Great Bear eyes maiden gold resource at Dixie, Ontario
Great Bear Resources Ltd. [GBR-TSXV] said Monday June 21 it is closing in on completing the drilling that is required for a near-surface maiden resource estimate on the LP Fault target at its 100%-owned Dixie Project located in the Red Lake Mining District of northwestern Ontario.
The company said it has now released results from 331 LP Fault drill holes. It said an additional 50 drill holes are in various stages of completion, ranging from active drilling to being complete and awaiting the receipt of assays. Approximately 400 drill holes are believed to be required for near-surface maiden resource estimation, and this work is anticipated to be completed over the company months.
News that a resource estimate is on the horizon comes after the company reported multiple gold discoveries along a 3.2-km strike length portion of the approximately 18-km-long LP Fault target, which transects the property and is hosted by the Dixie Project’s Bear-Rimini Zone.
The Bear-Rimini Zone is located 2.5 km northwest of the high-grade Hinge Zone discovery, which last year ignited the interest of major players including Bay Street gold bug Rob McEwen and his company McEwen Mining Inc. [MUX-TSX]. Together, they now hold 18.83% of Great Bear.
Covering 9,140 hectares the Dixie Lake project is a typical Archean mesothermal gold vein system located 20-25 km from significant mines that share the same geological and metallogenic characteristics.
They include the Evolution Mining Ltd. [EVN-ASX] Red Lake Gold Mine, which has been in production since the late 1940s.
On Monday, Great Bear released new results from a continuing fully-financing $45 million 2021 exploration program at Dixie Lake. Highlights from drilling across the LP Fault Zone include a high-grade intercept of 400 g/t gold over 0.50 metres from 175.50 to 176 metres downhole. The company said this interval is located within the newly-defined high-grade domain BR4.
Bulk-tonnage gold intercepts include 2.23 g/t gold over 77.40 metres from 69.60 to 147.00 metres downhole.
This included 5.14 g/t gold over 20.70 metres from 75.30 to 96 metres downhole as the drill hole traversed high-grade domain AURO20, and 3.83 g/t over 12.15 metres from 117.50 to 129.65 metres downhole as the drill hole traversed domain BR7.
Great Bear shares advanced on the news, rising 1.3% or 20 cents to $15.08 in light trading. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $19.83 and $12.80.
The company said 11 of the 13 drill holes included in Monday’s press release tested the bulk-tonnage style halo adjacent to the high-grade domains along more than 2.5 kilometres of strike length. Drilling intersected gold mineralization from bedrock surface to a vertical depth of 500 metres.