Matador Mining Ltd (ASX:MZZ) is sitting on a metaphorical and literal pile of gold at its Cape Ray project in Newfoundland, Canada, as its 2020 drilling program delivered a swathe of new discoveries and expanded mineralisation.
Matador made the first new gold discovery at the Angus deposit within Cape Ray in more than 20 years and increased its gold footprint at the Window Glass Hill and Isle aux Morts deposits.
The company remains on track to mobilise on-site in April, ahead of the new exploration season.
“Ambitious” program upcoming
In a review of the 2020 drilling program, Matador executive chairman Ian Murray said shareholders could look forward to an exciting 2021 in terms of newsflow from the project.
“The 2020 drill program set the benchmark for us as we achieved multiple records and milestones, highlighted by the first new gold discovery at the Cape Ray Gold Project in more than 20 years and the expansion of gold mineralisation around existing mineral resources.
“With the foundations now established, we look forward to providing additional information shortly on what will be one of the most ambitious exploration programs undertaken at the Cape Ray Gold Project,” he said.
Drilling highlights
The Angus discovery hole is 20 metres at 2.4 g/t of gold, with mineralisation to date intersected over a 450 x 300 metre area, remaining open.
The best intercept received from the drilling program was 18 metres at 11 g/t of gold from 7 metres at the Isle aux Morts deposit.
At Window Glass Hill, a new high-grade zone below the current mineral resource model was discovered, returning 2 metres at 6.9 g/t from 154.1 metres and remaining open at depth.
In total 75 holes were drilled covering 10,768 metres with 76% of holes reporting significant intercepts.
New drilling supports the shallow, open pit mining potential of the project, with 80% of all the gold contained in the strong intercepts less than 80 vertical metres from the surface.
“This demonstrates the potential of the Cape Ray Gold Project and supports our ongoing strategy of targeting shallow, open-pittable gold deposits in an immature exploration environment, as we look to expand upon the already robust platform that was set in the May 2020 scoping study,” Murray said.
2021 exploration program
The company has identified multiple expansion drill targets at Window Glass Hill which will be targeted during the upcoming 2021 exploration season.
Murray said: “Coupled with the new discovery at depth, the company has multiple high-confidence drill targets at Window Glass Hill to test when exploration recommences next quarter.
“The company is finalising its planned exploration program for 2021 and will provide an update early next quarter.”
Following a relatively mild winter in Newfoundland, the company anticipates an earlier mobilisation to site in April 2021 in preparation for the exploration season.
- Daniel Paproth