Marathon Gold ups M&I estimate by 15%
Marathon Gold Corp. [MOZ-TSX; MGDPF-OTC] has released an updated mineral resource estimate for its Valentine gold project in central Newfoundland. The new estimate is based on infill drilling last year at the Leprechaun and Marathon deposits.
The company said Measured and Indicated Resources now stand at 3.09 million ounces (54.9 million tonnes at 1.75 g/t gold), an increase of 400,000 ounces, or 15% in comparison with a previous estimate announced in October, 2018.
On top of that is an Inferred Resource of 960,000 ounces (16.8 million tonnes at 1.78 g/t gold), a decrease of 570,000 ounces, or 37%, compared with the previous estimate. This represents a conversion of 26% of the project’s Inferred Mineral Resources to higher confidence Measured and Indicated categories and a loss of 11%, with 63% remaining.
The company said the new estimate includes total high-grade, open pit Measured and Indicated Resources of 2.58 million ounces (30.6 million tonnes at 2.62 g/t gold) and low-grade, open pit Measured and Indicated Resources of 340,000 ounces (22.9 million tonnes at 0.47 g/t gold) available for use in the continuing Valentine gold project feasibility study.
On Monday, Marathon gold shares eased 1.9% or $0.03 to $1.52 on volume of 1.17 million. The shares are trading in a 52-week range of 78 cents and $1.76.
The Valentine Gold Camp hosts four near surface, mainly pit-shell constrained, deposits. The majority of the resources occur in the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits, which also have resources below the pit shell. Both deposits are open at depth and on strike.
Gold mineralization has been traced down over 350 metres vertically at Leprechaun and almost a kilometre at Marathon.
The four deposits outlined to date occur in a 30-km gold trend on the property, with much of the 24,000-hectare property having had little detailed exploration activity to date.
The Valentine Lake Gold Camp is accessible by year-round roads and is located in close proximity to Newfoundland’s electrical grid.
The project’s total Measured and Indicated Resources now stand at over 3.0 million ounces, continuing a trend that started in 2010. Most of the latest increase has come from the Leprechaun deposit, which now contributes over one million ounces of higher confidence mineral resources to the overall project inventory.
The new estimate incorporates the results of what is now over 270,000 metres of drilling, with drill spacing averaging 10 to 15 metres on 10-metre sections over core mineralized areas.
The Valentine Lake Project consists of two gold recovery operations: They include a milling/flotation/carbon and lead plant. The mill will process three million tonnes per year of high-grade mineralized material
The heap leach pad will process three million tonnes per annum of low-grade mineralized material from open pit operations and will consist of crushing, heap leaching and carbon-in-column gold absorption. The loaded carbon from the heap leach facility will be sent to the mill for gold recovery.