Monarch aims for restart at Quebec gold mine
Monarch Gold Corp. [MQR-TSXV; MRQRF-OTC; MR7-FSE] on Thursday October 1 released the first set of results from a 2020 exploration diamond drilling program at its wholly-owned Beaufor Mine Project located 20 km northeast of Val d’Or, Quebec.
The results include a significant number of high-grade assays, including 783 g/t gold over 0.2 metres and 293 g/t gold over 0.5 metres.
Monarch shares advanced on the news, rising 2% or $0.01 to 49 cents on volume of 190,400. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of 59 cents and 11 cents.
Based in Quebec City, Monarch Gold is an emerging gold producer, aiming to achieve ongoing growth through a large portfolio of properties in the Val d’Or mining district. The company has over 240 km2 of gold properties, including the Beaufor Mine, the Croinor and Wasamac advanced projects. The asset portfolio also includes the Camflo and Beacon mills. The company offers custom milling services out of the 1,600 tonne-per-day Camflo mill.
The Beaufor Mine began commercial production in the early 1930s and over the years has produced over 1.1 million ounces of gold. However, operations were suspended in June, 2019, and the mine was placed on care and maintenance. Beaufor’s current status has given Monarch the opportunity to complete a 3D compilation and a program to identify, define and drill targets throughout the mine area.
In June, 2020, the company launched a 42,500-metre diamond drilling program to test two types of targets, including areas around historical high-grade intersections near the existing underground infrastructure, and isolated resource blocks, which are typically defined by a single drill intersection.
Assay results have been received for the first 21 holes, representing just 3.0% of the planned metres of drilling. “Seven holes intersected anomalous gold mineralization, which is considered good given the characteristic nuggety-style gold distribution,” the company said.
“These new high-grade intersections demonstrate that significant veins and vein extensions still exist,” said Monarch President and CEO Jean-Marc Lacoste. “Our ultimate gold is to restart gold production at the Beaufor Mine within 12 to 18 months to take advantage of a very favourable gold market,” he said.
Meanwhile, Monarch has been using the care and maintenance period at Beaufor to test a new technology, a prototype teleoperation (remote control) system designed by Meglab, on one of Beaufor’s mine Caterpillar shuttle loaders. Meglab Electronique Inc. designs, manufactures and installs electronic and electrical equipment, as well as instruments and control systems for the mining and forestry sectors.