Sudbury, Ontario (August 24, 2021) Northern Superior Resources (“Northern Superior” or the “Company”) (TSXV: SUP; OCTQB: NSUPF) is pleased to announce that the Company has initiated it’s 2,530 m, 220 hole reverse circulation (RC) drilling program on it’s large (30km by 15km, 12,545 hectare), 100% owned Croteau Est gold property, Quebec. The purpose of this program, as previously announced (see Northern Superior press release July 20, 2021) is to define the northern and eastern extension of the gold “footprint” associated with the NI 43-101 compliant (640,000 ounce at 1.7 g/t gold inferred) CBSZ gold deposit.
To test the economic viability of this larger footprint, the RC program is designed to address three primary areas:
- Accurately determine the distribution and lithogeochemistry of the three primary lithological units (Croteau-Bouchard Shear Zone and gold deposit [CBSZ], Croteau North Shear Zone [CNSZ] and intervening tuffaceous sediments);
- Determining if the package of primary lithological units should be considered as an economic target in addition to just the CBSZ; and
- Determining the extension of these three units past the Croteau Fault and how both the Croteau Fault and Croteau Deformation Zone may play a role in gold mineralization within this system.
To address these, the RC program will cover two rectangular areas with RC holes in each spaced 50x 100 apart (Figure 1). The first and most easterly rectangle consists of approximately 184 RC holes and covers an area of approximately 600m by 1km. The second rectangle, directly west of the first, consists of 36 holes and covers an area of approximately 450m x 400m. Each RC hole will penetrate into the bedrock surface 1.5m. The lower basal till (overburden material lying directly over bedrock) and bedrock chips will be collected. The basal till will be processed for gold grains and geochemical analysis. The lithology and geochemistry of the bedrock chips will be determined.
The area to be drilled includes both the CBSZ and CNSZ and the intervening area of tuffaceous sediments. Also captured is the projected northeast extension of quartz porphyry dykes thought critical to high grade gold mineralization associated with the CBSZ mineral resource. In addition, sections of the Croteau Fault and Croteau Deformation Zone occur within the eastern side of the RC test area (Figure 1).
Within the areas to be drilled are anomalous gold grain-in-till, (Figure 2), mobile metal ion (Figure 3) and soil gas hydrocarbon signatures (Figure 4). The size and intensity of these anomalous values will be tested from the results of this program, important in defining specific target areas within the system.
Dr. T.F. Morris, President and CEO states: “We are excited to have this program underway and have observed excellent progress to date. This RC program is a cost effective and efficient method of testing the potential viability of a broader gold target north and east of the CBSZ.”
“It is important to note that the Croteau Est property is a large 30km by 15km land package and already has a 640,000 oz 1.7g/t gold inferred resource on a very small portion of its land package with, the remainder of this property under explored. With success from this RC program we see potential to step out further onto our numerous regional targets on the property (see Figure 5).”
“We look forward to reporting on the results of this program as they become available.”
CBSZ
The CBSZ is a gold deposit consisting of high-grade gold material, existing within a large alteration system The potential extension of the high-grade shoots at depth remains a compelling target with a supportive geological model as witnessed by our 96 percent success rate with our Phase II 2017 drill program.
The CBSZ gold deposit is currently defined from only 64 drill holes, 350m maximum depth over a 550m strike length, open at depth and open along strike both to the east and west. Within the CBSZ, gold is hosted in a 75-120m wide, east-west trending sericite-carbonate alteration zone and associated stockwork quartz veins. The system remains open along strike, east and west and also at depth.
Evidence for high grade gold material associated with the CBSZ comes from various sources (Table 1): bedrock grab samples (see Northern Superior press releases July 20, 2011, November 12, 2013), channel samples (see Northern Superior press releases, October 12, 2011, July 5, 2017) and core drilling (see Northern Superior press release November 13, 2017, January 10, 2018).
