Monarques Gold Corp. has reported new results for its 2017 drilling programme at Croinor Gold, including for the Gold Bug sector. These are the final results for the drilling programme, which consists of 26 holes totalling 9388 m of drilling on the Croinor Gold deposit and 26 holes totalling 5457 m in the Gold Bug sector.
"This was a successful drilling programme because it enabled us to increase the size of the Croinor deposit, which remains open along strike and at depth," said Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and CEO of Monarques.
"Our understanding of the deposit improves with each new hole drilled. The controls on mineralisation we are using appear to be appropriate. Our strategy is to continue testing the mineralisation at depth and to drill some holes at the east and west ends of the deposit. We will also drill holes in areas of the Croinor Gold deposit where we lack information, and will try to increase the indicated resource for the zones of the block model. We also obtained interesting results for the Gold Bug sector that will allow us to better plan our next phase of work on this very promising sector."
Croinor Gold Deposit
Drilling on Croinor Gold had two objectives: (1) to validate the geological interpretation and dip of the mineralised zones and (2) to discover new zones at depth. Consequently, the corporation did both definition and exploration drilling.
All the drilling of the 2017 programme achieved one or both objectives. The definition drilling intersected the known mineralised zones in areas where the drilling density was not considered high enough. The additional intersections should help increase confidence in the resource contained in the zones drilled. The best intersections were obtained in holes CR-17-574, CR-17-577 and CR-17-578, which returned significant gold grades over reasonable widths.
In addition, exploration holes CR-17-562, CR-17-563 and CR-17-565 identified a new mineralised zone at depth, although the grade intersected is not very significant. Hole CR-17-581 was drilled to follow up on another mineralised zone at depth intersected previously by CR-17-547. The presence of sericite alteration and quartz veins confirms the existence of the mineralised structure.
Gold Bug sector
The Gold Bug sector consists of three main mineralised zones - Gold Bug, Bug Lake and Trench 2. It is considered to be of interest because of its proximity to the Croinor Gold deposit and the Beacon mill. The 2017 drilling programme for this sector was designed to follow up on promising results obtained at the end of 2016. It had two objectives: (1) to generate a better understanding of the geometry and size of the gold-bearing zones found in this sector and (2) to define targets allowing the known zones to be extended along strike and/or new zones to be discovered.
Holes CR-17-536 to CR-17-539 resulted in a higher drilling density in areas where information was lacking. The remaining holes drilled in the Gold Bug sector tested the extensions of the known mineralised zones along strike and at depth, including an area corresponding to a target generated by the Diagnos programme. These holes returned particularly interesting results. Hole CR-17-540 intersected two gold zones, the first at a vertical depth of 81 m, with intersections of 1.39 g/t Au over 3.9 m, including 3.87 g/t over 1.0 m, and the second at a vertical depth of 175 m, with intersections of 1.38 g/t Au over 2.3 m, including 3.36 g/t Au over 0.7 m. Hole CR-17-545 also intersected two gold zones, the first at a vertical depth of 18 m, with an intersection of 2.24 g/t Au over 3.1 m, including 4.76 g/t Au over 1.3 m, and the second at a vertical depth of 104 m, with an intersection of 3.55 g/t Au over 0.8 m.
Sampling normally consists of sawing the core into two equal halves along its main axis and shipping one of the halves to the ALS Minerals laboratory in Val-d'Or for assaying. The samples are crushed, pulverised and assayed by fire assay with atomic absorption finish. Results exceeding 3.0 g/t are re-assayed using the gravity method, and samples containing gold grains are assayed using the metallic sieve method. Monarques uses a comprehensive QA/QC protocol, including the insertion of standards, blanks and duplicates.