Radisson talks up high-grade gold find at O’Brien
Radisson Mining Resources Inc. [RDS-TSXV; RMRDF-OTC] has announced a new high-grade gold discovery on a property in Quebec which contains the former O’Brien gold mine, one of the Abitibi region’s richest producers. The O’Brien Project is situated on the Larder-Lake-Cadillac Break about half way between Rouyn-Noranda and Val d’Or, Quebec.
Radisson said highlights from a 20,000-metre exploration drill program that is currently under way include drill hole OB-19-92w2b, which intersected 66.71 g/t gold over 4.70 metres. This intercept was encountered 300 metres below the deepest known mineralization on the project’s 36E Zone.
“We are encouraged by this new high-grade gold discovery, suggesting potential continuity for high-grade gold mineralization up to 300 metres below the current resource area at the 36E zone,” said Radisson President and CEO Mario Bouchard in a press release on October 29, 2019.
“This is a first and very important sign of validation of our new geological interpretation, with further follow up drilling. Hole 19-92w2b is one of the most significant drill holes in the history of the company,” he said. “I’m confident we will have a steady flow of encouraging news supporting the new interpretation through the [remainder] of the drill campaign.”
The O’Brien Project is located in the central part of Cadillac Township, Abitibi, in the heart of one of the most productive gold mining camps in Canada. The Cadillac Camp boasts over 45 million ounces of gold (produced and in reserves and resources) and three mines which are currently in commercial production.
On Thursday, Radisson shares were up 2.50% or $0.005 to 20.5 cents. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $0.09 and 21 cents.in
O’Brien is Radisson’s flagship project. It hosts the former O’Brien Mine, which is considered to have been the Abitibi Greenstone Belt’s highest-grade producers during its productive years from 1926 to 1957. During those years, it produced 1.19 million tonnes at 15.25 g/t gold or 587,121 ounces of gold.
Radisson recently filed a technical report containing a new resource estimate for the O’Brien Project. Using a 5.00 g/t cut-off grade, the project is estimated to contain an indicated resource of 949,700 tonnes at 9.48 g/t gold, for a total of 289,400 ounces of gold.
On top of that is an inferred resource of 617,400 tonnes at 7.31 g/t gold, for a total of 145,000 ounces of gold.
The current mineral resource area is only defined to a depth of 550 metres. Two historical drill intercepts have returned 17.46 g/t gold over 1.00 metre and 13.68 g/t gold over 0.32 metres below a depth of 1,000 metres. Other mines in the area have exceeded depths well below 1,000 metres.
Radisson said the current mineral resource area is adjacent to the old O’Brien Mine, where historic production reached a vertical depth of 1,100 metres. It remains untested below that depth.
Meanwhile, Radisson said high-priority resource expansion and exploration drill targets have been defined in the vertical extension of the 36E and F Zones, infill targets and in the vertical extension of the Kewagama Zone, the Vintage Zone, and near surface in the O’Brien West area.
The company said two drill rigs are now on site and running with approximately 20,000 metres to be completed by the end of January, 2020. Radisson is working on increasing property-wide resources by targeting the vertical extension below the 36E, F and Kewagama ones, and by further testing the Vintage Zone.
The new litho-structural model also unlocked exploration targets on O’Brien West, located a few metres west of the old O’Brien Mine.
Part of Radisson’s strategy also includes infill drilling within volumes of high-grade inferred resource material where a potential for resource type conversion exists.