Probe Metals has identified three new gold zones in drilling at the Cadillac Break East project, near Val-d’Or, Quebec, where the junior is earning up to a 70% stake from O3 Mining.
One hole, located 2 km southeast of the Sleepy deposit at the project, hit 4.2 metres of 4.2 g/t gold starting at 315 metres downhole.
The company also made two discoveries along the projected eastern extension of the Sleepy deposit, 300 metres and 900 metres to the east.
The discovery 300 metres east of Sleepy hit 1 metre of 108 g/t gold at 236 metres depth, while the hole 900 metres east of Sleepy returned 8.7 metres of 3.7 g/t gold starting at 136 metres.
The drill program was designed to test induced-polarization anomalies identified at the project. Follow-up drilling on the new discoveries is already under way.
The discovery 300 metres east of Sleepy hit 1 metre of 108 g/t gold at 236 metres depth, while the hole 900 metres east of Sleepy returned 8.7 metres of 3.7 g/t gold starting at 136 metres
“Drilling results continue to confirm to us that the Val-d’Or East area is one of those valuable opportunities where you can acquire underexplored ground in the shadow of headframes and make new discoveries,” said David Palmer, Probe’s president and CEO, in a release.
“The Cadillac Break East Option is a great example of the success achieved by applying methodical exploration programs and modern exploration techniques to a neglected area that is highly prospective for gold. We will continue to advance the project with the goal of making more discoveries, and converting those discoveries into potential gold resources, as we follow-up with more geophysics and more drilling.”
Probe signed an option to earn an initial 60% stake in the Cadillac Break East property in late 2016, by spending C$5 million over four years. The company has spent C$4.3 million to date and O3 Mining has extended the option agreement to April 2021 due to exploration restrictions due to covid-19 earlier this year.
The company can earn another 10% interest by completing additional work, including a prefeasibility study on the project.
After suspending drilling at its Val-d’Or-area projects in late March because of the pandemic, Probe restarted its field programs in May after the Quebec government lifted restrictions. The junior is planning to drill 90,000 metre this year in total, with one drill rig each active at its 100%-owned Courvan and Monique projects, as well as Cadillac Break East.
The Sleepy deposit, located at the northern end of the Cadillac Break East project, hosts inferred resources of 1.9 million tonnes grading 5.1 g/t gold for 307,350 oz.
The company released a measured and indicated resource for its 100%-held Val-d’Or East project in September, with pit-constrained resources of 13.5 million tonnes grading 1.69 g/t gold for a total of 733,100 oz., and underground resources of 1.1 million tonnes at 3.91 g/t gold for 133,200 oz.
Inferred resources add 28.3 million pit-constrained tonnes grading 1.49 g/t gold, for a total of 1.4 million oz., plus, in underground resources, 9.6 million tonnes at 3.35 g/t gold for 1 million oz.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)