Targa Exploration discovers 7-km target at Opinaca Gold Project, Quebec

Targa Exploration Corp. [CSE-TEX; OTCQB-TRGEF; FRA-V6Y] reported results from the June exploration program at the company’s flagship Opinaca Gold project located in the James Bay region of northern Quebec.

Highlights: In-fill till sampling identified 7km-long target gold trend. Up to 33 gold grains in 10-kg normalized HMC samples along central trend and 98 grains at Eastern anomaly; 25-50% of gold grains are pristine in many of the samples, suggesting a short transport distance. Additional follow-up work planned for September 2024.

The exploration program, executed on behalf of Targa by Kenorland Minerals, consisted of an expansion of the 2023 regional scale till sampling program and in-fill till sampling over suspected target bedrock areas. Heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) samples were also taken in the areas of the in-fill sampling to search for gold grains and rock and boulder sampling and mapping were conducted in several areas up-ice from the till anomalies identified in 2023.

“We continue to make great progress at Opinaca. These results from our first ever gold-focused exploration program on the project have narrowed down our search for gold considerably on this 85,000ha property,” commented Targa CEO, Cameron Tymstra. “A gold till anomaly approximately 7km x 5km in size has been identified down-ice from an east-west lineament, which has been interpreted from regional magnetic gradient data and topographic features. This was previously identified as an area of interest and with this new data has now evolved into our prime target at Opinaca. All the HMC samples containing notable gold grain counts in the area occur along or just down-ice from this 7km-long target, further supporting the trend. Pristine gold grains make up 25-50% of the grains counted in many of these samples, suggesting a short transport distance. Our team is excited to be heading back to Opinaca in just a few weeks to further refine the target and plan for a future drill program. With at least 7km of strike length of overlapping gold in fine fraction till and gold grains in HMC sampling, our team believes this trend offers a lot of opportunity and potential for future gold discovery.”

Central 7km-long Exploration Target: Identified as an area of interest at the beginning of the season, an East-West trending lineament that has been interpreted from topographic features and regional magnetic gradient data has emerged as the primary gold target at Opinaca.

Regional and in-fill fine fraction till sampling completed in September 2023 and June 2024 show anomalous gold values across an area that is roughly 7km by 5km in size. This area appears to occur along and down-ice from the E-W lineament.

HMC sampling along 1km-spaced lines and taken at 500m intervals returned elevated gold grain counts along this trend and just down-ice in the estimated glacial direction, further supporting the company’s target interpretation. The anomalous HMC samples showed elevated to high percentages of pristine gold grains (roughly 25-50%), indicating a shorter transportation distance of the gold grains from a bedrock source.

Targa’s geology team and advisors believe the overlapping gold in fine fraction till sampling and gold grains in the HMC sampling occurring along and down-ice from the E-W lineament point to significant potential for a bedrock gold source along this trend.

Targa and Kenorland are currently planning a return trip to Opinaca in September 2024 with a focus on further refining the 7km gold exploration target trend. This work will include a higher density of HMC sampling on a 500m x 250m grid over the trend, extensive geological mapping and prospecting conducted by Targa and Kenorland geologists, and likely an airborne magnetic and VLF geophysics survey.

In-fill till sampling around the eastern anomaly, identified from 2023 regional till sampling, further refined this target to an area that appears to be at the confluence of several intersecting structures that have been interpreted from regional magnetics. HMC sampling in this area also returned the highest normalized gold grain sample on the project with 98 total grains, 94 of which were considered pristine. Follow-up work at the Eastern Anomaly is being planned for summer 2025.

The Opinaca Project is located in the James Bay region of Quebec, approximately 40km south of Patriot Battery Metals’ Corvette lithium discovery, 45km south of the all-season Trans-Taiga Road and 120km northwest of the Renard Diamond Mine. Till sampling in 2023 uncovered a 5km x 4 km gold anomaly in the center of the project as well as a higher-grade gold anomaly to the east.

Targa’s project portfolio consists of 15 projects in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan and covers over 400,000 hectares of prospective ground, most of which has never been explored previously for lithium or gold.