MacDonald Mines extends gold mineralization at SPJ in Ontario

Drilling at MacDonald Mines’ (TSXV: BMK) wholly owned SPJ property, 20 km east of Sudbury, has extended the strike length of the high-grade New Zone-Villeneuve trend to over 225 metres and the structure remains open.

The company released results for six drill holes completed over the winter and spring. Highlights include 5 metres of 27.2 grams gold per tonne in hole 20-041 as well as 6 metres of 2.3 grams gold and 2 metres of 3 grams gold from hole 20-043. All of the intercepts are from the first 42 metres downhole.

“Our near-surface drilling continues to significantly extend the lateral footprint of mineralization at the Scadding deposit,” Quentin Yarie, the company’s president and CEO, said in a news release. “These latest results show that thick, high-grade mineralization, located along the trend of the historic east-west pit, remains open.”

MacDonald Mines recently collected geophysical survey data over an area of 700 metres by 700 metres around the past-producing Scadding mine. The induced polarization (IP) survey outlined several east-west trends, correlating with historic pits and underground workings at the site. The company used these survey results to generate drill targets – it appears that these initial drill results align with the results of the IP survey.

Yarie said that drilling at the site has been paused as additional assays are pending, and MacDonald is completing mapping and fieldwork to assess additional prospective trends defined within the area of the geophysical survey.

MacDonald Mines holds a 100% interest in the 183-sq.-km SPJ property, host to the past-producing Scadding mine, which generated 127,000 tonnes grading 7.2 grams gold in the 1980s from three shallow open pits and an underground decline.

The site lies within a potential iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) district and the Scadding area is a gold-rich IOCG target. Surface sampling completed in 2018 also returned cobalt-copper, nickel, silver and rare earth showings from the greater SPJ property. The company’s model for Scadding includes a 500-metre wide east-west corridor of gold mineralization, controlled by a series of cross-cutting structures.

At press time, MacDonald Mines was trading at 9.5¢ per share within a 52-week trading range of 4¢ and 21¢. The junior has about 171 million common shares outstanding for a $16.3-million market capitalization.

— This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal. The Northern Miner and Canadian Mining Journal are part of Glacier Resource Innovation Group.