Marathon targets more gold ounces in Newfoundland
Marathon Gold Corp. [MOZ-TSX, OTC-MGDPF] on Thursday released positive infill drill results from the Berry deposit at its Valentine Gold Project in Newfoundland.
Last year, Marathon completed 20,931 metres of infill drilling at Berry, none of which was included in the project’s June 2022 mineral resource estimate. This in-fill drill program targeted gaps within the existing Berry drill hole dataset that are assumed to be un-mineralized waste in the Berry geological model, but are within the conceptual pit shells used in the resource estimate.
Success within this program has the potential to add mineable ounces to the project’s mine plan.
Assays from 9,811 metres from the 2022 drilling were previously reported in June and September, 2022. The latest results represent fire assay data from 5,490 metres of drilling in 27 holes.
Drilling highlights include hole VL-22-1258 which returned 5.01 g/t gold over 18 metres, including 23.02 g/t gold over 1.0 metre and 17.90 g/t over 1.0 metre, and 4.28 g/t gold over 9.0 metres, including 23.43 g/t gold over 1 metre and 2.78 g/t gold over 6.0 metres including 11.72 g/t gold over 1.0 metres.
“All of these results support the proposition that Berry has the potential to deliver additional mineable gold ounces above what is currently estimated,’’ said Marathon Gold President and CEO Matt Manson. “We expect the final batch of 2022 Berry in-fill drill results to be reported shortly.’’
On January 11, 2023, Marathon Gold shares closed at $1.12 and currently trade in a 52-week range of $3.21 and 73 cents.
The Valentine project consists of a series of five mineralized deposits located along a 32-kilometre system.
A December 2022, updated feasibility study for the project outlined an open pit conventional mining operation, producing 195,000 ounces of gold annually for 12 years within a 14.3-year mine-life.
The project as released from federal and provincial environmental assessments in 2022 and construction commenced in October, 2022. The project has an estimated proven mineral reserve of 1.43 million ounces (23.36 million tonnes at 1.89 g/t) and a probable reserve of 1.27 million ounces (28.22 million tonnes at 1.40 g/t). Total measured resources (including mineral reserves) stand at 2.06 million ounces.
“Our 2023-2024 exploration work at Valentine will be designed to maintain the project’s momentum of mineral resource growth even as mine development moves forward,” Manson said recently. “We see potential for this growth both within the mineral deposits in the existing mine plan, and more broadly over the full 32 kilometres of mineralized shear zone trend on the property.’’
Thursday’s drill results are derived from 27 drill holes located between sections 13240E and 14810E. They were located along the full 1.5 kilometre extend of the Berry deposit and located in areas of the geological model that have previously been poorly defined.