Canstar Resources drills 3.2 g/t gold over 22 metres at Golden Baie, Newfoundland
Canstar Resources Inc. [ROX-TSXV; CSRNF-OTC] reported assay results from diamond drilling on its Golden Baie project in south-central Newfoundland, which took place in the fall of 2022. Drilling tested six target areas, including Kendell, Hillside, 97 West, Northbrush, Osprey, White Out and Wolf Pond, along an approximately 15-km prospective trend. In total, 6,471 metres were drilled in 51 holes.
Highlights: The Kendell Prospect returned 3.2 g/t gold over 22.0 metres and 4.3 g/t gold over 14.0 metres. Gold mineralization at the Kendell prospect has been expanded to 195 metres down-plunge to the northwest.
New zone at Wolf Pond target returned 0.8 g/t gold over 11.5 metres and 1.9 g/t gold over 6.7 metres in a newly discovered shallow zone located 300 metres southeast of historic drilling in the area.
Matthieu Lapointe, vice-president of exploration, stated: “Our drill program in the fall of 2022 tested multiple targets that were generated using a combination of prospecting, geophysics, and geochemistry. This approach advanced our understanding of the geology and the effectiveness of various tools. In the process, we continued to expand the Kendell prospect. We also validated the large soil anomaly at Wolf Pond and believe this area has significant potential for widespread, bulk tonnage gold mineralization. In addition to follow-up work in these areas, the team is looking forward to continuing work on the newly discovered, high-grade Facheux Bay, Blow Out East and Wood Cutter targets. Unlike most of the north-easterly portions of the Golden Baie property, Facheux Bay is sparsely covered with glacial till. The increase in bedrock exposure at Facheux Bay has allowed us to efficiently prospect and quickly identify and prioritize targets.”
Drilling at Kendell focused on expanding the footprint of mineralization to the northwest, in the interpreted down-plunge direction. Twenty holes were drilled for a total of 2,438 m. D rilling successfully extended gold mineralization down-plunge to the northwest and west-northwest. Hole GB-22-102 intersected 5.8 g/t gold over 4.0 metres at a downhole depth of only 58.0 metres. This intercept is approximately 15 metres down-plunge of hole GB-22-92, which intersected 6.1 g/t gold over 3.6 metres at a downhole depth of 52.5 metres. The total known down-plunge length of gold mineralization at the Kendell prospect is now estimated to be 195 metres.
To further define the geometry of the plunging mineralization, four drill holes were oriented east-west as opposed to the typical northwest-southeast drill orientation. The east-west orientation was designed to intersect the northwest plunging shoot at a more perpendicular drill angle.
All four drill holes with this orientation intersected significant gold mineralization including GB-22-107 (4.3 g/t Au over 14.0m), GB-22-112 (7.0 g/t Au over 3.0 m), GB-22-120 (6.6 g/t Au over 5.0 m) and GB-22-121 (3.2 g/t Au over 22.0 m).
Holes GB-22-106, GB-22-110, GB-22-111, GB-22-115, GB-22-116 and GB-22-117 were drilled approximately 20 m southeast of the known mineralization. Gold mineralization was encountered in four of these holes: GB-22-110 (1.7 g/t Au over 3.0 m with visible gold), GB-22-111 (1.8 g/t Au over 6.0 m, GB-22-115 (0.3 g/t Au over 16.0 m) and GB-22-116 (1.0 g/t over 6.4 m). Gold mineralization in these holes suggests the plunging zone is possibly changing direction and open to the west-northwest.
Holes GB-22-108 and GB-22-109 were drilled approximately 20 m northeast of the known mineralization and Holes GB-22-113, GB-22-114 and GB-22-118, GB-22-119 were drilled approximately 45 metres southwest of the defined plunging mineralized zone. No significant gold mineralization was intersected in these holes suggesting that the zone narrows in this area, but remains open at depth.
Historic drilling at Wolf Pond in the 1980s delineated a mineralized zone averaging 2 to 3 metres thick with grades of 3 to 5 g/t gold within a broader envelope 5 to 8 metres thick averaging 1 to 2 g/t gold. The Wolf Pond Gold Zone was delineated by previous operators over a strike length of 450 metres and to a depth of 165 metres and is open both along strike and at depth.
Approximately 300 metres southeast of the Wolf Pond Gold Zone is a 1,720-metre by 50-metre gold-in-soil anomaly, with values ranging from 30 to 752 ppb gold, which had never been drill tested. Canstar drilled four holes totaling 679 metres into the soil anomaly, testing approximately 150 metres of strike length. All four holes intersected gold mineralization with the best results from the two most north-easterly holes WP-22-04 (1.9 g/t Au over 6.7 m) and WP-22-02 (0.8 g/t Au over 11.5 m including 1.2 g/t Au over 5.0 m).
The 2022 fall drill campaign at 97 West targeted gold mineralization in trenches excavated during 2021 and tested the graphitic shale horizons that also host the high-grade gold mineralization at the Kendell prospect, located approximately 3.5 km to the southwest.
Thirteen holes (1,787 m) were drilled in the 97 West area. Drill hole 97W-22-01 was drilled beneath a 2021 channel sample of 13.1 g/t gold over 1.0 metres (trench 97W-21-TR01) and returned an intersection of 1.9 g/t gold over 2.0 metres, starting at 13 metres downhole. Drill holes 97W-22-07 and 97W-22-09 to 97W-22-13 were collared 720 metres to the northeast of the 2021 trenches in an area identified during 2022 trenching.
All six holes encountered gold mineralization. The best results include hole 97W-22-11 which assayed 5.2 g/t gold over 1.0 metres starting at a down hole depth of 7.2 metres and hole 97W-22-09 with 4.7 g/t gold over 1.0 metre starting at a down hole depth of 8.0 metres.
Canstar completed scout drilling on several early-stage exploration targets during the fall drill program. These included the Northbrush, Osprey, White Out and Hillside targets. Thirteen drill holes totaling 1,567 metres were completed in these target areas, which have significant glacial till cover.
The best assay result of this drilling came from Northbrush hole NB-22-02 which intersected 0.2 g/t over 16.0 metres from a quartz-carbonate vein zone. The best drill intercept on the recently acquired Golden Eye license was from hole GE-22-06 at the White Out target which intersected many broad zones of low grade gold mineralization including 0.2 g/t gold over 14.0 metres, 0.3 g/t gold over 10.9 metres and 0.4 g/t gold over 6.0 metres.
Canstar’s technical team is currently preparing plans and prioritizing exploration targets for the 2023 field program.
Canstar is focused on gold exploration on 939 km2 of mineral claim licenses in south-central Newfoundland.