A reminder . MGM is a Monster ! Maple Gold Mines
Headframe and infrastructure at Maple Gold’s Douay site in Quebec. Credit: Maple Gold Mines
Maple Gold Mines’ (TSXV: MGM; US-OTC: MGMLF) flagship asset is the 357-sq.-km Douay gold project in Quebec, 200 km north of Val d’Or, which covers 55 km of the Casa Berardi deformation zone.
In October, Maple announced a 50-50 joint venture partnership with Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM), combining the Douay project with Agnico Eagles’ adjacent and past-producing 39-sq.-km Joutel property into a consolidated package. At the same time, Agnico also invested $6.2 million into Maple and currently has a 12.1% interest in the junior. The transaction closed in early February.
The deal terms include a four-year, $18-million exploration funding commitment solely from Agnico. The two companies will jointly fund an additional $500,000 of volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) exploration in the western portion of Douay. With the JV formation, Maple and Agnico will each receive a 2% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on the property contributed to the joint-venture.
The Eagle-Telbel camp within the Joutel project produced 1.2 million gold oz. between 1974 and 1993 from material with a head grade of 6.5 grams gold per tonne.
Indicated mineral resources at Douay stand at 8.6 million tonnes grading 1.52 grams gold per tonne for a total of 422,000 gold ounces, with 71.2 million inferred tonnes grading 1.03 grams gold containing 2.4 million gold ounces. This inventory includes 5.4 million inferred tonnes at 1.75 grams gold in the underground mining category. Maple sees potential for resource expansion laterally, regionally and at depth.
In February, Maple reported initial assay results from the first two holes drilled at the 2-km long Northeast IP target, 4 km northeast of the current resource, which indicate “the presence of a new sulfide-rich hydrothermal system.” Intercepts include 1 metre of 2.52 grams gold and 0.8 metres of 1.29 grams gold. Drilling is ongoing, as part of a 10,000-metre winter 2021 program.
The company has also started a geophysical survey covering 15 sq. km over the northern edge of the Douay resource.
In November, Maple announced that an artificial intelligence study and an airborne survey over the eastern portion of Douay defined over 10 new regional targets. The company also announced that the results from a geophysical survey traced a new target area south of the existing resource at Douay – the P8 target – over an area of 1.2 sq. km and starting 0.7 km south of the Porphyry zone.
In December, Maple closed a $10-million bought deal financing.