Marathon Gold has released assays for 13 drill holes completed within the 6-km long Sprite corridor at the company’s Valentine gold project in central Newfoundland.
The most recent drill highlights include 111 metres of 1.47 g/t gold starting at 121 metres; 9 metres of 14.39 g/t gold from 12 metres; and 15 metres of 4.25 g/t gold starting at 90 metres.
Based on the release, the gold mineralization within the Sprite corridor appears to be best developed within the previously defined, 650-metre long stretch, known as the Berry zone. The notable intercepts above were also drilled along this strike.
A prefeasibility study for Valentine outlined a 12-year open pit and conventional milling operation producing an average of 175,000 oz. of gold annually
Matt Manson, the company’s president and CEO, indicated that the most recent results include both infill and step-out holes to the northeast. An infill program is now underway at the Berry zone as Marathon looks to define a resource within this prospective zone.
Manson added that there are currently four rigs working at the project – two are working on step-out holes from the Berry zone, one is completing an 8,000-metre infill program at Berry and a fourth unit is now scout drilling the Narrows prospect, northeast of the Marathon deposit (and outside of the Sprite corridor).
“The 2020 exploration program at Valentine is discovery-oriented and focused on areas with little previous drilling. The success achieved to date at Berry has allowed us to add an infill program aimed at delineating potential mineral resources,” he said in a release.
Manson also indicated that additional infill and greenfield exploration results are expected throughout the fall.
The Valentine project features four shear-zone hosted gold deposits within a 20-km-long trend. Measured and indicated resources stand at 54.9 million tonnes at 1.75 g/t gold for a total of 3.1 million oz. with additional inferred resources of 16.8 million tonnes at 1.78 g/t for a further 1 million oz.
In April, the company released a prefeasibility study for Valentine, which outlined a 12-year open pit and conventional milling operation producing an average of 175,000 oz. of gold annually in the first nine years of operation.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)