Azimut up 36% on Quebec gold update
Azimut Exploration Inc. [AZM-TSXV] shares rose sharply on Wednesday May 19 after the company said it continues to intersect wide, high-grade gold intervals at the Patwon discovery on the company’s 100%-owned Elmer property in the James Bay region of northern Quebec.
The shares jumped 36.2% or 34 cents to $1.28 on volume of 655,230, and now trade in a 52-week range of $3.27 and 78 cents.
The company said it has completed 10,149 metres of a planned 15,000-metre (60 holes) diamond drilling program. So far, 35 holes have been completed and two are in progress.
The aim is to expand the Patwon discovery with 10,000 metres (30 holes) and test 10 high quality targets in the vicinity of Patwon with 5,000 metres (30 holes).
The most significant results to date include hole ELM21-072, which returned 6.43 g/t gold over 40.6 metres (from 287.9 metres to 328.5 metres) including 12.98 g/t gold over 15.2 metres.
These new results mark a significant step forward in the delineation of the Patwon gold discovery, confirming its robustness and strong growth potential, the company said in a press release, Wednesday.
Azimut said it considers Patwon to be one of the largest gold discoveries in the James Bay region since the 2004 discovery of the Eleonore deposit, which is currently owned and operated by Newmont Goldcorp Corp., [NGT-TSX; NEM-NYSE].
The Patwon Prospect is part of a larger seven-kilometre-long high potential target zone on the property, which covers 515 claims over 271.3 km2 and is located 285 km north of Matagami.
At Patwon, the mineralized body is currently defined over a strike length of 500 metres and a minimum depth of 400 metres, where the mineralized system remains robust and open. The average estimated true width is about 36 metres based on previously released results from 40 drill holes. True widths can reach up to 80 metres.
The mineralized envelope as determined so far, is consistent, wide and predictable. It appears geometrically simple, with no internal folding or crosscutting barren dykes. The new results reported Wednesday suggest that grades may increase with depth, the company said. “Thicknesses and grades may support the concept of an initial open pit mining operation. The presence of a high-grade component in most holes also suggests the potential for an underground mine.”
Patwon is an orogenic gold-bearing system. This deposit type classically has the potential for kilometre-scale vertical extension.
One of the possible geologic analogs is the Goldex mine (owned and operated by Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. [AEM-TSX, NYSE]. Goldex is located in the Val d’Or mining camp.