Vanstar doubles drill program as it looks to go deep at Bousquet-Odyno in Quebec  

Vanstar Mining (TSXV: VSR) has reported “promising” partial results from its initial drill program at the Bousquet-Odyno project in Quebec, where it hopes to expand the gold system at depth.  

Highlights from the two reported drill holes included 21 metres grading 5.23 grams gold per tonne starting from 301 metres (hole BO-22-63); and 6.5 metres grading 2.1 grams gold starting at 104 metres (hole BO-22-64).  

Based on the results, Vanstar has decided to increase its drill program to 9,000 metres from 4,000 metres as announced in April. It will continue to test potential high-grade zones at depth. 

“These drill results are significant in that they demonstrate that high grade shoots continue at depth,” the company’s CEO J.C. St-Amour told The Northern Miner. “We will continue to test the project at depth and near surface along strike and we are expecting that our drill program will find more gold potential on the property.”  

“This project is unique as it is located in a prolific greenstone belt (the Abitibi Greenstone belt) and has been drilled tested historically but to relatively shallow depths (200 metres or less),” he added.  “Even though we say we are drilling targets at depth, our targets are still relatively shallow (250-300 metres). 

Located about 45 km east of the city of Rouyn-Noranda, the project covers about 14.92 sq. km. On Mar. 11, Vanstar entered into an option agreement with Iamgold (TSX: IMG; NYSE: IAG) to acquire 75% of the project by spending a minimum of $4 million on exploration in four years. 

Iamgold retains the option to earn back a 50% interest by spending four times the exploration expenditure in the future. 

Vanstar got interested in the project since it is located on Cadillac break, a structure that hosts some large gold producers, and because it is relatively underexplored, said Amour.  

“The Cadillac Break has produced over 100 million oz. of gold over the past 100 years… many of the mines that have operated along the Cadillac Break have been underground operations that followed high grades much deeper than what we are currently drilling.  We believe we are only scratching the surface,” said Amour.  

Historical drilling on the property, prior to Iamgold identified some gold zones, including the Calder-Bousquet Zones number 2, 4 and 5.  

Aside from the Bousquet-Odyno project, Vanstar also has a 25% interest in the Nelligan project, located about 60 km from Chibougamau in Quebec. The property won the “Discovery of the Year” award at the 2019 Quebec Mineral Exploration Association Xplor Gala.  

The project has an inferred mineral resource estimate of 96.9 million tonnes grading 1.02 grams gold per tonne for 3.2 million tonnes of gold. 

At press time in Toronto, shares of Vanstar Mining were trading at 40¢, up 2.5¢ or 6.6% within a 52-week trading range of 33¢ and 94¢. The company has 56.1 million common shares outstanding.