Bonterra Resources drills 1.77 g/t gold over 12.1 metres at Desmaraisville South, Quebec
Bonterra Resources Inc. [TSXV-BTR; OTCQX-BONXF; FSE-9BR2] reported results from its 15,000-metre drill program at its 100%-owned Desmaraisville South project, Quebec. The purpose of the program was to test several new geological and geophysical targets along with historical near surface gold mineralization along the edges of the O’Brien Syenite Intrusion and to identify the location of a regional corridor of deformation located north of the property.
The diamond drilling was conducted within km of the Bachelor Mill Complex. To date, Bonterra has received all assay results, including QA-QC samples, from the 57 diamond drill holes completed between August 23 and December 22, 2023. Please refer to press releases dated December 4, 2023, December 14, 2023, and February 5, 2024, for exploration updates on the Desmaraisville North and South projects and the surrounding area.
Highlights Include: 1.77 g/t gold over 12.1 metres, including 2.33 g/t gold over 7.0 metres in hole BRDS-23-043; 0.61 g/t Au over 11.1 m in hole BRDS-23-033; 0.80 g/t Au over 5.6 m, including 5.27 g/t Au over 0.5 m in hole BRDS-23-002 and 3.89 g/t Au over 1.0 m in hole BRDS-23-052.
Marc-Andre Pelletier, President and CEO, commented: “The drilling campaign at our 100%-owned Desmaraisville property resulted in the interception of several economic gold values and the discovery of new types of mineralization less than four km from the Bachelor Mill. Specifically, a gold intercept in hole BRDS-23-052 led to the discovery of a promising area along the Opawica-Guercheville regional deformation corridor, which hosts multiple gold showings over a 200-km-long corridor in the region. Now that all of the results from the 2023 drilling campaign are in hand, our geology team is working on compiling and modeling these results, as well as the results of the 2023 geophysical surveys, to generate prospective drill targets for exploration later this year.
“At our Phoenix JV, operated by Osisko Mining Inc. [TSX-OSK], exploration efforts are progressing well, with approximately 6,000 metres drilled to date. Currently, three drill rigs are focused on the Barry southwest target, while two are dedicated to the Moss target. As a reminder, the Moss target is located only five km southwest from the Windfall Gold deposit and shows a similar geological character to the Lynx Zone along the Mazeres Fault that runs across both the Lynx Zone and the Moss target. Looking ahead, Osisko Mining plans to add a third drill rig at Moss in March, bringing the total operational rigs on the Phoenix JV to six.”
The diamond drilling program at the Desmaraisville South project had several objectives. The main objectives were to intersect gold mineralization on the eastern side of the O’Brien Intrusive (East Area), along the extensions of various gold zones discovered in 2015 south of the O’Brien Intrusive (South Area) and finally, to drill test geophysical targets and historical gold showings west of the Bachelor Lake felsic intrusion.
In addition, the ongoing geological and geophysical compilation work has allowed the company to identify two major gold-bearing structures: the Opawica-Guercheville deformation corridor, which hosts numerous gold showings and deposits that have been the subject of historical resource calculations, and the Lamarck-Wedding Fault, which hosts the former Lake Shortt Gold Mine.
The gold mineralized zone containing 1.77 g/t Au over 12.1 m, including 2.33 g/t Au over 7.0 m in hole BRDS-23-043 consists of a strongly silicified and hematized zone with a brecciated texture.
The gold mineralized intersection in hole BRDS-23-033, which returned 0.61 g/t Au over 11.1 m, correspond to the up-dip projection of the intersection in hole BRDS-23-043. This gold mineralized zone comes to surface and is located 160 metres to the west from the mineralized intersection in BRDS-23-043.
Finally, an exploration drill hole located North of the Bachelor Mill Complex, BRDS-23-052, tested the interpretated Opawica-Guercheville corridor of deformation and has returned a gold mineralized intersection containing 3.89 g/t Au over 1.0 m.
The company’s assets include the Gladiator, Barry, Moroy and Bachelor gold deposits, which collectively hold 1.24 million ounces in measured and indicated categories and 1.78 million ounces in the inferred category.
In November 2023, the company entered into an earn-in and joint venture agreement with Osisko Mining Inc. for the Urban-Barry properties, which include the Gladiator and Barry deposits. Over the next three years, Osisko can earn a 70% interest by incurring $30-million in work expenditures.