Monarques drills 2.1 metres of 43.25 g/t gold at Croinor

Monarques Gold Corp. [MQR-TSXV; MRQRF-OTC; MR7-Fse] on Thursday October 4 released additional assay results from the 2018 drilling program at its 100%-owned Croinor gold project.

Based in Quebec City, Monarques Gold is an emerging gold producer, aiming to achieve ongoing growth through a large portfolio of properties in the Val d’Or, Quebec 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 initial 20,000-metre program at Croinor started in March 2018, and focused on the expansion and infilling of the Croinor gold deposit. The program was completed in early September, with a total of 19,935 metres of core drilled in 89 holes.

The company said assays have been received for 77 of 89 holes.

The first 25 holes are from the two areas targeted for bulk sampling on the 125-foot level and the 250-foot level of the old mine workings. These holes are infill and contour drill holes for the two zones, with a grid spacing of 10 metres by 10 metres. Hole CR-18-636 returned 43.25 g/t gold over 2.1 metres, including 88.60 g/t gold over 1.0 metre in the 125-foot level bulk sampling area. Hole CR-18-647 returned 25.92 g/t gold over 3.4 metres in the 250-foot level bulk sampling area.

Both of these holes have increased the volume of ore that crews plan to mine, the company said in a press release.

“We continue to be impressed by these high-grade results on Croinor Gold, which prompted us to drill an additional 8,300 metres,” said Monarques President and CEO Jean-Marc Lacoste. “The success of our 2018 drilling program also shows that we have a better understanding of the deposit,” he said.

Lacoste went on to say that the supplementary 8,300-metre drilling program is designed to pass between the planned stopes, where there are no drill results, to increase the tonnage in the Croinor Gold deposit before mining starts, and to drill around the periphery of the deposit to follow up on positive assay results to extend the resource to the west, where it is still open.

“As I have said before, we believe the Croinor Gold discovery potential remains untapped,” Lacoste said.

Meanwhile, the company said it will focus on developing and completing the feasibility study of its core asset, the Wasamac gold deposit, which contains a measured and indicated resource of 2.6 million ounces of gold.

Monarques recently said it will temporarily suspend production at its Beaufor Mine property in December 2018 due to the low grade ore mined in recent quarters. Beaufor is part of a package that Monarques snapped up when it agreed in October 2017 to acquire all of the mining assets of Richmont Mines Inc. in Quebec.

Monarques holds a 100% interest in the Beaufor Mine, which covers 5.9 km² and is located about 20 km northeast of Val-d’Or in Abitibi-East Township. Custom milling at the Camflo facility will not be affected by the decision to suspend production at Beaufor.

The shares rose 3.03% or $0.005 to 17 cents on Thursday. The 52-week range is 14.5 cents and 42 cents.