Blue Star Gold drills 17 metres of sulphides in new discovery at Roma Project, Nunavut
Blue Star Gold Corp. [TSXV-BAU; OTCQB-BAUFF; FSE-5WP0] reported a new critical mineral discovery (HI) on its Roma Project in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut.
Highlights: Inaugural critical minerals exploration program in the prospective High Lake Greenstone Belt. First Blue Star drill hole assessing the HI VMS target intercepted a 17.1-metre interval of semi-to-massive sulphide mineralization; assays are pending.
Follow-up drilling is underway to assess the large target zone. Drilling continues at gold targets on the company’s Ulu Project, including Mikigon and Nutaaq.
Grant Ewing, CEO, stated, “Due to the abundance of mineral showings throughout our prospective landholdings, the current exploration program is assessing both critical mineral and gold targets. The first drill hole on the HI target has potentially resulted in an exciting new base metal discovery. Our team is very encouraged by similarities in the drill core to MMG’s High Lake deposit, located ~12 km to the south. Follow-up drilling is underway, and we look forward to assay results which are expected in August. The proposed Grays Bay Road, a major infrastructure development in Nunavut that is currently undergoing permitting, is located only six km east of the HI discovery.”
Fieldwork confirmed the presence of massive sulphide mineralization in a surface gossan occurring in felsic volcanic rock. Sampling of sub-cropping massive sulphide mineralization hosting a 0.6-metre-wide section of massive sphalerite returned 17.75% zinc.
A fixed loop electromagnetic survey (“EM”) was subsequently completed identifying a strong conductor, with a resulting Maxwell-modelled plate measuring 320 metres x 100 metres in size, plunging north approximately 180 metres below the surface. The gossan and surface sampling are located up-dip, and ~200 metres south of the strong conductor.
The initial drill hole targeting the HI conductor was completed to a depth of 291 metres. Rock units encountered include the overlaying Proterozoic diabase sill, a late Archean granitoid unit, and a package of sericite-altered felsic tuffs hosting a 17-metre zone of stringer to massive sulphide mineralization. Within the mineralized zone, a 1.7-metre interval of massive sphalerite and buckshot pyrite, and a 1.3-metre interval of massive pyrrhotite with chalcopyrite were intersected. The mineralized section is co-incident with the modeled strong conductor. Follow-up drilling is underway.
Noranda first identified the area in 1975 and drilled two shallow holes beneath the main gossan the following year. The 1976 holes intersected stringer to massive sulphide mineralization with sub-ore grades (Assessment Report 08558), and Noranda subsequently dropped the claims.
The High Lake VMS deposit, located approximately 12 km south-southeast of HI, is comprised of the A/B, D, and West Zones. Of particular interest is the West Zone, the most recent VMS discovery in the High Lake Belt, as it was also a blind discovery based on a strong EM conductor.
The West Zone discovery hole was a 19.4-metre stringer to massive sulphide interval grading 3.85% copper, 1.38% zinc, 0.89 g/t gold and 104 g/t silver. The resource of the West Zone is approximately 9.1 Mt of 1.97% Cu, 4.4% Zn, 0.42% lead, 1.29 g/t Au, and 96 g/t Ag. The High Lake VMS deposit hosts ~14 Mt grading 2.5% Cu, 3.8% Zn, 0.4% Pb, 84 g/t Ag, and 1.3 g/t Au. There is no guarantee that the results of the HI VMS discovery will be similar to those of the High Lake Deposit West Zone or that continued exploration will result in the definition of an economic resource.
The 2024 exploration drilling program is ongoing. Drilling continues at gold targets on the Ulu Project (Mikigon, Nutaaq) and the HI discovery. The next steps for the gold component of the current drill program will be assessing other targets in the Flood Zone area, and the Central and Zebra Zones. To date, ~1,725 metres of the planned drill program have been completed.
The project envisions a deepwater port built on Coronation Gulf and a road connecting Nunavut to the Northwest Territories. The proposed all-season road would travel within and immediately adjacent to Blue Star’s projects, providing excellent accessibility.
Blue Star’s landholdings total 270 km2 of prospective and underexplored mineral properties in the High Lake Greenstone Belt. The company owns the Ulu Gold Project, comprised of the Ulu Mining Lease and Hood River Property, and the Roma Project. A significant high-grade gold resource exists at the Flood Zone deposit (Ulu Mining Lease), and numerous high-potential exploration targets (gold and critical minerals) occur throughout the company’s landholdings, providing Blue Star with excellent resource growth potential. The site of the future deep-water port at Grays Bay is 40 – 100 km to the north of the properties, and the proposed route corridor for the all-weather Grays Bay Road passes close by the Roma and Ulu Gold Projects.