The most recent set of drill results from Maritime Resources’ (TSXV: MAE) past-producing Hammerdown gold project in Newfoundland and Labrador suggests a new gold-silver discovery 150 metres east of the Hammerdown deposit. In addition, infill drilling at the Wisteria zone, along the southern edge of the deposit, returned broad gold intercepts.
Assays from the new discovery, along strike from Hammerdown, included 6 metres of 6.9 grams gold per tonne and 12.9 grams silver per tonne starting at 143 metres, with a 2-metre interval of 19.9 grams gold and 24.1 grams silver. The mineralization appears similar to the Hammerdown veins and suggests resource expansion potential both along strike and at depth. Follow-up drilling is planned for the first quarter of this year.
Highlights from infill drilling at Wisteria included 92.1 metres of 1.4 grams gold and 15.5 metres of 1.4 grams gold. According to company’s news release, the two drillholes were completed in a direction opposite to prior drilling and could suggest a previously undetected cross-cutting mineralizing event. Additional drillholes are also planned for this area.
An additional gold zone, 70 metres east of Wisteria, has been traced inside of the southern limit of the pit shell defined by a 2020 preliminary economic assessment of the project. Intercepts of note from this area included 23.4 metres of 0.5 gram gold and 4.2 metres of 1 gram gold. Both intersections were outside of the existing resource.
Drilling at the Lochinvar volcanogenic massive sulphide target, 800 metres northeast from Hammerdown, returned 21.3 metres of 0.4 gram gold, 29.7 grams silver, 0.2% copper, 2% zinc and 1% lead. At this target, Maritime has defined two plunging massive sulphide lenses from surface down to a depth of about 200 metres.
“These latest results from Hammerdown demonstrate the potential to extend the deposit towards the east where our step out drilling intersected a new high-grade vein with visible gold and substantial silver,” Garett Macdonald, Maritime’s president and CEO, said in the press release. “Results from the Wisteria zone continue to show broad intervals of mineralization outside of the current mineral resource which could have a positive impact on the project economics by reducing the open pit strip ratio in this area.”
Macdonald added that the company’s 2021 exploration program will start this week at the Hammerdown site with two rigs allocated for 12,000 metres of drilling planned for the Hammerdown and Orion deposits.
Maritime’s 98-sq.-km Green Bay property includes the historic Hammerdown mine and Orion project. Between 2000 and 2004, Hammerdown produced 143,000 gold oz. from open pit and underground operations.
In February 2020, Maritime published the results of a preliminary economic assessment on open pit and underground mining at the Hammerdown and Orion deposits. The material mined would be pre-concentrated on site and hauled to an offsite mill to produce gold doré. The nine-year mine would produce an average of 57,900 gold oz. annually at all-in sustaining costs of US$939 per oz. with a pre-production capital cost estimate of $57 million.
In December 2020, the company signed a letter of intent with Rambler Metals & Mining (LSE: RMM) for the purchase of an existing gold circuit within the Nugget Pond metallurgical facility, in addition to additional exploration assets. The purchase price included US$2 million in cash and $500,000 in common shares of Maritime. Closing is expected in the first quarter.
Combined open-pit resources at Hammerdown and Orion stand at 1.7 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 6.65 grams gold for a total of 368,000 ounces. Inferred resources add a further 1.3 million tonnes grading 4.77 grams gold for 206,200 gold ounces Total resources in the underground classification include 1.2 million measured and indicated tonnes at 4.13 grams gold with an additional 1.9 million inferred tonnes grading 4.29 grams gold.
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