Troilus’s high-grade assays boost economics of Quebec gold mine restart 

High-grade drill results extending the mineralization at Troilus Gold‘s (TSX: TLG; US-OTC: CHXMF) main project to revive a gold and copper mine in Quebec will probably increase its profitability, an analyst said. Troilus shares rose.  

The assays add 150 metres to the project’s X22 zone for a total strike length of 1 km, which remains open to the southwest and at depth, Troilus said on Thursday. The zone’s footprint has grown “significantly,” with drills cutting higher than average grades outside of the pit shells envisioned in a preliminary economic assessment from 2020, the company said.   

Laurentian Bank Securities says the results bode well for the project, with the X22 zone to be included in a feasibility study and resource update due in this year’s second half. 

“The assay results continue to demonstrate thick intercepts with grades higher than the project average, which could potentially result in a meaningful contribution to overall project economics,” mining analyst Jacques Wortman wrote in a note on Thursday.  

“The recent encouraging drill results from both the X22 and Connector zones continue to justify further delineation and the inclusion of these zones in the feasibility study. We continue to expect that mine sequencing early in the envisioned mine life will be sourced from the Southwest zone, supplemented by these two higher grade zones.” 

The former Troilus mine, located northeast of the Val-d’Or district of Quebec, produced 2 million oz. of gold and almost 70,000 tonnes of copper between 1996 and 2010. Troilus Gold bought the property in 2017.  

Highlights of the assays include hole X22-23-027. It cut 34 metres grading 2.72 grams gold equivalent per tonne from 138 metres depth, including 6 metres of 10.8 grams gold equivalent and 2 metres of 26.8 grams gold equivalent.   

Hole X22-23-024 intersected 34.5 metres grading 1.5 grams gold equivalent, including 19.5 metres of 1.7 grams gold equivalent and 4.5 metres at 2.6 grams gold equivalent. 

Troilus CEO Justin Reid said the new assays show the continuity and strong grade profile of the X22 zone discovered late last year.  

“Its proximity to surface and to the Z87 pit shell make X22 an ideal target in the early years of mine development, with strong potential to positively impact the grade profile,” Reid said in a release. “The team has been very successful in modelling and understanding the controls of mineralization at X22.” 

Troilus is adding 1,300 metres to a 6,500-metre drill program to define and expand the zone, which originates in the western wall of the formerly mined Z87 pit and extends for 1 km southwest into the Gap zone. The company has completed 6,000 metres of the program, with more than 4,000 metres of assays pending.   

The site holds 177.3 million indicated tonnes grading 0.9 gram gold equivalent per tonne (0.8 gram gold, 0.1% copper, 1.8 grams silver) for 5 million oz. gold equivalent (or 4.3 million oz. gold, 322.6 million lb. copper and 6.7 million lb. silver), according to a 2020 resource estimate. 

Shares in Troilus Gold rose nearly 8% on Thursday afternoon in Toronto to 69¢ each, within a 52-week range of 34¢ and 93¢, valuing the company at $156.9 million.