Bonterra Intersects more gold at 100% owned Desmaraisville South Project

Bonterra Resources Inc. is pleased to announce the results from its 15,000 meters ("m") drill program at its 100% owned Desmaraisville South project. The purpose of the program was to test several new geological and geophysical targets along with historical near-surface gold mineralization along the edges of the O'Brien Syenite Intrusion and to identify the location of a regional corridor of deformation located north of the property.

The diamond drilling was conducted within four kilometers ("km") of the Bachelor Mill Complex. To date, Bonterra has received all assay results, including QA-QC samples, from the 57 diamond drill holes completed between August 23 and December 22, 2023. Please refer to press releases dated December 4, 2023, December 14, 2023, and February 5, 2024, for exploration updates on the Desmaraisville North and South projects and the surrounding area.

Highlights Include:

• 1.77 g/t Au over 12.1 m, including 2.33 g/t Au over 7.0 m in hole BRDS-23-043
• 0.61 g/t Au over 11.1 m in hole BRDS-23-033
• 0.80 g/t Au over 5.6 m, including 5.27 g/t Au over 0.5 m in hole BRDS-23-002
• 3.89 g/t Au over 1.0 m in hole BRDS-23-052

Marc-André Pelletier, President and CEO commented: "The drilling campaign at our 100%-owned Desmaraisville property resulted in the interception of several economic gold values and the discovery of new types of mineralization less than four km from the Bachelor Mill. Specifically, a gold intercept in hole BRDS-23-052 led to the discovery of a promising area along the Opawica-Guercheville regional deformation corridor, which hosts multiple gold showings over a 200 km long corridor in the region. Now that all of the results from the 2023 drilling campaign are in hand, our geology team is working on compiling and modeling these results, as well as the results of the 2023 geophysical surveys, to generate prospective drill targets for exploration later this year.

At our Phoenix JV, operated by Osisko Mining Inc., exploration efforts are progressing well, with approximately 6,000 m drilled to date. Currently, three drill rigs are focused on the Barry southwest target, while two are dedicated to the Moss target. As a reminder, the Moss target is located only five km southwest from the Windfall Gold deposit and shows a similar geological character to the Lynx Zone along the Mazères Fault that runs across both the Lynx Zone and the Moss target. Looking ahead, Osisko Mining plans to add a third drill rig at Moss in March, bringing the total operational rigs on the Phoenix JV to six."

Highlights of the Diamond Drilling Results:

The diamond drilling program at the Desmaraisville South project had several objectives. The main objectives were to intersect gold mineralization; (1) on the eastern side of the O'Brien Intrusive ("East Area"), (2) along the extensions of various gold zones discovered in 2015 south of the O'Brien Intrusive ("South Area") and finally, (3) to drill test geophysical targets and historical gold showings west of the Bachelor Lake felsic intrusion ("Bachelor Lake Intrusive").

In addition, the ongoing geological and geophysical compilation work has allowed the company to identify two major gold-bearing structures: the Opawica-Guercheville deformation corridor, which hosts numerous gold showings and deposits that have been the subject of historical resource calculations, and the Lamarck-Wedding Fault, which hosts the former Lake Shortt Gold Mine (Figure 1). 

Figure 1- Desmaraisville South Project - Surface plan view with drilling locations 

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The gold mineralized zone containing 1.77 g/t Au over 12.1 m, including 2.33 g/t Au over 7.0 m in hole BRDS-23-043 (Figure 2, Tables 1 and 2) consists of a strongly silicified and hematized zone with a brecciated texture. The zone contains up to 2% fine grained disseminated pyrite and is bordered at its lower contact by a fault zone. 

The gold mineralized intersection in hole BRDS-23-033, which returned 0.61 g/t Au over 11.1 m, correspond to the up-dip projection of the intersection in hole BRDS-23-043. This gold mineralized zone comes to surface and is located 160 m to the west from the mineralized intersection in BRDS-23-043. The gold mineralization is hosted in the same basalt and brecciated and altered zone than hole BRDS-23-043 and is also bordered by a major fault at its lower contact (Figure 2, Tables 1 and 2).

BRDS-23-002 intersected a brecciated and highly silicified zone in a massive basalt. The zone is locally hematized and contains up to 2% fine grained disseminated pyrite and returned several gold intersections (Figure 2, Tables 1 and 2).

Figure 2 - Plan View of the South Area of the O'Brien Intrusive with Best Results

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Finally, an exploration drill hole located North of the Bachelor Mill Complex, BRDS-23-052, tested the interpretated Opawica-Guercheville corridor of deformation and has returned a gold mineralized intersection containing 3.89 g/t Au over 1.0 m. The mineralized intersection consists of a strongly sericitized and sheared sedimentary unit with deformed quartz-carbonate veins and veinlets with traces of pyrite. Bonterra believes that the hole did not go across the entire corridor of deformation (Figure 3, Tables 1 and 2). Further drilling is warranted in this area to better evaluate the gold potential of the Opawica-Guercheville corridor of deformation. 

Figure 3 - Plan View of the Northeast Area of the Desmaraisville South Project

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