Solstice Gold eyes ‘compelling targets’ near Red Lake
Solstice Gold Corp. [SGC-TSXV] has launched a phase 2.0 drilling program at its 100%-owned Red Lake Extension (RLX) project, which is located in the northwest corner of the Red Lake, Ont., gold mining camp.
The company said the 4,000-metre program consisting of 10 to 12 holes will test two main target areas at an average depth of approximately 200 metres below surface. These areas are complementary to those drilled in Phase 1.0 last summer and include targets with more of a structural emphasis or a follow-up on historical drilling.
“The goal of Phase 2.0 program is to drill test several well-developed priority targets at our South Fold area and the Nungesser Lake areas of RLX,’’ said Solstice CEO Mike Timmins. “In Phase 1.0, we observed large-scale alteration, encountered low-grade gold in two holes and anomalous gold in several others,” he said. “This winter we will leverage results from our summer drilling and test targets with more structural bias and some with historical drilling with a further 4,000 metres.’’
RLX hosts a road-accessible, 16-kilometre long largely unexplored extension of the Red Lake Greenstone Belt located 27 kilometres north of the community of Red Lake and approximately 45 kilometres from the Red Lake Mine Complex owned by Evolution Mining Ltd. [EVN-ASX].
Evolution is an Australian company that bought the Red Lake complex from Newmont Corp., [NGT-TSX, NEM-NYSE] in November, 2019 for $375 million in cash.
RLX is among a basket of properties that Solstice bought from a group of vendors that includes Perry English, an award-winning Canadian prospector who has been extensively involved in Ontario’s mineral exploration industry for 35 years.
The 86 projects that Solstice agreed to acquire include 45 that are currently under option to third parties, of which 42 include a provision for net smelter return royalty interests (subject to the exercise of options), as well as 10 stand-alone NSR royalty interests.
The deal included a buyout of the company’s RLX (Red Lake Extension) project including an NSR royalty. As a result of the transaction, RLX became 100%-owned and royalty free.
In 2022, Solstice completed 5,323 metres of diamond drilling in 11 drill holes. These holes tested a 5.6-kilometre corridor in the Central Target area of RLX.
“For the first time, we have demonstrated that gold is present in this essentially unexplored extension of the Red Lake Greenstone Belt,’’ said Solstice Chairman David Adamson. “Using the knowledge gained from our Phase 1.0 drill program, we look forward to vectoring towards additional targets this winter as we’ve identified several compelling and significantly-sized target areas,” he said.
We believe that our RLX project has all the attributes to host gold mineralization in a gold camp that continues to yield new gold discoveries.”
On January 13, 2023, Solstice shares closed at $0.06 and currently trade in a 52-week range of 25 cents and $0.06.