Matador Mining Ltd (ASX:MZZ, OTCQX:MZZMF)’s 2022 prospecting activities have borne fruit with the discovery of anomalous gold mineralisation at the Long Range (formerly Grand Bay) target area along the Cape Ray Shear Zone in Newfoundland, Canada.
Exploration yielded a peak gold value of 0.77 g/t gold along with anomalous pathfinder elements including silver, bismuth, copper, lead, tellurium and more.
Extended strike
Gold mineralisation was found eight kilometres away from multigram historical samples, extending the strike extent of anomalous gold mineralisation at Long Range to 11 kilometres.
Historical Long Range work included a focus area with an anomalous footprint of more than 300 metres along and across strike, with a peak undrilled in situ gold value of 11.6 g/t gold sampled.
Long Range now ranks as a high-grade, in-situ, gold-bearing diamond drill target for the company to drill in 2023.
Matador managing director and CEO Sam Pazuki said: “The latest results from our 2022 Greenfields prospecting program continue to demonstrate the prospectivity of our extensive tenement package in Newfoundland along the vastly underexplored Cape Ray Shear Zone.
“The Long Range target area is another large area in our portfolio that is only 10 kilometres away from Channel-Port aux Basques and easily accessible from the Trans-Canada Highway.
Largely underexplored
“Despite some high-grade historical samples, it has remained largely underexplored despite its favourable logistical setting.
“The 2022 prospecting at Long Range took place on days where Malachite was inaccessible due to weather. In these instances, which became more frequent in November, our field crews were dispatched instead to areas like Long Range that are accessible by road. In addition to accessibility, we selected the Long Range target area due to historic work completed further along strike.
“The results from our program at Long Range exceeded our expectations with new gold showings several kilometres away from the 11.6 g/t historic in-situ sample on the same structure. As a result, we now have a new, large area that is drill ready for us to explore.
“Although the bulk of our 2023 exploration program will be focused on the extensive Malachite target area, we will undertake low cost, high-value work at other areas including Long Range with prospecting, sampling, mapping and reconnaissance diamond drilling.
“As previously mentioned, we are currently working through comprehensive analysis of the extensive amount of data collected over the past few years.
“This work is to allow us to prioritise our 2023 exploration activities to maximise return on investment and deliver long-term shareholder value.”