Kenorland Minerals Ltd (CVE:KLD) (FSE:3WQ0) has said the company and its partner Sumitomo Metal Mining Canada Ltd have upped the exploration budget for their flagship Frotet project to C$6.6 million.
The funds will be used primarily for a diamond drilling campaign at the Regnault discovery, where Kenorland intersected 8.5 grams per ton gold at 29.1 metres last year.
Additional funds will go towards surface exploration on other targets within the wider 39,365 Frotet project, which is located in northern Quebec. Frotet is a joint venture between Vancouver-based Kenorland, which currently owns 35%, and Sumitomo Canada, which owns 65%.
READ: Kenorland Minerals kicks off 9,000 metre drill program at the Regnault discovery area on the Frotet project in Quebec
Kenorland told investors that once the current drill program is completed, it is anticipated that Sumitomo Canada will have met its expenditure requirements to earn another 15% interest in the property, bringing it up to 80%. Kenorland will remain the joint venture’s operator and contribute 20% of the total exploration expenditures.
Drilling at Frotet is currently underway, Kenorland said, with just over 5,700 metres completed of a planned 9,000 metre program. The first batch of results are expected by mid-May.
"We are very excited to continue our exploration efforts at the Frotet project, and in particular Regnault, as we, along with our partners at Sumitomo Metal Mining develop our understanding of this significant gold discovery,” Kenorland CEO Zach Flood said in a statement.
“We're encouraged enough by what we are seeing in the current drilling to commit to further substantial exploration this summer,” he added.
Frotet was first identified by Kenorland in 2017 after completing a regional prospectivity study over the Abitibi and Frotet-Evans Greenstone Belts of Quebec. The property was optioned to Sumitomo Canada Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd in April 2018.
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