Kirkland Lake hits 589.5 g/t gold over 2.0 metres
Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. [KL-TSX, NYSE, KLA-ASX] on Monday released impressive new drill results from 54 holes of underground exploration drilling from the Macassa Mine in Kirkland Lake, Ont.
Drill holes in the program were completed from new drill platforms located on the east side of the 5300 and 5800 levels and designed to confirm and expand mineral reserves and mineral resources in the South Mine Complex (SMC) zone to the east as well as up and down dip.
Key intercepts from the 16 new holes (5,597 metres) include 589.5 g/t gold over 2.0 metres, including 1,296.5 g/t over 0.9 metres, from 53-4443. These intercepts are from holes drilled from two furthest east drill platforms on the 5300 level exploration drive.
Macassa is a high-grade gold producer which commenced operations in 2002, and with the discovery of the SMC, has been able to increase the level of production significantly in the past five years. Macassa produced 183,038 ounces of gold in 2020.
The holes intersected the SMC East trend between 80 and 180 metres east of current mineral resources and in the general vicinity of a previously released intercept from hole AB-16-02, which intersected a value of 33.3 g/t over 2.0 metres.
The latest intercepts are believed to be related to new high-grade lenses occurring along the east extension of the SMC East Trend, with the overall trend appearing to
be swinging slightly to the northeast towards the east portion of the previously announced corridor of high-grade mineralization identified along the Main Break.
The convergence of these two structures represents a high-potential target area for future drilling as drifting from the 5300 level continues to advance eastwards.
“We continue to target approximately 250,000 metres of total drilling at Macassa in 2021, with eight underground drills and one surface drill currently in operation,” said Kirland Lake President and CEO Tony Makuch.
Kirkland Lake shares advanced on the news, rising 1.38% or 67 cents to $49.22. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $76.43 and $40.07.
Kirkland Lake Gold is a mid-tier gold producer with operations in Canada and Australia. In Canada, its portfolio includes the Macassa Mine and the suspended Holt Complex, which consists of three mines (Holt, Holloway and Taylor). All of its Canadian operations are located near Kirkland Lake, Ontario.
The Australian portfolio includes the Fosterville Mine in Victoria State, which produced 161,489 ounces of gold in the third quarte of 2020, up from 158,328 ounces in the third quarter of 2019.
Kirkland Lake achieved its production targets last year by producing 1.36 million ounces of gold at an all-in-sustaining cost of US$800 an ounce, marking a 41% increase from 974,615 ounces in 2019.
Gold production in 2021 is targeted at between 1.3-1.4 million ounces, led by the Detour Lake mine in northern Ontario, which is expected to produce up to 720,000 ounces.