Toronto, Ontario – (February 28, 2022) – TheNewswire - Frontline Gold Corporation (TSXV:FGC) (“Frontline” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the discovery of a new 1.1 km trend of high-grade Cu-Zn-Pb-Ag mineralization and strongly anomalous Au & Co mineralization (see Figure 1) on its Epworth Project (the ‘Property’) located in Nunavut (see property location map at www.frontlinegold.com/epworth). As a result of the very encouraging 2021 prospecting results, Frontline has staked an additional 202 claim-units resulting in a 306 claim-unit/4835-hectare property.
The Epworth Project is located 85km south of the village of Kugluktuk (Coppermine), containing three main previously known areas of high-grade polymetallic mineralization from 1-25m wide occurring for more than 15km along strike (Payback South, Payback North and Metallic Showings, Figure 2). Historical surface grab samples have reported spectacular high-grade mineralization including:
- 61.2% Cu & 5600 gpt Ag (Payback Showings)
- 19.22% Zn with 810 gpt Ag, 3% Cu & 1.86 gpt Au (Metallic Showing)
The newly discovered trend was identified while investigating the historical Metallic Showing (formerly named ‘Dead Showing’) in the northern part of the property, consisting of dolomite with sulphide-rich quartz-carbonate veining in outcrop. Mineralized angular float boulders, subcrop and outcrop were found to extend much further to the south than previously identified, along a well-defined north-northwest-south-southeast-trending corridor.
A total of 84 rock grab samples were sent to Activation Labs (Actlabs) in Thunder Bay, Ontario for Au, Ag and trace element geochemical analysis (see Figure 1 and Table 1). Samples along the Metallic Trend returned strongly anomalous to high-grade Cu-Zn-Pb as well as consistently anomalous Au, locally high-grade Ag and anomalous Co with values up to:
- 37.8% Cu (with 184 ppb Au, 2970 ppm Zn, 449 ppm Pb & 45 ppm Ag).
- 3.01 gpt Au (with 7860 ppm Cu).
- 19.3% Zn, 10% Pb & 1130 ppm Ag (with 1.85 gpt Au & 3.01% Cu).
- 1700 ppm Co (with 201 ppb Au, 6090 ppm Cu, 8.93% Zn, 1.78% Pb & 154 ppm Ag).
Figure 1: 2021 sampling locations of the high-grade polymetallic mineralization at the Epworth Project.
Figure 2: Historical sampling locations of the high-grade polymetallic mineralization at the Epworth Project.
En-echelon quartz-carbonate veins within the dolomite are a common feature in this landscape; however, sulphide mineralization occurs only in discrete north-northwest-south-southeast-trending corridors. The trend appears to be offset locally by northeast-trending faulting and may continue further to the north and to the south.
In the northeast part of the property, a new lead showing was discovered (Northeast Showing), again in dolomite, with galena-rich quartz-carbonate stringers. Samples returned up to 19.4% Pb (with 7720 ppm Cu & 3100 ppm Zn) (See Figure 1).
Photos of samples along the Metallic Trend, The Northeast Showing and elsewhere on the Property can be found at www.frontlinegold.com/epworth
Table 1: Significant Results (the top 3 assays for each element are highlighted in bold text)
SGH (soil-gas-hydrocarbon) soil sampling (Activation Labs method) was also carried out across a northeast-trending fault in the northeast part of the property to test primarily for fault-hosted gold and copper mineralization. 3 lines (51 samples) were sampled across the fault.
The subjective SGH confidence ratings for the survey assigned to the anomalies on the Epworth property are as follows:
- 4.0 out of 6.0 for Cu pathfinders
- 4.0 out of 6.0 for Au pathfinders
- 3.0 out of 6.0 for VMS pathfinders
- 3.0 out of 6.0 for Ag pathfinders
where 4.0 out of 6.0 is considered to be a ‘good’ confidence rating. Thus the potential for Cu-Au mineralization would be considered ‘good’ based on these results.
The anomalies coincide with a ‘halo’ redox anomaly on the north side of the fault, which also suggests the presence of mineralization.
The Property
The Epworth Project is part of a broad platform-type clastic carbonate sequence belonging to the early Proterozoic Coronation Supergroup that extends from the north shore of Takijuq Lake to the Coronation Gulf for over 130 km. Polymetallic sulphide mineralization occurs as disseminations in the matrix of coarse clastic quartzites or as concordant zones of cherty replacements and veins within permeable dolomite (Rees and Petrie, 1995). The stratigraphy, diagenetic evolution and rift-related tectonic setting of the Coronation Supergroup compare favourably to the African Copperbelt where large (>100mt) high-grade (3-4% Cu) sediment-hosted stratiform Cu-Co-Ag deposits are frequent, and to stratabound Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) sediment-hosted Pb-Zn deposits worldwide. The gold-rich nature of the system further increases the economic potential of this area.
The Epworth Project was explored by Noranda Mining and Exploration and Rhonda Mining Corporation in the mid-1990’s. Surface sampling and one drill hole in the Payback South showing confirmed the high-grade nature of the polymetallic stratiform mineralization. Two holes were drilled at the Payback North showing where hole 95-1 intersected 8.3m of 0.303% Cu at shallow depths with subordinate sphalerite-galena mineralization. Noranda concluded that the 1995 drilling may have intersected the leading edge of a mineralizing system, however never returned for follow-up drilling.
Frontline can acquire an 80% interest in the 306-mining cell-units from the vendor with the issuance of 1 million common shares of FGC over 3-years and total exploration expenditures of $2 million over 4-years. The vendor retains a 2% NSR with a 1% buyback for $1 million.
Commentary
Frontline’s President and CEO, Mr. Walter Henry, said, “Frontline is very excited with the high-grade polymetallic results returned from the first phase of prospecting carried out by Emerald Geological Services. The Property is hosted within a recognized large aerial sediment-hosted stratiform copper belt that has seen little systematic exploration over the last 25 years utilizing modern day exploration models. We look forward to carrying out the next phase of exploration to further advance this exciting property and are currently planning an airborne geophysical survey followed by prospecting and soil sampling in preparation for an initial diamond drill program.”
Dr. Daniel Rubiolo, P. Geo, an independent qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release on behalf of the Company. The QP and the Company has not completed sufficient work to verify the historic information on the property comprising the Epworth Project, particularly regarding historical exploration, neighbouring companies, and government geological work. Grab samples are selected samples and not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted on the property