Burin Gold starts drilling 10,000 m exploration program at Hickey’s Pond Gold Project, Newfoundland
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Burin Gold Corp. (“Burin Gold” or the “Company”) (TSX-V:BURG) is pleased to announce that drilling operations have commenced at its Hickey’s Pond – Paradise Gold Project (“HPP Project”) on the Burin Peninsula in southeastern Newfoundland. The first of two planned diamond drills has been mobilised to site and has started drilling at the Hickey’s Pond prospect. A minimum of 10,000 m of diamond drilling is planned for the property in 2022. This will include the first phase of a resource definition program at Hickey’s Pond, as well as exploration drilling of several of the other high priority, yet to be drill tested targets on the property. The program is fully funded, with approximately CAD 5.6 million currently in the Company treasury.
Hickey’s Pond drilling program
Drilling has commenced on the historical Hickey’s Pond showing. The Company’s initial scout drilling in 2020 obtained a best result of 10.8 m of 4.43 g/t Au within a larger interval of 58.25 m of 1.12 g/t Au in hole HP-20-002 (see Bonavista Resources news release of February 24, 2021). Overall, the footprint of the alteration system around Hickey’s Pond is over 7 km in strike length, and less than 10% of this has received even cursory drill testing.
The first ten drill holes of the 2022 program will be located on the Hickey’s Pond showing, as follow-up drilling to the Company’s 2020 scout drill holes. The new holes are designed to both expand the footprint of mineralisation along strike, provide infill drilling for resource modelling, and test down-dip of the mineralised structure for continuity of mineralisation to depth. A map of planned drilling on the Hickey’s Pond knob is given in Figure 1, showing systematic drill testing of the mineralised outcrop. A total of 1,900 m in ten diamond drill holes are planned for the area of the historical showing, drilled on four 50 m spaced sections.
Burin Gold’s Chief Executive Officer, David Clark PGeo, said: “I am pleased that our exploration team in Newfoundland has mobilised a diamond drill quickly to start our 2022 drill program. We have many excellent targets to test, so an early start will maximise the amount of drilling we can complete this year at Hickey’s Pond and elsewhere on the property. We anticipate that, with current assay laboratory backlogs, gold assay results for the first drill holes should be available in mid-April. However, our 2020 drill program has given us a good understanding of the appearance of the mineralised units at Hickey’s Pond, so while gold assay results are pending, we should be able to keep our shareholders updated with geological descriptions of alteration and mineralisation observed in the drill holes.”
Second diamond drill mobilisation
A second diamond drill is planned for mobilisation in the next two weeks. The selection of drill targets for the second drill will be dependent on the long-term weather forecast for the remainder of winter on the Burin Peninsula. Along-strike drilling at Hickey’s Pond to quickly expand the footprint of alteration and mineralisation and early testing of other undrilled high priority targets are both planned; the order of drilling will proceed in the most efficient manner possible.
Airborne geophysical survey update
Geotech Ltd. continue their airborne geophysical survey over the property. Survey equipment failures and bad weather have slowed production significantly. The Company expects the survey to be completed in the coming weeks.
About Burin Gold Corp.
Burin Gold is a recently listed public company on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company’s principal asset is its Hickey’s Pond-Paradise Gold Project on the Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland. This project contains the Hickey’s Pond gold prospect, drill tested with an initial 1,000 m drill program in 2020 with best results of 10.8 m of 4.43 g/t Au, as well as numerous other historical high-sulphidation epithermal gold showings that have yet to be drill tested. With the successful completion of its IPO, the Company is well-positioned to commence a significant diamond drilling campaign at the Hickey’s Pond prospect, planned to start Q1/2022.
Qualified Person
David Clark, MSc, PGeo, Chief Executive Officer of Burin Gold, is the Company’s designated Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”). He has prepared the technical content of this news release.
Acknowledgement
The Company acknowledges the financial assistance of the Mineral Development Division, Department of Industry, Energy, and Technology, Government of Newfoundland & Labrador, via its Junior Exploration Assistance Program. The program provides valuable financial rebates on exploration expenditures made in the province to qualifying exploration companies. The Company has benefited from the program yearly since 2018.
On behalf of the Board
“David Clark”
CEO & Director