Probe Gold drills 6.2 g/t gold over 13 metres at Novador, Quebec
Probe Gold Inc. [TSX-PRB; OTCQB-PROBF] provided the final set of results from the 2023 Courvan gold trend drill program on its 100%-owned Novador property, located near Val d’Or, Quebec.
Results from 47 drill holes, totaling 12,200 metres, have returned significant gold intercepts from surface to 150 metres vertical depth at the Bussiere and Creek deposits. The 2023 fall drill program at Courvan focused on both resource expansion and exploration drilling. Exploration drilling east of the former Bussiere mine returned impressive intervals in a new discovery, with an initial intercept of 1.1 g/t gold over 29.0 metres with follow-up resource expansion drilling returning higher-grade intercepts of up to 6.2 g/t gold over 13.0 metres (cut) and 4.1 g/t gold over 6.0 metres.
Winter resource expansion drilling at the Novador trends, Courvan and Monique, is progressing well, including follow-up drilling on the new Bussiere East discovery area. Assay results from the winter program will be released when available. Based on the success of the 2023 exploration program, the company will continue regional exploration in 2024, with at least six new areas slated for evaluation and drilling.
Highlights: New, near-surface, Gold Zone discovered 400 metres East of the Bussiere Mine Zone; significant new gold intersections grading up to 6.2 g/t Au over 13.0 metres (cut) (7.6 g/t Au over 13.0 metres uncut), including 68 g/t Au over 1.0 metre; 4.1 g/t Au over 6.0 metres; and 1.1 g/t Au over 29.0 metres.
Near-surface expansion drilling on the Creek Deposit intersected parallel gold zones grading up 6.2 g/t Au over 9.1 metres (cut) (18.5 g/t Au over 9.1 metres uncut), including 162 g/t Au over 1.0 metre; and 18.4 g/t Au over 3.0m (cut) (23.9 g/t Au over 3.0m uncut), including 66.4 g/t Au over 1.0 metre.
Near-surface expansion drilling at Bussiere Deposit intersected thick gold zones grading up to 1.0 g/t Au over 61.0 metres. An additional 10 holes totaling 2,300 metres have been drilled on the new discovery area during the on-going 2024 Winter drilling program (results pending).
Dr. David Palmer, President and CEO, stated, “One of the important takeaways from these results at Courvan is that we still have a tremendous amount of exploration upside on the Novador project. Making a new discovery of thick, high-grade gold mineralization 400 metres from our development areas indicates significant potential for additional exploration catalysts as we expand our work programs on new target areas around Novador.
“In addition to the near-mine exploration, we have also consolidated a considerable amount of regional lands with high exploration potential, all within trucking distance of the conceptual mill. Our resource expansion drilling at Courvan is also showing excellent results, confirming continuity of our gold zones in all areas.
“As a result, we have accelerated our expansion drilling program this year, including the new discovery area, in anticipation of an Updated Resource in the latter half of 2024. With a strong updated PEA already under our belt that demonstrates numerous improvements, including expanded production, we are continuing to add value to the project. Beyond Novador, we are actively advancing several other strategic assets to unlock value for our shareholders, including Detour, La Peltrie and Croinor, where work programs are in progress or have recently been completed and results are pending. We look forward to continuing this momentum in the remainder of 2024.”
Forty of the forty-seven holes (10 exploration drill holes and 37 resource expansion drill holes) drilled to identify or expand near-surface mineralization returned gold intercepts over 0.4 g/t Au, which is above the cut-off grade used in the 2023 pit-constrained resource estimate. Seventeen (17) holes returned gold intercepts with gold grade times thickness (g/t x m) above 10. Exploration and expansion drilling near the Bussiere and Creek deposits identified significant new parallel gold zones in the Bourlamaque intrusive and gold zones of interest in the volcanics to the East, the latter being a first-hole discovery. The Bussiere deposit remains open laterally and has been drilled only to shallow depths. Previous drilling under 350 metres deep at the Creek deposit yielded positive results and indicates good expansion and exploration potential laterally and at depth. The latest drilling results continue to improve our 3D model of Courvan.
Since 2016, Probe Gold has been consolidating its land position in the highly prospective Val-d’Or East area in Quebec with a district-scale land package of 685 km2 that represents one of the largest land holdings in the Val-d’Or mining camp. The Novador project is a sub-set of properties totaling 175 km2 hosting three past producing mines (Beliveau Mine, Bussiere Mine and Monique Mine) and falls along three regional mine trends.
Val-d’Or properties include gold resources totaling 3,793,900 ounces in the Measured and Indicated category and 1,418,700 ounces in the Inferred category along all trends and deposits.
Probe Gold is well-funded and dedicated to exploring and developing high-quality gold projects. Notably, it owns 100% of its flagship asset, the multimillion-ounce Novador Gold Project as well as an early-stage Detour Gold Quebec project. Probe controls a large land package of approximately 1,685 km2 of exploration ground within some of the most prolific gold belts in Quebec.