TORONTO, Nov. 6, 2019 /CNW/ - 1911 Gold Corporation ("1911 Gold" or the "Company") (TSXV: AUMB) is pleased to announce that it has begun first phase exploration drilling at its 100% owned Rice Lake gold properties. This district-scale land package is located in the Archean Rice Lake greenstone belt of southeastern Manitoba, within the prolific West Uchi geological domain, which also hosts the Red Lake gold camp in adjacent Ontario. The Phase 1 program will entail up to 10,000 metres of drilling to test multiple targets in the Bidou, Tinney, Horseshoe and Poundmaker project areas.
Dr. Scott Anderson, Vice President, Exploration, commented, "After a focused and systematic 2019 field program, we are excited to initiate drill testing of prospective targets identified and evaluated by our exploration team from new and existing datasets, in the context of our updated exploration model. These kilometre-scale targets are characterized by anomalous gold in rocks and surficial sediments, and posses structural and stratigraphic complexities typical of gold deposits in world-class Archean gold districts. Each has strong potential to yield significant new gold discoveries. We look forward to advancing these initial project areas, while continuing to assess new opportunities within our substantial land package".
2019–2020 Exploration Drilling Program
Commencing in November 2019, the Company plans to drill up to 10,000 metres, consisting of 30–40 drill holes ranging from 150 to 400 metres in length, with the objective of testing well-constrained targets at the Bidou, Tinney, Horseshoe and Poundmaker project areas (Figures 1 and 2). Targets to be tested in these areas either have no record of historical drilling or have been subject to only shallow, localized drilling below historical showings, which generally did not test principal structures. New targets have been generated via compilation and integration of new and historical geological, geochemical, geophysical and remotely sensed (LiDAR) datasets.
Figure 1: Simplified geology of the Bidou and Tinney project areas, located approximately 30 km southeast of the True North mine and mill complex at Bissett, MB, showing major structures and the proposed drilling areas.
Figure 2: Simplified geology of the Horseshoe and Poundmaker project areas, located immediately northwest of the True North mine and mill complex at Bissett, MB, showing major structures and the proposed drilling areas.
Bidou project
The Company plans to test 4 targets (Bidou Shear, Bidou South, Janet and Midway) within a thick succession of basalt flows, layered gabbro sills and bedded sedimentary rocks that is intruded by quartz-feldspar porphyry dikes and cut by brittle-ductile shear zones. The project area, encompassing roughly 8 square kilometres, is located adjacent to the southeast margin of the Ross River pluton – a prominent asymmetric intrusion that occupies the core of the Rice Lake belt. The overall stratigraphic and structural setting of this project is directly analogous to that of the True North (Rice Lake) deposit, which is located on the opposite (northwest) margin of the pluton and has produced in excess of 2 million ounces of gold.
The Bidou Shear, Janet and Midway targets consist of gold bearing quartz veins in brittle-ductile shear zones controlled by porphyry dikes and gabbro sills within Fe-rich basalt, indicating potential for both chemical and structural traps at a variety of scales. Grab samples returned up to 22.9 g/t Au from the Bidou Shear and surficial geochemistry (humus) indicates that gold anomalies extend southeast along strike for approximately 500 m from the exposed portion of the shear, in an area with no documented historical drilling.
The Bidou South target consists of a 350 m thick differentiated sill (pyroxenite to anorthosite) that is cut by a series of shear zones that splay to the west-southwest off the Bidou Shear, as identified by bedrock mapping and interpretation of aeromagnetic and LiDAR datasets. Exposed subsidiary structures exhibit intense fabric development and carbonate-sericite±fuchsite alteration. Historical grab samples and new surficial geochemistry indicate anomalous gold on the flanks of pronounced topographic lows interpreted to delineate the main structures. The drill program is designed to test these previously-unexplored structures in several locations over a strike length of 1.5 km.
Tinney project
In the Tinney project area, the Company plans to test 3 targets (Edna, Otter and Tinney) that are spatially associated with a thick feldspar-porphyry dike ('Gunnar porphyry') that cuts Fe-rich basalt flows and gabbro sills, and interflow sedimentary rocks, in the hinge of a regional scale fold referred to as the Beresford Lake anticline. The porphyry extends approximately 2.4 km along strike and, at its southern extent, hosts the Gunnar deposit, which produced approximately 100,000 ounces of gold (1936–1941) at a grade of ~12 g/t Au.
The targets comprise structural intersections between basalt flows, the Gunnar porphyry and shear zones of various orientations, in sites located down-plunge from shear and stockwork vein systems that returned high-grade values up to 114.2 g/t Au from grab samples. The planned drilling area is approximately 1 square kilometre in size; for comparison purposes, the footprint of the True North deposit, including the Cohiba, Hinge and 007 zones, is roughly 1.4 square kilometres.
Horseshoe project
The Company plans to drill test 3 subparallel structures, each with a strike length in excess of 1 kilometre, that cut and refract across the basal contact of the San Antonio assemblage – a distinct unit of coarse clastic sedimentary rocks that unconformably overlies the Rice Lake greenstone belt west of the True North deposit. The primary structures are unexposed and have not previously been tested by drilling. Surface grab and channel sampling of secondary, flanking structures returned local anomalous gold values and have a geometry and sense of movement that is identical to the most productive structures in the True North mine, located 4.5 km to the east along strike.
