Mawson Resources (TSE:MAW) has kicked off a 4,000 metre drill program at its Palokas gold project in Finland.
The company said two rigs have been mobilized and will be drilling for the next two months, with local Finnish employees forming the majority of the work gang, operating in two 12 hour shifts each day, six days a week.
It is expected the first pass program will test down to 250 vertical metres.
The primary target for this program is the Palokas Prospect, which will be drilled at a nominal drill spacing of 80 metres, with the aim to prepare and announce the first mineral resource on the property in the second quarter of 2016.
In addition, a three dimensional induced polarization and resistivity survey (3D IP/resistivity) has commenced at Palokas. The survey will extend coverage over the Palokas area to 2.7 kilometres and provide additional drilling targets for current drill program.
Meanwhile, final results have been received for the last three Winkie rig drill holes PRAJ0115-PRAJ0117, completing a nine hole 779.4 metres hand-portable summer drill program at Palokas, the company revealed.
PRAJ0115 was drilled north of the low resistivity body that hosts mineralisation and did not intersect significant mineralisation, but on PRAJ0016 drilling intersected two metres at 2.8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 66.5 metres, while on PRAJ0117 drilling intersected three metres at 1.6 g/t gold from 65.8 metres, one metre at 0.8 g/t gold from 70.6 metres, one metre at 3.7 g/t gold from 75.3 metres and three metres at 1.9 g/t gold from 1090.9 metres.
Compared to earlier drill holes, only lower grades were intersected in the last three drill holes, but the company was encouraged to see the continued strong association of gold-bearing rocks with the low resistivity body, that extends 500 metres south of the drilled area at Palokas, as well as the broader zone of mineralisation encountered in PRAJ0117.
"After closing our financing two weeks ago, we look forward to executing our drill program and testing the Palokas system down dip and along strike with larger diameter and deeper drill core. Our objective is to calculate the first mineral resource at Palokas in Q2 2016," said Mariana Bermudez, president and chief executive officer of Mawson.
"Existing 3D IP/resistivity data from Palokas have provided an effective gold targeting dataset due to the strong correlation between gold-bearing rocks and low resistivity areas. The extension to this geophysical coverage from 800 metres to 2.7 kilometres along the strike of mineralisation will greatly aid in targeting drill holes to the north and south of the immediate Palokas system," she added.
Shares were unchanged in late morning trading in Toronto.