Eastmain Drills 2.35 g/t Gold over 87 metres and 1.46 g/t Gold over 78.5 metres on Newly Discovered Percival Prospect at the Clearwater Property
Eastmain Resources Inc. [TSX:ER, OTCQX:EANRF] announces the discovery of a new gold mineralized zone at the Percival Prospect on the 100%-owned Clearwater Property in James Bay, Québec. The Percival Prospect is located 14 km ESE of the Company’s million-ounce Eau Claire gold deposit and represents a new and distinct style of mineralization on the property. Drilling on Percival was conducted as part of Eastmain’s 2018 growth-focused exploration program.
Based on the two initial holes drilled at the Percival Prospect, gold mineralization has been recognized from surface to 90 metres (“m”) vertical depth demonstrating an interpreted true thickness of 50 m while remaining open at depth and laterally (see FIGURES 1-4). Drilling is ongoing with one drill rig and assays results currently pending on two additional drill holes. The Percival Prospect, located on the 20-km long Cannard Deformation Zone, is a new hydrothermal gold system hosted in intermediate to felsic volcaniclastic rocks and represents a new style of mineralization on the Property.
Drilling Highlights include:
- ER18-822: 1.46 g/t Gold (“Au“) over 78.5 m (beginning at 16.5 m downhole), including 4.46 g/t Au over 8.2 m
- ER18-823: 2.35 g/t Au over 87.0 m (beginning 28.0 m downhole), including 5.76 g/t Au over 6.0 m
Claude Lemasson, Eastmain President and CEO, commented, “The mineralized zone at Percival represents a brand new discovery. We’re very encouraged by this shallow gold discovery which encompasses a wide mineralized zone with extension potential remaining open to the east and west, as well as at depth. With two additional holes already drilled at Percival with assay results pending, our objective is to continue drilling to expand this discovery and better understand its relationship with another Prospect, the Serendipity zone located 7 km to the north.”
He continued, “Underpinned by the Eau Claire deposit’s sizeable mineral resource base and robust project economics, we’re eager to explore for additional gold deposits which could further enhance a future development scenario on the greater Clearwater Property. These results are an exciting start to our growth-focused exploration program in support of our “3-in-3 Exploration Vision” of defining 3 million gold ounces of total mineral resources over 3 years.”
Significant intercepts from holes ER18-822 and ER18-823 are highlighted in the table below:
• Assays presented are not capped. Intercepts occur within geological confines of major zones but have not been correlated to individual structures/horizons within these zones at this time.
• Vertical depth is measured from the surface to the mid-point of the reported interval.
Table 1: Hole Location Information
Geology of the Knight-Serendipity Horizon
The Knight and Serendipity sectors are located at opposite ends of the Knight – Serendipity volcano-sedimentary horizon which can be traced along a large regional fold whose limbs are traced over 14 km. The horizon is characterized by an extensive sequence of volcaniclastic and sedimentary rocks underlain by marine basalt. The Knight sector and the Percival Prospect are located at the southwestern end (7 km) of the trend within the east trending Cannard Deformation Zone. The Serendipity sector of the volcano-sedimentary horizon (7 km) is located on the western side of, and parallel to, the NW trending Hashimoto Deformation Zone. These two very large regional deformation zones intersect approximately 4 km east of Percival at the location of the regional fold closure.
In the Knight sector, the stratigraphic assemblage is comprised of felsic to mafic composition tuffs, mudstones and graphitic mudstones with basalt in a marine sedimentary environment. Local stratigraphy is highly deformed and affected by several phases of folding. Mineralization is composed of massive to semi-massive sulfide lenses, quartz, quartz + sulphide veins and veinlets. Sulphide phases are dominated by pyrrhotite with minor concentrations of pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite. At present, the geology suggests a syn-genetic volcanogenic sea-floor depositional environment. Airborne magnetic survey interpretation suggests numerous ESE-WNW trending shear zones as well as km scale folds are located in this area.
The Serendipity sector is located 5 km north of Knight in the eastern part of the Property. The geological setting is similar to the Knight sector, hosting a bimodal volcaniclastic / sedimentary environment characterized by an assemblage of felsic to mafic tuffs and graphitic black shales with nodular pyrite. Certain aspects of the sedimentary lithology indicate a more distal depositional environment than at Knight. Mineralization observed at Serendipity is composed of conformable massive to semi-massive sulphide lenses crosscut by smoky quartz veins primarily in sediments. Pyrrhotite with some pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite are the sulphide minerals present. Mineralization is interpreted to be syngenetic and affected by all identified deformation phases. Gold enrichment was observed in the fold hinges at the main Serendipity stripped area.
Additional Drilling Completed and Planned
Two additional holes, one down-dip and one located 120 m west along strike, have been completed at Percival intersecting mineralization visually similar to the reported intercepts. Results are pending for these holes. Additional holes are being planned to test this mineralized unit along strike to the east and west of holes ER18-822 and ER18-823.
Current Exploration Drilling Program
Prior to initiating the fall drilling campaign, our summer surface field exploration 2018 program collected 976 rock chips samples from 795 outcrops across the Property. A total of 1,004 soil samples were also taken for field XRF measurement along the Knight-Serendipity volcano-sedimentary horizon to help us focussing the drilling.
With the results of the summer program in hand, a 5,500 m diamond drilling campaign began in October 2018 and will continue into late December. The proposed campaign is targeting the gold occurrences along the 20 km long Cannard Deformation Zone including, from west to east, the Snake Lake, Clovis, Natel and Knight prospect. Drilling at the Serendipity sector along the northern extension of Knight – Serendipity volcano-sedimentary horizon was also proposed. The Knight, Serendipity and Natel targets are helicopter accessible and are planned to be tested in this program.
To view FIGURES 1-4, please click on the following link: http://www.eastmain.com/_resources/news/Images/ER-181113-Clearwater.pdf.
This press release was compiled and reviewed by William McGuinty, P.Geo., Eastmain’s VP Exploration and Carl Corriveau, P.Geo., Eastmain’s Exploration Manager, both Qualified Persons under National Instrument 43-101.
Eau Claire Mineral Resource Estimate, Eau Claire Gold Deposit by SGS Canada Inc., effective date Feb. 4, 2018, press released May 23, 2018.
About Eastmain Resources Inc. (TSX:ER) www.eastmain.com
Eastmain is a Canadian exploration company advancing three high-grade gold assets in the emerging James Bay gold camp in Québec. The Company holds a 100% interest in the Eau Claire Project, for which it recently issued a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”), and the Eastmain Mine Project where the Company prepared a NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate in 2018. Eastmain is also the manager of the Éléonore South Joint Venture, located immediately south of Goldcorp Inc.’s Éléonore Mine, which hosts a new high-grade gold discovery found in late 2017. In addition, the Company has a pipeline of exploration projects in this favourable mining jurisdiction with nearby infrastructure.
For more information:ÂÂ
Claude Lemasson, President and CEO
+1 647-347-3765
lemasson@eastmain.com
Alison Dwoskin, Manager, Investor Relations
+1 647-347-3735
dwoskin@eastmain.com