Solstice Gold Corp. (TSX-V:SGC) said the 4,000-meter (m), fully funded and permitted Phase 2 diamond drill program at its 100%-owned, royalty-free Red Lake Extension (RLX) project will start in January 2023.
The company also provided the results of its Phase 1 drill program at the project in the northwestern corner of the Red Lake Gold Camp, adding that Phase 2 drilling will test parts of the project that are better accessed during the winter drill season.
“The goal of the first phase of drilling was to test our easy access summer targets and explore for the continuation of the Red Lake trend," CEO Mike Timmins said in a statement. "We have observed large-scale alteration, encountered low-grade gold in two holes and anomalous gold in several others. All expected precursors to the potential discovery of a larger system. This winter we will leverage learnings from Phase 1 and drill test other exciting high potential targets in the North and South Fold areas with a further 4,000m."
READ: Solstice Gold updates on its royalty and property portfolio in Ontario and Quebec
Phase 1 highlights:
- Solstice recently completed 5,323m of diamond drilling in 11 drill holes. These holes tested a 5.6km corridor in the central region of RLX. This total includes one lost drill hole which was abandoned prior to testing its target.
- Quartz-sulphide veining was intersected in mafic rock units overlying iron formation in two drill holes. Gold was observed and analysis returned 1.96g/t Au over 1.5m (RLXDH22-07) at a down-hole depth of 331m and 0.82 g/t over 1.05m (RLXDH22-02) at 317.6m
- Intensely altered zones, structurally above the mafic units noted above are associated with an extensive, moderate electro-magnetic response comprising several biotite-sericite, plus/minus potassium feldspar flooded intervals (9m-36m core length) which obliterate primary rock types. Gold values to date in these units are low but enrichment in some pathfinder elements (Ag, Pb, Zn) indicate their potential prospectivity.
- Drill results confirm that the RLX property is underlain by the northern extension of volcanic rocks of the Red Lake Greenstone Belt as documented at the Sidace gold deposit located approximately 12.5 km to the southwest. Assay results presented here represent the first reported gold within the RLX volcanic package.
- In addition to newly identified gold in volcanic rocks, previous drilling in 1980 by Dome Exploration reported elevated intrusive-hosted gold in two shallow holes drilled on Nungesser Lake. One drill hole (B6) reported 0.62g/t gold over 1.5m at 57.3m down hole, plus a separate interval of 0.62g/t over 1.5m at 62.0m. A second drill hole (B7) located approximately 1.8km further east, reported 0.62g/t gold over 1.3m at a down-hole depth of 59m.
David Adamson, Solstice’s chairman, said: “For the first time, we have demonstrated that gold is present within volcanic rocks in this essentially unexplored extension of the Red Lake Greenstone Belt. Using the knowledge gained from our drill program, we look forward to vectoring towards additional targets in Phase 2. To date we have sparsely tested only a 5.6km strike length, a small part of the ~18km of prospective target strike length at RLX. The next suite of untested targets will be drilled in Phase 2 this winter and are summarized in more detail below.”
Phase 2 Program
Many large and prospective areas of RLX are best accessed in the winter due to the presence of lake and/or swamp, the company said. This next suite of targets has some of the strongest electro-magnetic (EM) response and structural complexity at RLX. Preparations for Phase 2 exploration will begin in December and drilling is anticipated to commence early in the first quarter of 2023.
Select target areas include:
- A mapped fold in the South Fold Target within altered mafic volcanics and iron formation with strong EM response. Folding post-dates regional folding in the area and is associated with large-scale NE-trending faults.
- Follow-up of elevated gold and alteration in Phase 1 areas.
- Areas where shallow drilling using small, 18mm diameter core by Dome exploration in 1980 documented elevated gold.
- Additional target areas guided by observations from current drilling, gold in humus soils and geophysical modeling.
Solstice is an exploration company with quality, district-scale gold projects in established mining regions of Canada. Its 194 km2 Red Lake Extension (RLX) and New Frontier projects are located at the northwestern extension of the prolific Red Lake Camp in Ontario and approximately 45km from the Red Lake Mine Complex owned by Evolution Mining.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com