Sixty North completes phase 1 of opening Mon mine, Northwest Territories
Sixty North Gold Mining Ltd. [SXTY-CSE; SXNTF-OTC] successfully completed the first phase of opening the high-grade Mon gold mine, located 45 km north of Yellowknife in the prolific Yellowknife gold belt, Northwest Territories.
The company opened the North Portal and rehabilitated 125 metres of ramp, exposing three sections of the high-grade A-Zone vein. One exposure is 17 metres below the West Stope, and the other exposures are 30 to 57 metres north of the West Stope.
The vein exposed at elevation 212 metres AMSL, is 17 metres below the West Stope (from which former operators extracted an estimated 12,000 tonnes at 30 g/t gold from elevation 228 metres to 241 metres AMSL). A 0.2 and 0.5-metre wide quartz vein is exposed at the ends of an open stope. Visible gold, together with the favourable suite of pathfinder sulphides have been observed in samples.
A second vein exposure is located 30 metres north of the first exposure where a 1.5-metres quartz vein is exposed for 8 metres in a subdrift at elevation 229 metres AMSL (sill elevation of West Stope).
The third vein exposure is 20 metres north of the above described exposure; a one-metre wide banded quartz vein with pinch and swell features was encountered in a short cross cut at elevation 232 metres AMSL and was sampled.
Dr. Dave Webb, President and CEO, said, “The company has completed the program designed to confirm the vein location, and its extension to depth below the old stopes. The deeper stope (North Stope) had not been documented, but an estimated 1,100 tonnes of material was extracted by previous operators leaving a seven metre crown pillar, confirming the thesis of the company that economically recoverable gold mineralization can be found beneath the historic stopes. Also undocumented is that the previous operators had driven a ramp for a further 30 m to the south prior to halting activities in the 1990’s.
Approximately two tonnes of vein were extracted by the company, samples have been collected and are being submitted for assays and further metallurgical testing, with results expected in six to eight weeks. Additional environmental samples have been collected to provide supporting characterization of the waste rock.”
The company has shut down operations on site for 2021 and plans to construct a winter road to mobilize supplies to the property in March 2022 to enable continued development of the A-Zone, with the next phase including further ramp extension, additional crosscuts into the mineralization, raises and stope development.
Sixty North is focused on bringing its Mon Mine back into production. The Mon Mine produced 15,000 ounces of gold from 15,000 tonnes of ore between 1989 and 1997, operating on a seasonal basis to a depth of 15 metres below surface. Permits to mine and mill at 100 tpd are in place, making the Mon Mine the only gold project permitted for production in the NWT. The company is currently working to develop the second level below the historic stopes to commence mining.
Other targets on the property include recently discovered silver- and gold-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) targets as well as shear zone-hosted gold mineralization.
The company also has an option to acquire a 100% interest in the prospective and contiguous 2,394-hectare Hangstone property adjoining the Mon property to the east and south.