O3 Mining reports drill results from its Marban gold project in Quebec

O3 Mining (TSXV: OIII) has reported new drill results from the Gold Hawk zone at its Marban gold project, part of the company’s wholly-owned Malartic property located near Val d’Or, Quebec.

The current 45,000 metre drill program is focused on expanding mineralization outside of proposed pit areas previously outlined in a preliminary economic assessment released in early September.

The new assay results are from seven holes that targeted extensions down plunge at Marban’s Gold Hawk zone. Drilling hit the Gold Hawk zone between 390 and 570 metres below surface, at a spacing of 50 to 100 metres.

Highlights released included hole O3MA-20-008, which intersected two mineralized intervals. The first returned 383.4 grams gold per tonne over 2 metres from 552.8 metres downhole, including 1,510 grams gold over 0.5 metres from 553.8 metres. O3MA-20-008’s second interval was four metres deeper and returned 5.3 grams gold over 1.1 metres.

Drill hole O3MA-20-002 intersected 1.8 grams gold over 5 metres from 489.8 metres downhole along the same basalt-komatiite contact as O3MA-20-008. A third hole, O3MA-20-003, cut 16.8 grams gold over 0.5 metres from 588 metres downhole.

The company is awaiting assay results from three more follow-up holes completed around drillhole O3MA-20-008.

“Gold Hawk has great potential for high-grade,” O3’s president and CEO, Jose Vizquerra, told The Northern Miner. “It has the potential to be a satellite deposit to our main development, Marban, that is about 2 km from where we have been drilling.”

Vizquerra said that the intercepts confirm the high-grade characteristic of the gold deposit along a prolific Marbenite shear corridor, and this has given the company the confidence to expand its drill program to more quickly unlock the potential resources at Marban.

“What we expect for next year is to increase our drilling campaign,” he said. “We currently have six rigs working across the property, but we expect to have twelve operating on site by January. And we have around 30 people working for us, which we will keep on into the new year.”

While the company drills in the winter season, Vizquerra highlighted that they are taking precautions to keep their workers safe from exposure to Covid-19. “All of our employees are from the area, so we don’t have fly-in, fly-out, and in our view that is one of the best ways to control the spread of the virus.”

As O3 prepares to ramp up its exploration work, the management team is also working to enhance its business plan for prospective investors.

“Our focus is to move towards prefeasibility,” said Vizquerra. “But at the same time, we know we have to work on the baseline studies. And as we work on the baseline studies, we want to make sure that we have these high-grade components that will be able to make the project much better.”

He went on to add that he believes the Val d’Or region is also an area that can attract sustainable investment because the companies operating there respect the environment and respect the people working and living there, and because it already has proven resources.

“I like to say that you find elephants in the land of elephants, and that is what the Abitibi is. It is a very rich area in terms of gold. It is a mature terrain.”

At press time, O3’s shares were trading at $2.75 within a 52-week range of $1.06 and $3.68. The company has 60 million common shares outstanding and a market capitalization of $166 million.