Partners pull more gold at Madrid

Drilling at the Naartok gold deposit, east of Bathurst Inlet in Nunavut, has returned more mineralized intersections for partners Miramar Mining (MAE-T) and Hope Bay Gold (HGC-T).

Seven drill holes at Naartok, near the project’s Madrid gold deposit, confirmed that the deposit is still open to the east at depth. The holes also tested several targets on the deposit’s western extension and in its hangingwall.

In hole M181, near the eastern end of Naartok, drilling intersected a zone of gold mineralization 3.1 metres wide grading 10.4 grams per tonne. At 200 metres of vertical depth, the intersection showed that the east-striking Naartok deformation zone is still mineralized at its eastern end.

Hole M178 was drilled on the western edge of the Perrin Bulge, a lower-grade mineralized zone immediately east of the Naartok mineralization. It cut a 1.4-metre width of gold mineralization in quartz veins and silicified breccia containing 19.8 grams gold per tonne.

Hole M179 was drilled parallel to the structure to check for possible north-striking cross veins. It intersected the main mineralized lens of the Naartok deposit, cutting an average grade of 23.2 grams gold over a true width of 3.2 metres. It found only minor cross-veins in the wall rocks.

Four other holes were drilled on the western extension of the Naartok structure, and all intersected the deformation zone while finding no additional mineralization.

The developing interpretation of Naartok is of a pair of steeply north-dipping mineralized zones, both lens-shaped, in the hangingwall of the deformation zone. The lenses consist of silicified breccia with minor sulphide minerals.

Additional drilling is planned for early August.