Maple Gold Mines Ltd (TSX-V:MGM, OTCQB:MGMLF) has secured a third drill rig to begin a 5,000-meter Phase III drill program at its Eagle Mine property in Quebec.
The rig is expected to arrive at the site by mid-October, which keeps the company on pace to complete roughly 30,000 meters (m) across the district-scale 400-square-kilometer property package this year, Maple Gold said.
Currently, two rigs are turning on deep drill holes beneath and adjacent to the historical underground mine workings in the Telbel mine area at the Joutel project, which is a 50/50 joint venture between Maple Gold and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.
The company also expects to secure a fourth drill rig in November to commence deep drilling at the JV's Douay project. The company anticipates a roughly 10,000m deep drilling program at the project,
"We are excited to commence Phase III drilling at Eagle that will follow up on the best results of the first two drilling phases and test additional targets while we are also ramping up the pace of our supplemental C$4.8 million deep drilling program at Douay and Joutel," CEO Matthew Hornor said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Maple Gold also said it has resolved on-site electrical issues that affected its core saws, effectively removing the core cutting backlog and enabling several large batches of samples from previously completed drilling to be sent to the assay labs.
"With normal site operations now restored, our backlog of core splitting and sample shipments has been effectively eliminated and we anticipate additional assay results throughout Q4 2022,” Hornor said. “The company expects to be continuously drilling more aggressive step-out and deep drill holes at Douay, Joutel and Eagle with at least three rigs from mid-October through the end of Q1 2023."
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