IAMGOLD extends mineralisation at Nelligan Gold Project

The Nelligan Gold project (on a 100% basis) hosts Inferred Mineral Resources containing 3.2 million oz of gold grading 1.02 g/t Au. The 2020 diamond drilling programme was designed to infill selected areas of the resource to upgrade resource classification from Inferred to an Indicated category and evaluate potential resource extensions at depth and along strike.

Craig MacDougall, Senior Vice President, Exploration for IAMGOLD, stated: "We continue to be pleased with these further positive results obtained from the 2020 programme completed before our activities were suspended as directed by the Government of Quebec in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The drilling programme continued to intersect the expected alteration and associated mineralisation within the resource area, and importantly has demonstrated that the alteration system remains open along strike to the west outside of the current modeled resource for potentially another 500 m. Additional drilling is needed to assess this potential and we look forward to the resumption of our drilling activities once conditions allow us to do so in a safe manner."

Next Steps

In response to the global COVID-19 crisis, IAMGOLD temporarily suspended its diamond drilling programme in progress on the Nelligan project on 23 March 2020. The 2020 exploration drilling programme was planned to involve the completion of approximately 8000 m focused on infill drilling to improve resource classification, as well as step-out drilling to evaluate potential resource extensions at depth and along strike. A total of 4995 m of diamond drilling were completed up to the suspension of the programme. A summer drilling campaign is currently being designed to complete the drilling programme, taking into consideration summer access conditions as well as the implementation of safety protocols to prevent COVID-19 infections. All pending assay results from drilling completed to date will be reported once they are received, validated and compiled.

Additional metallurgical tests are also planned in the coming months to provide additional information on the metallurgical recoveries from the various zones of mineralisation comprising the mineral resources of the Nelligan gold deposit and to further refine the process flow sheet parameters. The geological, geochemical and structural models have been updated and refined to assist the selection of representative metallurgical samples and to support further deposit studies.

Regional exploration activities will also continue to define and evaluate other priority targets on the property with focused geological mapping programmes supported by geochemical and geophysical surveys as merited.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/19062020/iamgold-extends-mineralisation-at-nelligan-gold-project/