Argonaut Gold Drills High-Grade Intercept of 6.0 Metres at 8.31 g/t at Magino; Phase Two Magino Drill Program Shows Promising Continuity Between High-Grade Intercepts in the Elbow Zone, including 20.0 Metres at 4.58 g/t Gold

TORONTO, July 28, 2020 /CNW/ - Argonaut Gold Inc. (TSX: AR) (the "Company", "Argonaut Gold" or "Argonaut") is pleased to announce drill results from Phase Two of its drill campaign specifically targeting high-grade mineralization below the proposed pit at its 100% owned Magino property in Ontario, Canada, including 6.0 metres at 8.31 g/t Au, 1.0 metre of 48.50 g/t Au and 2.0 metres at 25.88 g/t Au.

 

The Phase Two program has focused on tightening drill spacing around high-grade intercepts encountered during the Phase One program at both the Elbow Zone and Central Zone.  The results in this press release are from the Elbow Zone and the Company anticipates reporting results from the Central Zone once all assays have been received (Figure 1).  To date, the Company has completed 54 diamond drill holes, including six (6) wedge holes, for a total of 34,852 metres of drilling in the Phase One and Phase Two programs.

 

The Phase One program discovered a number of high-grade veins over a widely spaced area beneath and adjacent to the Magino gold reserve.  Drill spacing in this initial phase was up to 400 metres between holes and reached vertical depths up to 1,000 metres. Phase Two of the program utilized structural modeling from oriented core and optical televiewer measurements to focus on defining gold continuity within the high-grade shoots.  In general, holes were designed to offset Phase One high-grade intercepts by approximately 40 metres.  Results to date show promising gold grade continuity in the upper and deep portions of the Elbow Zone.

 

Recent highlights include:

 

 

Pete Dougherty, President and CEO stated: "We continue to intersect high-grade gold and more importantly, we are seeing promising high-grade continuity within the Elbow Zone where we have now tightened drill spacing averaging between 40 metres and 50 metres in two areas.  We are anxiously awaiting results from Phase Two drilling in the Central Zone where, like results from the Elbow Zone, we continue to encounter visible gold."

 

All Elbow Zone drill results as well as maps and sections are available on the Company's website at https://www.argonautgold.com/English/assets/drill-results/default.aspx

 

A detailed structural analysis was incorporated into the vein model for the Elbow Zone, where three veins contain high-grade gold mineralization.  Normal and wedge drilling was then implemented to complete close-spaced offsets, nominally 40 metres, around three high-grade zones intersected in Phase One (Figures 1 and 2).

 

In the upper Elbow Zone, four additional holes were completed to test continuity around MA19-016 that returned 9.63 g/t Au over 14.0 m.  A total of ten (10) holes have now been completed in Phases One and Two around hole 16 (Figure 3).  All have intercepted significant gold values over estimated true widths (ETW) of 4.0 m to 15.0 m (Figure 3). High-grade values show good continuity throughout the zone as illustrated by hole MA20-041A which returned 4.86 g/t Au over 16.0 m core length, including a higher-grade portion running 14.09 g/t Au over 4.0 m and MA20-039 which returned 5.49 g/t Au over 6.0 m including 13.86 g/t Au over 2.0 m. Table 1 lists other significant intercepts.

 

A second area of continuity drill testing focused on the deeper part of the Elbow Zone to a vertical depth over 900 m from surface (Figure 4).  The deepest hole to date, MA20-026A, returned 7.84 g/t Au over 7.0 m (984.0 to 991.0 m with an ETW of 5.60 m) including a higher-grade intercept of 47.8 g/t Au over 1.0 m (985.0 to 986.0m).  Four (4) wedge holes were drilled to test the continuity of gold mineralization at these depths at an average hole spacing of 40 m.  All four hit mineralization including 8.67 g/t Au over 4.25 m in MA20-026AW1 and 7.01 g/t Au over 3.0 m in MA20-026W5. This mineralization remains open at depth.

 

Phase Two drilling is nearing completion within the Elbow Zone, with a series of offset holes in progress around MA19-020 (10.59 g/t Au over 4.95 m) establishing a third continuity test zone. This zone is about 650 m deep and lies approximately halfway between the continuity tests noted above around MA19-016 (Figure 3) and MA20-026A (Figure 4), thus giving three sequentially deeper continuity drill tests starting from the bottom of the proposed Magino ultimate pit to a vertical depth of over 1000 m.

 

Brian Arkell, Vice President Exploration stated: "I'm very encouraged with the grade and continuity from an underground mining standpoint.  We've drilled a diamond pattern at approximately 30 to 50 metre spacing around MA19-016 from the Phase One program, which returned 14.0 metres at 9.63 g/t Au, and have consistently hit the zone with high-grade mineralization in each of the surrounding holes.  Approximately 450 metres below this, our second infill pattern around hole MA20-26 showed similar results with good grade and continuity.  We are finalizing a third pattern on the Elbow Zone and have shifted one drill to the Central Zone offsetting Phase One intercept MA19-012, which returned 18.1 metres of 8.31 g/t Au.  We are looking forward to receiving and publishing these results, as initial results indicate the Central Zone will demonstrate similar continuity based on what we see visually in the drill core." 

 

FIGURE 1: Plan Map of Magino showing Phase 2 drill holes 

 

 

FIGURE 2: Long Section of Elbow Zone showing Phase 1 (dark stars) and Phase 2 drilling (red stars) discussed herein and other 10+ g/t Au drill hole intercepts (red dots). Inset boxes illustrate locations of Figures 3 and 4. Looking North.

 

 

FIGURE 3: Close-up longitudinal section showing high grade zone and offset drill holes around MA19-016 

 

 

FIGURE 4: Longitudinal section showing high grade zone and offset drill holes around MA20-026A. Top of this section starts about 200m below Figure 3.

 

 

About Argonaut Gold

 

Argonaut Gold is a Canadian gold company engaged in exploration, mine development and production.  Its primary assets are the El Castillo mine and San Agustin mine, which together form the El Castillo Complex in Durango, Mexico, the La Colorada mine in Sonora, Mexico and the Florida Canyon mine in Nevada, USA.  Advanced exploration projects include the Magino project in Ontario, Canada, the Cerro del Gallo project in Guanajuato, Mexico and the Ana Paula project in Guerrero, Mexico.  The Company continues to hold the San Antonio advanced exploration project in Baja California Sur, Mexico and several other exploration stage projects, all of which are located in North America.

 

For more information, contact:         

 

Argonaut Gold Inc.

Dan Symons

Vice President, Investor Relations

PHone:  416-915-3107

Email: dan.symons@argonautgold.com