes continuing at depth to explore for additional parallel structures footwall to the R8 structure. It added that 40% of the planned drilling is designed to expand mineralisation in a 450m gap between the R5-R6-R7-R8 and the R2-R3 structures.
“These ten drill holes will test the interpreted mineralised structures to a depth of 650m below surface, with one drill hole extending at depth exploring for additional veins systems to a depth of 1,000m below surface,” the company explained. “The remaining 10% of the planned drilling will target an untested zone to the south within the Regnault diorite, exploring for deep mineralisation potential parallel to the vein systems drilled to date. These two drill holes are also optimized to intersect potential extensions to the R2 and R3 structures at shallower levels.”
Exploration will be funded pro-rata by the joint venture (80% SMMCL, 20% Kenorland) while it remains the operator of the project, the company said.
Kenorland Minerals is focused on early to advanced-stage exploration in North America. The company currently holds five projects in Quebec where work is being completed under joint venture and earn-in agreements from third parties.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com