Probe drills 15.1 g/t gold over 7.4 metres at Val-d’Or East, Quebec
Probe Metals Inc. [PRB-TSXV; PROBF-OTCQB] reported the fifth set of results from the 2022 drill program on its 100%-owned Val-d’Or East Monique property located near Val-d’Or, Quebec.
Results from 45 new holes demonstrate continued strike and depth expansion with significant gold intercepts along the Monique gold zones, which all remain open along strike and at depth. The 2022 drill program aimed to convert, expand, and discover new gold resources within and surrounding the conceptual pits from the 2021 PEA report.
Results from 263 holes drilled at Monique (130), Pascalis (127) and Courvan (6) are still pending and will be released as they are received and interpreted. Selected highlights from the current results are presented below. In addition to drilling activities, Probe is advancing rock mechanics, ground geotechnical, metallurgical and baseline studies which are required for the completion of the Prefeasibility Study scheduled to be released in fall 2023.
David Palmer, President and CEO of Probe, stated: “The consistency of Monique mineralization has been remarkable. Drilling has confirmed thick, continuous gold zones and the deposit has continued to grow and improve rapidly during this phase of drilling. We have defined continuous gold mineralization over more than 2km of strike length along a structure that extends for at least 10 km across our property and has otherwise seen very little historical exploration. As we near completion on much of the pre-feasibility work, we will be increasing our focus on untested targets and regional exploration surrounding the deposits. This exploration upside is what first attracted us to Val-d’Or East and we are looking forward to expanding our exploration programs to capture some of the potential we see in these other areas on our property.”
Infill drilling – Twenty-one holes released today are from the resource conversion drilling program designed to test the continuity of A, B, J, G, I and K zones inside the conceptual pits between surface to approximately 300 metres depth and four holes to test the A and B zones between 325 to 375 metres depth.
All holes returned intercepts with gold grades above the 0.42 g/t gold cut-off grade of which 15 holes returned intercepts with grade times thickness above 15.0 g/t gold-metre. Results also confirmed the current block model with respect to grades and thicknesses. The 2022 infill drill program over the Monique gold zones has been successful, to date, in achieving an approximate 30 metres drill spacing over the mineralization in the PEA’s conceptual pits and down to 500 metres within the proposed underground resource areas.
Expansion and exploration drilling – Twelve holes are from the expansion drilling program designed to test the extension of the A, B, J, G, K, and new zones laterally and at depth. Eight of these expansion drilling holes intersected gold structures with grade times thickness above 15.0 g/t. Eight exploration holes were designed to test areas east of the K zone and close to the margin of the I and J zones conceptual pits where very few holes were drilled in the past. Gold mineralization above the 0.42 g/t gold cut-off grade was intersected in all these holes and follow up drilling is needed to expand and define resources.
Based on the drilling completed along the Monique Gold Trend since the PEA, the results demonstrate a strong continuity of the sub-parallel to parallel gold zones over a volume of more than 2 km long by 1 km wide and locally up to 600 metres depth. The Monique Gold Trend zones are all open along strike and at depth.
Selected drill results from holes at the Monique Area drilling program returned 29.8 metres of 1.1 g/t gold, 12.0 metres of 2.5 g/t gold, 16.5 metres of 2.5 g/t gold, 16.0 metres of 2.2 g/t gold and other encouraging assays.
The Monique property hosts a current measured and indicated mineral resource of 13,619,000 tonnes of 1.54 g/t for 672,800 ounces of gold and inferred mineral resources of 11,733,000 tonnes of 1.78 g/t for 671,400 ounces of gold. The property is part of the company’s Val-d’Or East Project, and the consolidated land package stands at 436 km2.
The Monique open pit mine began commercial production in 2013 and ceased production at the end of January 2015. A total of 0.58 Mt of mineralized material was extracted grading 2.53 g/t gold, from the surface to 100 metres depth for a total of 45,694 ounces of gold.