Monarch Mining reports final drill results

The Beaufor Mine began producing in the early 1930s and over the years has yielded over 1.1 million oz Au. The mine is currently on care and maintenance, which has given Monarch the opportunity to access the mine area to drill-test targets. In June 2020, the Corporation initiated a 42 500 m diamond drilling programme to test two types of targets: the areas around historical high-grade intersections near the existing underground infrastructure, and isolated resource blocks, which are typically defined by a single drill intersection. Both of these ‘near-mine’ targets can often be tested from the existing underground workings, generally by holes less than 200 m long. Currently, 258 holes totalling 43 419 m have been drilled during the exploration programme. Given the positive results obtained, additional holes are now being drilled to allow the zones in question to be converted into reserves and included in a future mine plan. Monarch is continuing exploration definition drilling with five underground drill rigs.

Underground development and rehabilitation are ongoing in the area of the W and 350 zones, which is easily accessible from a surface ramp located 350 m from the main Beaufor shaft. The surface ramp providing access to the W and 350 zones presently extends to a vertical depth of 180 m below surface.

BBA Inc. completed the mineral resource estimate for the Beaufor Mine in August 2021. An additional 25 623 m of drilling in 105 drill holes has been completed since.

“The results of this surface drilling program are very encouraging,” said Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and CEO of Monarch. “We are very pleased to be able to develop new sectors of the mine where we can define and pull mineralisation elsewhere than the bottom of the mine, which was the focus in the past. This work confirms our view that the project has excellent discovery potential both underground and near surface and that there is therefore a strong possibility of increased mine resources on multiple fronts.”

Sampling consists of sawing the drill core into equal halves along its main axis and shipping one of the halves to ALS Canada in Val-d’Or, Quebec, and AGAT Laboratories in Mississauga, Ontario, for assaying. The samples are crushed, pulverised and assayed by fire assay, with atomic absorption finish. Samples exceeding 10 g/t Au are re-assayed using the gravity method and samples containing visible gold are assayed using the metallic screen method. Monarch uses a comprehensive QA/QC protocol, including the insertion of standards, blanks and duplicates.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/21012022/monarch-mining-reports-final-drill-results/