New drill results reinforce underground potential at Troilus project

Troilus Mining Corp. [TLG-TSX, CHXMF-OTCQB] has announced new drilling results from its Troilus Project located in north-central Quebec. The latest results are from five holes (2,915 metres) completed as part of an ongoing Z87 underground target extension drilling program.

Highlights include Hole TLG-ZJ20-222-EXT26, which intersected 8.84 g/t gold equivalent (AuEq) (7.02 g/t gold, 21.63 g/t silver, 1.03% copper) over 4.8 metres, including 23.58 g/t AuEq (22.70 g/t gold, 21.70 g/t silver, 0.41% copper) over 1.0 metre and 7.04 g/t AuEq (4.06 g/t gold, 30.96 g/t silver and 1.73% copper) over 2.8 metres starting at 859 metres downhole.

Troilus shares edged higher on the news, rising 0.97% or $0.02 to $2.08. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $2.33 and 70 cents.

Troilus is a Quebec-focused exploration and early-stage development company. It is aiming for a mineral expansion and potential restart of the former gold and copper Troilus mine near Chiibougamau, Que. The company announced the results of a feasibility study in May, 2024.

“The results reported today are encouraging reminder of the significant opportunity that remains at depth at Troilus,’’ said Troilus CEO Justin Reid. “Since acquiring the Project, our development plan has evolved from an initial underground concept beneath the historically mined J and Z87 pits into a much larger 50,000 tonne-per-day open pit operation,’’ he said. “These latest results reinforce the compelling underground potential that remains beneath Z87.’’ He went on to say that by re-entering and extending five existing drill holes into the interpreted high-grade core, drill crews intersected mineralization in every hole and confirmed high-grade continuity at lest 400 metres beyond the existing resource pit shell. “These results provide valuable new data for future geological model updates as we continue evaluating the longer-term scale, flexibility and optionality of the Troilus project,’’ Reid said.

The Troilus property is located northeast of the Val d’Or district, within the Frotet-Evans Greenstone Belt in Quebec. From 1997 to 2010, Inmet Mining Corp operated the Troilus project as an open-pit mine, producing more than 2.0 million ounces of gold and nearly 70,000 tonnes of copper.

After mining was completed in April 2009, the mill ceased to operate and the camp was subsequently sold and dismantled. Inmet was acquired by First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM-TSX) in 2013.

The feasibility study envisages an open pit mine life of 22 years with the potential for underground development. Life of mine average annual payable gold production is forecast to be 244,600 ounces of gold, 17.3 million pounds of copper and 445,700 ounces of silver.

The all-in-sustaining cash operating cost is estimated at US$1,109 per ounce.

Peak production is expected to be achieved in year seven when the production is estimated at 456,100 ounces, 31.8 million pounds of copper and 613,600 ounces of silver.

The feasibility study is supported by an initial mineral reserve estimate of 380 million tonnes of grade 0.59 g/t gold equivalent (AuEq) (0.49 g/t gold, 0.058% copper, and 1.0 g/t silver), containing 7.26 million ounces of AuEq (6.02 million ounces of gold, 484 million pounds of copper and 12.2 million ounces of silver.