Manitou Gold Inc. [MTU-TSXV; MNTUF-OTC] announced initial drill results from the Rockstar Vein at its 100%-owned Goudreau Project in the Sault Ste. Marie Division, northern Ontario. The drill program was aimed at testing a higher grade mineralized “shoot” down-plunge of previous drilling.
Drill highlights from the first three holes at Rockstar, which intersected 5.0 g/t gold over 4.6 metres (including 11.1 g/t gold over 1.2 metres), demonstrate an increase in both thickness and grade of the vein at depth. The Rockstar Vein is open to the east and additional down-plunge drilling in that direction is ongoing.
Exploration Drilling
The Rock Start Vein drilling is following up on surface channel sampling completed in 2019 which indicated that the vein averages 3.0 g/t gold over an average width of 1.5 metres (apparent width) where it was exposed by mechanical stripping over a strike length of 100 metres.
The first three drill holes at Rockstar tested the down-plunge extension of the vein at a vertical depth of approximately 170 metres. The three most recently completed holes were drilled over a strike length of approximately 100 metres below drilling completed by the previous operators. Two of the drill holes encountered typical Rockstar alteration, mineralization and deformation extending the zone at depth, with hole MTU-20-16 showing an increase in thickness and grade of the mineralized zone relative to the mineralized zone on surface and in previous, shallower drilling.
Hole MTU-20-16 intersected a broad shear zone over 15 metres, which included the mineralized zone that returned 5.0 g/t gold over 4.6 metres, including the 1.2 metres of 11.1 g/t gold noted above. True widths are estimated at 70% to 90% of the drilled thickness.
Hole MTU-20-20, which was drilled 50 metres along strike to the east-southeast, also intersected the mineralized zone, where it returned an assay of 3.78 g/t gold over 0.4 metres. The mineralized zone in this hole is terminated abruptly against a wide lamprophyre dike that has cut off part of the zone at this location.
“We are pleased by the wide gold intercept reported today and are encouraged by the down-plunge continuity of the Rockstar vein confirmed by this drilling. We look forward to the receipt of assays from additional holes testing further down plunge of the holes reported today,” stated Richard Murphy, President and CEO of Manitou.
At the Patents nearby property, part of the Goudreau Project, the company previously completed four drill holes totaling 458 metres that were designed to test a shallow IP and SGH anomaly. The drilling at the Patents property was the first drilling to be conducted on the property and led to the discovery of a wide mineralized shear zone with laminated shear-type quartz veins near its core.
Highlights from this drilling included 12.8 g/t gold over 0.5 metres. The same deformation and mineralization trend was recognized in all four drill holes. Although high-grade in places, the trend is challenging to quantify due to the erratic nature of the gold mineralization. Future exploration will focus on delineating higher-grade and more continuous portions of this deformation and mineralization trend, in addition to drilling other geophysical targets on the property.