TomaGold up 44% on Monster Lake assay results

TomaGold Corp. [LOT-TSXV] shares rallied sharply Thursday June 14 after the company reported the announcement by Iamgold Corp. [IMG-TSX; IAG-NYSE] of results from winter drilling at the Monster Lake Project near Chibougamau, Quebec.

TomaGold shares jumped 44% or $0.02 to 6.5 cents on volume of 6.3 million, making the junior the most actively traded stock on the TSX Venture Exchange Thursday. The 52-week range is 4.5 cents and 9.5 cents.

Monster Lake is joint venture held 50% by Iamgold, 45% by TomaGold and 5% by Quinto Resources Inc. [QIT-TSVX].

TomaGold said Iamgold is reporting the final assay results from all 26 holes, totalling 8,282 metres, that were completed as part of the initial 2018 program.

The Monster Lake Project hosts a NI 43-101-compliant resource of 1,109,700 tonnes of inferred resources averaging 12.14 g/t gold or 433,300 ounces of contained gold.

This resource is contained in four discrete mineralized zones where geological and grade continuities have been demonstrated and have been estimated assuming an underground mining scenario.

The most significant zone is the 325-Megane Zone, which is characterized by its high-grade and remains open down plunge and at depth. The potential for adding additional resources along the identified shear structure is considered favourable and remains the focus of ongoing exploration programs, the company has said.

Monster Lake has the potential to become an important high grade gold deposit, TomaGold President and CEO David Grondin said recently.

The 2018 winter drilling program was designed to improve confidence in the continuity of the mineralization and to test for extensions of the known mineralized zones.

Key objectives of the drilling program are as follows:

• Testing for proximal extensions along strike and at depth;
• Evaluating newly discovered areas of mineralization within a structure parallel to the Main Shear Zone and adjacent 325-Megane Zone, referred to as the Lower Shear Zone

All of the areas targeted in this program are best accessed during the winter when the ground is frozen, TomaGold said.

“We continue to be impressed with both the continuity and the high grades demonstrated by infill drilling of the 325-Megane Zone,” said Craig MacDougall, Senior Vice-President, Exploration at Iamgold.

“Although confirming resource extensions and expanding additional areas of mineralization have proved to be challenging for our exploration team, this style of mineralization remains an attractive exploration target,” he said. “As I have said before, we believe the structural setting suggests favourable potential for the occurrence of additional mineralized shoots along the Monster Lake structural corridor and we continue to evaluate this setting for additional zones of mineralization.”

Highlights from drilling in the Megane Zone and Main Shear Zone include 3.83 metres, grading 23.96 g/t gold in drill hole ML18-212, including 1.30 metres, grading 67.22 g/t gold, and 3.84 metres grading  39.24 g/t gold in hole ML18-213, including 1.09 metres grading 127.4 g/t gold.

Looking ahead, these results will be incorporated into the deposit model and used to update the mineral resources to guide the next drilling programs.

A further round of drilling is being planned to test specific structural targets, which are accessible in the summer season.