Moneta Gold drills 4.03 g/t gold over 42.55 metres at Tower, Ontario
Moneta Gold Inc. [ME-TSX; MEAUF-OTCQX] reported assay results from 54 resource infill and step-out drill holes on the Westaway deposit at the 100%-owned Tower gold project, located in the Timmins gold camp, Ontario.
The drilling was conducted as part of an initial 76,000-metre drilling program, completed in 2022, and an additional 60,000-metre drilling program that is currently underway. Both drilling programs are designed for resource upgrade and infill of the 4.5 million (M) ounces (oz) indicated gold (Au) and 8.3 Moz inferred Au mineral resource estimate.
Drilling highlights: MGH23-388 intersected 42.55 metres at 4.03 g/t gold, including 19.25 metres at 6.74 g/t gold, including 4.00 metres at 12.89 g/t gold. MGH22-336 intersected 29.83 m at 2.62 g/t Au, including 19.83 m at 3.73 g/t Au. MGH23-359 intersected 29.00 m at 2.47 g/t Au, including 9.00 m at 5.67 g/t Au, including 3.00 m at 11.31 g/t Au. MGH23-357 intersected 27.00 m at 1.94 g/t Au, including 10.00 m at 2.50 g/t Au, and 5.00 m at 5.09 g/t Au. MGH23-352 intersected 26.50 m at 1.69 g/t Au, including 5.00 m at 4.00 g/t Au, and 3.00 m at 2.70 g/t Au. MGH23-385 intersected 23.80 m at 1.86 g/t Au, including 1.00 m at 7.28 g/t Au, and 6.40 m at 3.92 g/t Au, including 3.00 m at 6.44 g/t Au. MGH23-350 intersected 4.45 m at 9.56 g/t Au. MGH23-393 intersected 10.65 m at 3.64 g/t Au, including 1.00 m at 18.65 g/t Au. MGH23-350 intersected 14.00 m at 2.38 g/t Au, including 8.45 m at 3.52 g/t Au.
Gary O’Connor, president and CEO, commented: “These latest assay results from infill and step-out drilling continue to confirm the continuity and extensions of gold mineralization at Westaway, on the Tower Gold project. The drilling has been focused on the open pit portions of the mineral resources as defined in the current Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) study during the first 11 years of production. Continuity of good gold mineralization have also been intersected within the underground and outside the initial open pit areas. As we continue to grow, de-risk, and advance the Project, we look forward to completing the current resource infill and upgrade drill program in preparation of a mineral resource estimate update for planned optimization studies.”
A total of 10,888.0 metres of drilling was completed in 54 drill holes. Drilling is being conducted on 50-metre centres as step-outs and infill of previous drill holes. All assays are now released from 2022 drilling. Additional assays from 2023 drilling are pending and will be released upon receipt of assays.
The Westaway deposit currently hosts an open pit indicated resource of 0.75 million tonnes (Mt) at 2.20 g/t Au containing 53,000 oz gold and an inferred resource of 22.11 Mt at 1.95 g/t Au containing 1,383,000 oz gold. The drill holes in this release focused on infill and extensions of the mineral resource within the current open pit PEA mine shells from surface to vertical depths of up to 450 metres below surface. Mineralization at Westaway is associated with extensional and stockwork-type quartz veining within Timiskaming age meta-sediments, located between 2 major splays of the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone in the Golden Highway area of the Project.
The drill results confirmed the continuity and expanded the resource estimate in the central core area of the Westaway deposit, within the PEA open pit, as highlighted in drill holes MGH23-357, MGH23-359, MGH23-369, and MGH23-388. Additionally, significant intercepts at depth, below the bottom of the PEA pit indicate potential expansion opportunities as seen in drill holes MGH22-336, MGH23-385, MGH23-394, and MGH23-393.
Twenty-eight drill holes did not intersect mineralization above 10 “g/t Au x m”; however, gold mineralization was intersected above a 0.3 g/t Au economic cut-off in 16 of these holes. Twelve drill holes did not intersect mineralization above 0.3 g/t Au cut-off, of which: MGH22-301 confirmed the location of the banded iron formation that constrains mineralization in the north; MGH23-374, MGH23-376, MGH23-382, MGH23-386, MGH23-390, MGH23-391, MGH23-392, and MGA2H-398 constrain mineralization in the south; and MGH23-364, MGH23-367, and MGH23-383 laterally constrain a vein corridor in the west-central area of the Westaway deposit.
The September 2022, PEA study outlined a combined open pit and underground mining and a 7.0 million tonne per annum conventional leach operation over a 24-year mine life, with 4.6 Moz of recovered gold, generating an after-tax NPV5% of $1,066M, IRR of 31.7%, and a 2.6-year payback at a gold price US$1,600/oz. Tower Gold hosts an estimated gold mineral resource of 4.5 Moz indicated and 8.3 Moz inferred.