New Age drills 2.079 g/t palladium over 6 metres at River Valley, Ontario
New Age Metals Inc. [NAM-TSXV; NMTLF-OTCQB; PJ7-FSE] reported drilling intersected palladium (Pd) plus platinum (Pt) plus gold (Au) (3E) mineralization in all four drill holes completed in 2021 at the Banshee Zone of its 100%-owned River Valley palladium deposit 60 km northeast of Sudbury, Ontario. The Banshee Zone is located in the northern area of the Deposit, between the key Dana Zones to the north and the Lismer Zones to the east
Drilling Highlights include drill hole BZ1-3 that returned 2.92 g/t Pd+Pt+Au (3E) over 6 metres from 251 metres downhole and 0.88 g/t 3E over 4 meres from 348 metres downhole.
Hole BZ1-1 intersected 1.47 g/t 3E over 4 metres from 118 metres downhole. Palladium mineralization at Banshee Zone appears open to expansion by drilling down-dip.
Harry Barr, Chairman and CEO, stated, “Drilling continues to demonstrate strength and continuity of the palladium mineralization at River Valley. This is the first drilling completed at Banshee Zone since 2004. Intersecting the palladium mineralization after almost 20 years is very encouraging, as we plan to expand the Banshee Zone by drilling multiple down-dip and footwall targets in 2022.”
Four of 13 planned holes (totalling 4,175 m) at the Banshee Zone were completed in the summer of 2021. The drill program was designed to expand the zone by stepping-out distances of 25 to 50 metres below the base of the 2021 Updated Mineral Resources at Banshee Zone. The drilling was paused on completion of the fourth hole, in order for NAM to focus on completion of the site investigation work for the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study at the River Valley Project.
The four holes (totalling 1,295 m) completed were drilled at the south end of the Banshee Zone. Three of the drill holes (BZ1-1, BZ1-2 and BZ1-3) were completed on the southernmost cross-section and the fourth drill hole (BZ2-1) was completed on the next cross-section 50 metres to the north. All four holes intersected palladium mineralization.
The next steps at the Banshee Zone are to complete the nine drill holes (totalling 2,875 m on eight cross-sections) remaining from the 2021 planned program. First though, the drill hole plan will be revisited for adjustment in view of the 2021 surface IP survey at Banshee Zone, the results of which were unavailable in time to influence the original plan. In addition to the expansion drilling, three in-fill drill holes are planned for 2022 on a single cross-section, in order to advance Inferred to Indicated Mineral Resources in the centre of the Banshee Zone. The Banshee Zone program in 2022 would be in addition to follow-up drilling of the new, higher-grade mineralization recently exposed 700 metres north near the Dana South Zone.
New Age Metals is finalizing the 2022 exploration budget and management believes that 2022 will include the most aggressive exploration on the projects to date.