The San Antonio assemblage is comparable in most respects to the Timiskaming assemblage in the prolific Abitibi greenstone belt of Ontario and Quebec, and the overall geological and structural setting of these targets – located immediately beneath a Timiskaming-like sedimentary basin, in the core of a large-scale fold structure, on the flank of a crustal-scale fault (Figure 2) – are similar to the world-class Dome mine in the Timmins gold camp.
Poundmaker project
At the Poundmaker project, gold bearing quartz veins are hosted by northwest and subsidiary northeast-trending shear zones that appear to be controlled, at least in part, by mafic dikes in the Clinton-Poundmaker tonalite pluton. The principal shear, which extends more than 2.5 km along strike in a northwesterly direction, has returned high-grade gold values up to 104.8 g/t Au from grab samples of quartz-sulphide veins, most notably where the shear expands to 20 m in thickness.
Surficial geochemistry (humus) indicates potential gold bearing structures trending both parallel and transverse to the principal shear zone, as well as a potential extension of this structure along strike to the northwest, across a 200 m gap in exposure within which there is no record of historical drilling. The Company plans to test coincident gold anomalies and favourable structure within an area of approximately 1.2 square kilometres.
Other surface exploration
Geological fieldwork and surficial geochemistry sampling have also been completed at the Cryderman and Gold Horse projects in the Rice Lake greenstone belt, with initial results from the latter indicating potential for multiple gold bearing structures.
Planning is also currently underway for the 2020 field season, to further develop targets identified to date and expand the surficial geochemistry coverage. Surficial geochemistry has proven to be a key exploration tool based on orientation surveys completed in 2019, and will thus be optimized and applied to develop targets in other highly prospective, yet poorly exposed portions of the Rice Lake belt.
High-resolution aeromagnetic and LiDAR datasets acquired in 2019, covering roughly 21,500 and 13,400 hectares respectively, are also being utilized to define favourable structural settings in the eastern and western extents of the Company's 54,000 ha land package, and it is anticipated that additional projects will be added to the portfolio for the 2020 field season.
QA/QC Protocols
Sample handling, preparation and analysis are monitored through the implementation of formal chain-of-custody procedures and quality assurance/quality control programs designed to follow industry best practices. Rock samples for gold assay are submitted to TSL Laboratories Inc. in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and are prepared by crushing to 70% passing 1.7 mm, riffle splitting to obtain 250 g aliquots, and pulverizing to 95% passing 106 microns. Pulps are analyzed by a 30 g fire assay and AAS finish. For assays above 10 ppm Au, a cut of the original pulp was re-assayed with a gravimetric finish. Certified standards, non-certified blanks and field duplicates are inserted into the sample stream at regular intervals, such that QA/QC accounted for about 10% of the total samples. Results are routinely evaluated for accuracy, precision and contamination. Surficial geochemistry samples are analyzed for 36 elements by Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Ancaster, Ontario, using the 'Ultratrace-1M' package (aqua regia, ICP-MS), and Actlab's in-house QA/QC protocol that includes blanks, duplicates, certified standards and control samples.
Qualified Person Statement
Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Scott Anderson, Ph.D., P.Geo., the Company's Vice President, Exploration, and "Qualified Person" as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
About the Rice Lake greenstone belt
The Rice Lake greenstone belt is situated at the western extent of the Uchi Subprovince of the Archean Superior Province, approximately 150 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba and 110 kilometres west of Red Lake, Ontario. It represents the western extension of the Red Lake and Birch-Uchi greenstone belts in Ontario, which have collectedly produced in excess of 30 million ounces of gold. Like the Red Lake belt, the Rice Lake belt records more than 300 million years of magmatism, sedimentation and orogenic activity along the south margin of the North Caribou Terrane – the ancient nucleus of the western Superior Province. Additionally, the Rice Lake belt is bounded by crustal-scale faults and contains fault-controlled basins of 'Temiskaming-like' clastic sedimentary rocks, which are important empirical guides to areas of high potential for orogenic gold deposits of the type found elsewhere in the Superior Province, most notably in the Timmins camp (Abitibi greenstone belt) in Ontario.
About 1911 Gold Corporation
1911 Gold is a junior gold producer and explorer that owns the True North mine and mill complex, and is reprocessing historic tailings on a seasonal basis. In addition to operating True North at Bissett, Manitoba, 1911 Gold holds approximately 54,000 hectares of highly prospective land within and adjacent to the Rice Lake greenstone belt. 1911 Gold believes its land package is a prime exploration opportunity, with potential to develop a mining district centred on its True North facility. The Company also owns the Tully project near Timmins, Ontario, and intends to focus on both organic growth opportunities and accretive acquisition opportunities in North America.
1911 Gold's True North complex and exploration land package are located within the traditional territory of the Hollow Water First Nation, signatory to Treaty No. 5 (1875-76). 1911 Gold looks forward to maintaining open, co-operative and respectful communication with the Hollow Water First Nation in order to build mutually beneficial working relationships.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ron Clayton
President and CEO
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This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or describes a "goal", or variation of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.
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1911 Gold Corporation
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