| Evidence, High Grade Gold | | |
| Highlighted Bedrock Grab Samples | |
| 150g/t Au | 52.8g/t Au | 68.7g/t Au | 58.8 g/t Au | |
| Highlighted Channel Samples | | |
| 92.7g/t Au over 1.0m incl. 12.8g/t Au over 7.8m |
| 14.37g/t Au over 7.5m | | | |
| 8.49g/t Au over 5.7m | | | |
| Highlighted Core Intersections | | |
| 11.06g/t Au over 9.1m incl. 43.75g/t Au over 2.0m |
| 61.24g/t Au over 5.95m incl. 705g/t Au over 0.5m |
| 7.5g/t Au over 7.95m incl. 56.4g/t Au over 1.0m |
| 1.99g/t Au over 34.65m incl. 9.46g/t Au over 2.35m |
Table 1. Examples of various materials with high grade gold assays
Gold within the CBSZ is associated with at least 9 high grade gold shoots. All 9 high grade gold shoots are of mineable width and grade, dip to the east and are contiguous, as evidenced by the 96% hit rate experienced in the Company’s 2017 core drill program (see Northern Superior Corporate Presentation, www.nsuperior.com). The mineralization was proven to extend directly to surface by projecting the shoots to surface and exposing it. This shoot consisted of two zones of >10g/t Au, 2.5m (long) x 2.0 m (wide) and 2.0m (long) x 0.5m (wide), enclosed by a halo of >5g/t Au, 7.0m (long) x 2.5m (wide)in turn enclosed by a halo of gold mineralization of >3g/t Au over an area of 8.0m (long) x 3.0m (wide)(see Northern Superior press release, November 3, 2014).
* Reference for Northern Superior’s 640,000 ounce Inferred Gold Resource: “Drabble, Mark (B. App. Sci. (Geology), MAIG, MAusIMM); Glacken, Ian (BSc Hons (Geology), FAusIMM (CP), MIMMM, CEng; Kahan, Cervoj (B. App. Sci., MAIG, MAusIMM); Morgan, Rebecca (BSc Hons (Geology), GDip (Mining), MAIG, MAusIMM). October 12, 2015. Technical Report on the Croteau Est Gold Project, Qubec September 2015, Mineral Resource Estimate.”
Qualified Person
T.F. Morris (PhD, P.Geo., FGAC, ICD.D) is a Qualified Person (“QP”) within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. Dr. Morris has reviewed, and approved information disclosed in this press release.
About Northern Superior Resources Inc.
The Croteau Est gold property is one of three key mineral properties 100% owned by Northern Superior. The Company’s two other properties (TPK and Lac Surprise) also represent regional scale exploration opportunities (see Northern Superior Corporate Presentation, www.nsuperior.com).
Northern Superior is a reporting issuer in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Qubec, and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SUP, and the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol NSUPF.
For Further Information
Please refer to Northern Superior news available on the Company’s website (www.nsuperior.com) and on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or contact:
Thomas F. Morris PhD., P.Geo., FGAC , ICD.D
President and CEO
Tel: (705) 525 0992
Fax: (705) 525 7701
email: info@nsuperior.com
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Press Release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. When used in this document, the words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to such risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the statements made, including those factors discussed in filings made by us with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties, such actual results of current exploration programs, the general risks associated with the mining industry, the price of gold and other metals, currency and interest rate fluctuations, increased competition and general economic and market factors, occur or should assumptions underlying the forward looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, or expected. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Figure 1. Location of the RC grids. The drill areas capture several key lithological and structural units including the CBSZ and CNSZ and intervening tuffaceous units plus quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes (QFP), the Croteau Fault and Deformation Zone. See text for details.
Figure 2. Gold grain-in-till anomalies derived from surface overburden sampling and basal tills sampled From RC programs. A basal till sample collected immediately down-ice from an exposed high grade shoot yielded 877 gold grains, 844 of which were pristine grains (96%) indicating very close proximity to source. The RC basal till associated with RC hole CRO15-186 yielded 244 gold grains, 172 of which were pristine (70%). This on its own is a very compelling target as the background value for gold grains in this area is close to 1.
Figure 3. Mobile metal ion gold signature (MMI: areas of red). Note the strong MMI anomaly associated with the CBSZ where the QFP dykes occur. This makes the large red MMI anomaly in the northwest part of the RC grid particularly compelling.
Figure 4. Soil gas hydrocarbon gold anomalies (SGH: areas of dark red). Interestingly, the CBSZ does not have a significantly large SGH signature. However, the RC grid contains several very large and strong SGH signatures.
Figure 5. The CBSZ 43-101 compliant resource occurs at the intersection of the east to west oriented Croteau Bouchard Shear Zone and the northeast to southwest oriented Croteau Fault. There are at least 11 other such opportunities that occur on the Croteau Est property where east-west oriented shear zones are cross-cut by northeast to southwest faults. Gold showings at several of these intersections including Trench 101, Area # 5 and Croteau South emphasize this opportunity.