Newrange Gold Corp has told investors that drilling will start at its North Birch project in early February this year, with at least 4,000 metres (m) set to be sunk in Red Lake, split roughly evenly between there and the company's Argosy gold mine property.
"We believe that Newrange’s winter drill program on its North Birch and Argosy gold mine projects will be the largest in the Birch-Uchi Belt this year, outside of the nearby Springpole deposit," said Robert Archer, Newrange's CEO, in a statement.
"Our two projects complement each other very well in that Argosy, being the largest past-producing gold mine in the belt, has known gold mineralization that is open to depth, while North Birch holds the ‘blue sky’ potential for a significant new discovery," he added.
READ: Newrange Gold discovers high-grade gold samples at its Pamlico project in Nevada
At Argosy, the focus will be on testing the depth extent of known veins below the historic mine workings and testing for continuity on certain other veins that were not previously mined, said Newrange.
A total of 101,875 ounces of gold was produced at a grade of 12.7 grams per ton (g/t) between 1931 and 1952 - from two inclined shafts on multiple levels but only to a maximum vertical depth of 900 feet (274m), it highlighted.
Meanwhile, North Birch, which spans 3,850 hectares (Ha) is interpreted as a potential iron formation hosted gold deposit, which is structurally similar to Newmont’s Musselwhite mine, 185 kilometres (km) to the northeast, and the largest of this class of deposits in Canada.
Currently, five holes are planned at North Birch, along around three km of strike on the main target horizon. Additional holes will depend on the results from this first pass, said Newrange.
A LiDAR survey flown North Birch last summer highlighted a very clear break between two topographical domains interpreted to reflect a shear zone that follows exactly along the trace of the main fold limb and is at least eight km long.
Although gold mineralization is known elsewhere on the property, the main iron formation horizon has never been drill-tested as it lies under cover, noted the company.
Aside from Ontario, the company’s Pamlico project in Nevada contains a large-scale multi-phase polymetallic mineralizing system with multiple gold and copper targets spread over more than 5,700 Ha.
Contact the writer at giles@proactiveinvestors.com