Onyx Gold expands drilling at Munro-Croesus

Onyx Gold (TSX-V: ONYX; US-OTC: ONXGF) said it’s more than doubling the current drill program at the Munro-Croesus gold project in Ontario after reporting high-grade results from five new holes. The stock rose.

Highlight hole MC25-178 at the Argus North zone cut 52.2 metres grading 2.2 grams gold per tonne from 72 metres downhole, including 5.2 metres of 5.1 grams gold from 118 metres depth, Onyx said Wednesday in a statement. A second intersection of 61.3 metres at 1.5 grams gold from 147 metres depth included 6.6 metres grading 4.2 grams gold from 162 metres.

As results so far have demonstrated wide intervals of strong gold mineralization over 200 metres vertically and right to surface, Vancouver-based Onyx now expects to drill 25,000 metres at Munro-Croesus this year, up from an initial target of 10,000 metres. The 26 drill holes completed so far cover about 9,000 metres, the company said.

“With results from just nine drill holes reported to date at Argus North, we’re already defining a zone with notable grade and continuity that remains open along strike and down-plunge.,” CEO Brock Colterjohn said in the statement.

“Based on these results, we’ve expanded the drill program to further test this emerging zone and to explore additional high-priority targets across the broader Munro-Croesus project through the second half of the year.”

The past-producing Croesus mine in the area averaged 93.5 grams per tonne from 1908-36. Onyx also has its Golden Mile and Timmins South projects nearby.

Onyx shares rose 1.8% to $2.28 in Toronto Wednesday afternoon, giving the company a market capitalization of about $154 million. The stock has traded between 15.5¢ and $2.52 in the past year.

Other highlights released Wednesday include hole MC25-179, which cut 66.8 metres grading 1.4 grams gold from 101 metres depth. Hole MC25-180, meanwhile, intersected 50.4 metres grading 1.9 grams gold starting at 6.1 metres downhole.

Argus North is located on the western half of the Munro-Croesus project, 150 metres north of the regional Pipestone Fault, a major structural corridor known to host significant gold deposits.

Munro-Croesus sits 75 km east of the city of Timmins. Bulk-tonnage deposits in the area include Mayfair Gold’s (TSX-V: MFG) Fenn-Gib project and STLLR Gold’s (TSX: STLR; US-OTC: STLRF) Tower project. The mothballed Croesus mine, which yielded some of the highest-grade gold ever mined in Ontario, is part of Onyx’s 109-sq.-km land package. The company also controls four properties in Yukon’s Selwyn Basin area.