New Gold-Bearing Intercepts Open Up Exciting Target Area at Pure Gold’s Madsen Complex - Drilling Program Expanded to 20,000 Metres
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pure Gold Mining Inc. (PGM – TSX-V, PUR – LSE) (“Pure Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has intersected gold mineralization in a widespread gap midway between the Company’s high grade 8 Zone at depth and near surface Russet South mineral resources, clearly establishing the prospectivity of this setting and opening up a brand new target area for discovery.
Building predictable gold continuity and expanding the scale of the high grade Madsen gold complex has been a central focus and achievement for Pure Gold’s exploration team over the past four years. During that period, resource growth and transformative discoveries have been made at the Austin, McVeigh, Russet South, Fork and Wedge zones; which, although referred to by different names, are all part of one semi-continuous, coherent gold system (see figure 1).
One widely anticipated target area that has received very little previous exploration focus is the altered structure that links the high grade 8 Zone (below 1,000 metres depth) and the up-dip continuation at Russet South which outcrops over a broad area. This panel of connective real estate, centered near Balmer assemblage mafic-ultramafic contacts, has a known dip length of 1,500 metres and stretches over seven kilometres. In the 8 Zone at depth, this mafic-ultramafic contact boasts some of the highest grades ever drilled at Madsen including 466.0 g/t over 4.3 metres, including 3,262.5 g/t over 0.6 metres (24-14923-SW), and 342.4 g/t over 5.5 metres, including 4,739.3 g/t over 0.4 metres (24-14923-SW-1).1 The outcropping Russet south zone too is characterized by high grade gold including 76.6 g/t over 2.1 metres (PG16-233) and 39.1 over 2.9 metres (PG15-031).2
An extensive relogging program by Pure Gold has established structural control of mineralization in the 8 Zone and has identified the right host rock and alteration updip of the 8 Zone. A new drill hole targeting the midpoint between these two widely separated zones has intersected a 10 metre wide, gold bearing zone (2.2 g/t gold over 10.4 metres) including 4.9 g/t gold over 2.1 metres situated within ultramafic rocks of the Balmer assemblage. This result is more than just another gold bearing intercept at Madsen. It establishes a vital mineralized pierce point into an expansive gap, highlighting the potential for a new gold corridor that stretches from the outcropping Russet South zones to the deeper high grade 8 Zone, and demonstrates the tremendous prospectivity of this setting. See figure 2 for a cross section through Russet South and the 8 Zone.
Drilling highlights:
- Visible gold and intense alteration approximately 750 metres up dip from the 8 Zone mineral reserve, returned 4.9 g/t gold over 2.1 metres from drill hole PG19-667. This intercept is localized within a ten metre interval characterized by numerous gold-bearing blue grey quartz veins, with 20 occurrences of visible gold noted over the interval. Importantly, these blue-grey quartz veins are diagnostic of 8 Zone style mineralization;
- With the continued success of the exploration program, the Company has expanded the 2019 drill program to 20,000 metres, with two surface rigs currently active. A third rig will commence in late November to begin production level underground drilling in long hole stopes scheduled for development early in the mine life.
“Madsen continues to be a dynamic project with resource and production potential well beyond the feasibility base case. Outside of the feasibility mine plan we have made multiple discoveries and established new mineral resources within a system that keeps expanding along strike” stated Darin Labrenz, President and CEO of Pure Gold. “This latest drilling represents a sea change in exploration prospectivity, establishing the tremendous potential of a brand new mineralized corridor that is anchored by the high grade 8 Zone at depth and the outcropping Fork and Russet South zones at surface.”
Defining the “8 Zone”
The 8 Zone is the highest grade zone known on the property, with an indicated resource grading 20.5 g/t gold (458,000 tonnes containing 301,000 ounces), and an inferred resource grading 12.4 g/t gold (202,000 tonnes containing 80,000 ounces). 1 It is characterized by numerous high grade drill intercepts such as those referenced above and others such as 674.0 g/t gold over 1.8 metres (including 3,066.5 g/t gold over 0.27 metres) from hole 24-14850-SV and 120.4 g/t gold over 8.2 metres (including 1,362.5 g/t gold over 0.25 metres and 2,244.3 g/t gold over 0.18 metres) from drill hole 24-14850-S.3 The 8 Zone remains open for expansion and, as modelled, has dimensions of approximately 130 metres of strike extent, 700 metres of dip extent and widths ranging from 2 to 18 metres.
Geologically analogous to the High Grade Zone at Newmont Goldcorp’s Red Lake Mine, Pure Gold’s 8 Zone is located near to a mafic-ultramafic contact, exhibits strong amphiphole-biotite alteration and deformed blue-grey quartz veins often carrying abundant visible gold.4 The near surface discoveries at Wedge (MJ), Fork (footwall) and Russet South share a similar style of mineralization and geologic setting with the 8 Zone, and together form a prospective corridor that spans more than 3.5 kilometres of strike extent and over 1.5 kilometres of dip extent (see figure 3).
For a set of figures showing mineral resource locations in relation to drilling and a cross section of Russet South to the 8 Zone, click link below:
https://puregoldmining.ca/sites/default/files/Release_Figures-09102019.pdf
For a complete list of 2019 drill results to date, click link below:
https://puregoldmining.ca/sites/default/files/2019-DH-Intercepts-Table-October-09.pdf
ABOUT THE MADSEN RED LAKE MINE
The Madsen Red Lake Mine is Canada’s highest grade development-stage gold project. Fully funded, the project is on track to deliver near term gold production into a rising Canadian gold price environment, with first production scheduled for late 2020. The orebody is situated within a six kilometre long gold system that is wide open for expansion at depth and along strike and multiple discoveries by the Company suggest potential opportunities for near-term growth.
- Historic drill hole results listed from the 8 Zone were completed prior to the implementation of National Instrument 43-101. A full discussion and cautionary language regarding historic sampling practices can be found in the NI 43-101 technical report titled “Madsen Gold Project Technical Report Feasibility Study for the Madsen Deposit Red Lake, Ontario, Canada“ with an effective date of February 5, 2019, and dated July 5, 2019 (the “Feasibility Study”).
- For further information, see news releases dated November 14, 2016 and March 16, 2015.
- See the technical report titled “Madsen Gold Project Technical Report Feasibility Study for the Madsen Deposit Red Lake, Ontario, Canada“ with an effective date of February 5, 2019, and dated July 5, 2019 (the “Feasibility Study”), for further information, available at www.puregoldmining.ca or under the Company’s Sedar profile at www.sedar.com
- Geological similarities to Newmont-Goldcorp’s Red Lake Mine High Grade Zone are not necessarily indicative of the mineralization at Madsen’s 8 Zone.