Maritime Resources (TSXV: MAE) has reported drill results from its past-producing Hammerdown gold project, which returned gold intersections within the proposed pit shell, outside of existing resources, and high-grade hits below the pit shell. The project is near the Baie Verte mining district of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Drilling targeting the Wisteria zone at the Hammerdown deposit, at the intersection of two faults, returned mineralized intercepts within pit outlines suggested in the company’s preliminary economic assessment for the project from February, but outside of the current resource blocks.
Results from this Wisteria included 31 metres of 2.9 grams gold per tonne and 1.24 grams silver per tonne from 25 metres; 25 metres of 1.62 grams gold and 0.58 grams silver starting at 44 metres; and 20 metres of 1.55 grams gold and 0.4 gram silver from a depth of 9 metres.
Mapping is ongoing at Wisteria, with additional drilling planned as well. The latest intercepts are from the south side of the pit shell, and, according to a company statement, they “present an exciting opportunity for a bulk tonnage resource in this area.”
Drilling below the proposed Hammerdown pit shell returned a high-grade intercept, with 5 metres of 15.44 grams gold and 1.39 grams silver from 94 metres. This includes a 0.2-metre long section of 354.8 grams gold and 30.1 grams silver.
According to Maritime, this 0.2-metre section is the fifth-highest grade gold intercept ever recorded at Hammerdown and is interpreted to be a new vein outside of current resources, below the pit shell. Additional drilling is planned for the area.
Infill drilling at the Orion deposit returned visible gold within a 8-metre interval of 2.25 grams gold and 0.72 gram silver from 39 metres, which includes 0.2 metre of 37 grams gold and 4.6 grams silver, from a drill hole targeting near-surface extensions of this deposit.
“Maritime’s exploration program at Hammerdown continues to demonstrate the high-grade nature of the project, including the new Wisteria zone, where drilling has intersected wide intervals of gold and silver mineralization outside of the current mineral resource and within the PEA open pit shell,” Garett Macdonald, Maritime’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. “These results are very encouraging and introduce a new chapter at the project that is different than the narrow vein system that is normally encountered.”
Macdonald added that Maritime has completed its initial, 10,000-metre infill and grade control program and started a second, 10,000-metre phase of drilling, with exploration targets across the Hammerdown gold project and Whisker Valley area. Two rigs are active at the property.
The Hammerdown project, within the greater 98-sq.-km Green Bay property, includes the past-producing Hammerdown and Orion deposits and features a 5-km mineralized trend. The Whisker Valley area, 10 km north of Hammerdown, features similar high-grade veins.
Maritime wholly owns Green Bay. Richmont Mines operated the Hammerdown deposit between 2000 and 2004, and produced 143,000 oz. gold during that time from an average mine head grade of 15.7 grams gold from open pit and underground mining.
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 oz. gold. Total resources across the two deposits in the underground classification include 1.2 million measured and indicated tonnes at 4.13 grams gold for a total of 153,000 ounces. with an additional 1.9 million inferred tonnes grading 4.29 grams gold containing 260,000 oz. gold.
In February, 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 oz. gold annually at all-in sustaining costs of US$939 per ounce. With a pre-production capital cost estimate of $57 million, the resulting after-tax net present value estimate for the project, at a 5% discount rate, is $142.1 million with a 61.2% internal rate of return.
Maritime is working towards an updated resource estimate and a feasibility study for the project.
— This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal.
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