IAMGOLD reports additional Gosselin drill results

In March 2021, IAMGOLD reported the results of the remaining nine diamond drill holes totalling 3686 m as part of the resource delineation drilling programme completed in 4Q20.

IAMGOLD is now reporting assay results from an additional 31 diamond drill holes totalling 11 735 m completed in 2021. Drill holes were completed from land-based drill platforms on the north and south shores of Three Ducks Lake, and also on lake ice and barge-based platforms directly on Three Ducks Lake.

The assay results include the following highlights:

• Drill hole GOS21-66: 242 m grading 1.57 g/t gold (Au), including:
  • 154 m grading 2.31 g/t Au.
  • 32.9 m grading 6 g/t Au.
• Drill hole GOS21-76: 151.5 m grading 1.25 g/t Au.
• Drill hole GOS21-80: 48.5 m grading 7.83 g/t Au, including:
  • 3.5 m grading 96.1 g/t Au.
• Drill hole GOS21-81: 430.5 m grading 0.95 g/t Au, including:
  • 274.2 m grading 1.31 g/t Au.
• Drill hole GOS21-86: 393 m grading 1.41 g/t Au.
• Drill hole GOS21-88: 220 m grading 1.25 g/t Au, including:
  • 96 m grading 2.10 g/t Au.
• Drill hole GOS21-92: 304.3 m grading 1.14 g/t Au.
• Drill hole GOS21-93: 350 m grading 1.25 g/t Au, including:
  • 177 m grading 1.91 g/t Au.

Craig MacDougall, Executive Vice President, Growth for IAMGOLD, stated: “These additional drilling results continue to demonstrate the continuity and strength of this wide mineralised system. The Gosselin zone remains open to the northeast and southeast as well as at depth. I want to acknowledge the tremendous effort of our exploration team to safely complete this logistically challenging drilling campaign, as well as our core shack technicians who processed and prepared large numbers of core samples to facilitate a timely submission for analysis. Additionally, I want to acknowledge the support of our assay laboratory partner to expedite the assaying of the drill core samples allowing for their inclusion in the drilling database to support the completion of a maiden resource estimate, which we expect to release in 4Q21.”

The Gosselin zone discovery is located immediately northeast of the Côté Gold deposit, and is accessible by construction roads on the developing mine property. Diamond drilling to date has delineated wide intervals of low-grade gold mineralisation extending from the Young-Shannon historical shaft in the west to the Gosselin zone in the east. This continuous zone of mineralisation is herein referred to as the Gosselin zone.

The 2021 diamond drilling programme continued to in-fill and delineate the Gosselin zone at a nominal drill hole spacing of approximately 70 m, including the shallowest parts of the deposit under Three Ducks Lake and on the Young-Shannon peninsula. Two of the completed drill holes were oriented in the opposite direction from the regular drill pattern to cross-cut the central part of the Gosselin zone, providing additional information on the central breccia core of the deposit.

Diamond drilling data collected from this programme, including oriented drill core, have been used in the creation of a robust geology model incorporating vein orientation and the observed associated structural controls. Results continue to demonstrate gold concentrations associated with two principal vein compositions, which have been modelled and used to underpin the deposit model to support the mineral resource estimate.

Drilling results to date confirm widespread gold mineralisation which has now been defined over a strike length of 1400 m, width of 400 m and a depth extent of 425 m. The zone lies immediately northeast of the Côté Gold deposit outcropping below Three Ducks Lake, and remains open at depth, and along strike to the northeast and southeast.

Next steps

The finalisation of the deposit model and supporting drill hole database, including QA/QC validations have been completed and is now being used to support an initial resource estimate for the Gosselin zone, which is expected to be completed in 4Q21. Drilling continues with additional in-fill drill holes in progress utilising one barge-based drill rig on Three Ducks Lake and two land-based drill rigs on Young-Shannon peninsula, with the programme expected to continue into late October of 2021.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/22092021/iamgold-reports-additional-gosselin-drill-results/