Vancouver — After spending US$2.2 million on exploration over three years, Newmont Mining (NMC-T, NEM-N) has terminated an option to earn up to a 70% interest in the Matrix gold project west of Arviat, in southern Nunavut. The property is considered prospective for gold-bearing conglomerate zones geologically similar to those found in South Africa’s Witwatersrand basin.
Newmont had planned to carry out a 1,200-metre drill program this summer, but terminated those plans because of “logistical problems,” according to property owner Kaminak Gold (KAM-V, KMKGF-O).
The senior gold company carried out geological mapping and prospecting earlier this year, which resulted in the discovery of several new gold showings that yielded assays of up to 10.56 grams gold per tonne. The company also expanded the land package by staking an additional 300 sq. km covering gold-bearing conglomerates.
Kaminak intends to use the technical and geological data collected to date for future exploration programs. The company says the property is geologically analogous to paleoplacer districts because of the following features: highly anomalous nature of the host quartz-pebble conglomerate horizons; continuity of major lithologic units; gold values correlated with conglomerates located at breaks in the section; and the broad association of gold with cobalt, nickel and arsenic.
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