Monarch confirms continuity of High-Grade zones at depth on its Beaufor Property
MONARCH MINING CORPORATION has announced additional results from its 2020/2021 42,500-metre exploration diamond drilling program on its wholly-owned Beaufor Mine gold project, located 20 kilometres east of Val-d’Or. The results include several high-grade assays, including 106.0 g/t Au over 0.5 m, 32.6 g/t Au over 1.0 m and 56.91 g/t Au over 0.7 m, as Monarch continues to test for potential resources in proximity to the historical mine.
The Beaufor Mine initially began commercial production in the early 1930s and over the years has produced over 1.1 million ounces of gold. The mine is currently on care and maintenance, which has given Monarch an opportunity to drill-test targets throughout the mine area. In June 2020, the Corporation initiated a 42,500-metre diamond drilling program to test two types of targets: the areas around historical high-grade intersections near the existing underground infrastructure, and isolated resource blocks, which are typically defined by a single drill intersection. Both of these “near-mine” targets can often be tested from the existing underground workings, generally by holes less than 200 metres long. Currently, 275 holes are planned or are already being drilled at 25-metre centres. If positive results are received, additional holes will be drilled to allow the zones in question to be converted into reserves and included in a future mine plan.
Assay results have been received for a total of 206 holes (24,405 m), representing roughly 57% of the planned metres of drilling. High-grade results previously reported from the program included 783 g/t Au over 0.2 m and 293 g/t Au over 0.5 m (see press release dated October 1, 2020), 35.87 g/t Au over 9.8 m (see press release dated January 19, 2021), 187 g/t Au over 0.5 m and 151.5 g/t Au over 0.5 m (see press release dated April 29, 2021), and 119.0 g/t Au over 0.5 m, 56.1 g/t Au over 0.8 m and 45.6 g/t Au over 0.75 m (see press release dated July 7, 2021).
Since the last reported results, the Corporation has drilled 36 additional underground exploration holes (4,308 m). The best results are shown in Table 2 below and holes BEU-21-30-051 and BEU-21-30-055 are shown in the attached figure. Several of the holes have multiple intersections due to the stacked nature of the mineralization. The intersection widths reported are core lengths and high-grade intersections have not been capped.
Near-mine exploration drilling is ongoing, with four drill rigs underground. The focus remains high-grade composites that are open along strike and existing resource blocks that contain sufficient room for expansion. The Corporation is also pleased to announce that drilling from the exploration drift at the lowest level of the mine has confirmed the continuity at depth of previously mined zones. Drilling in this area will continue to identify additional mineral resources.
The BBA Inc. mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Beaufor Mine was completed in August 2021. This new resource estimate incorporates much of the current 2020-2021 drilling program and represents the first resource estimate completed using a 3D block model for the Beaufor Mine.
“The results of this phase of drilling at depth have confirmed the continuity of the Q gold zone at depth, as well as new intervals in the S gold zone, located approximately 100 metres below the Q zone,” said Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and Chief Executive Officer of Monarch. “Although preliminary, this drilling appears to demonstrate that the Beaufor Mine remains open at depth and continues to have excellent discovery potential, hence the possibility of increasing the mine's resources.”
Sampling consists of sawing the drill core into equal halves along its main axis and shipping one of the halves to ALS Canada in Val-d’Or, Quebec, and AGAT Laboratories in Mississauga, Ontario, for assaying. The samples are crushed, pulverized and assayed by fire assay, with atomic absorption finish. Samples exceeding 10.0 g/t Au are re-assayed using the gravity method and samples containing visible gold are assayed using the metallic screen method. Monarch uses a comprehensive QA/QC protocol, including the insertion of standards, blanks and duplicates.
About Beaufor
The Beaufor Mine is located within the Bourlamaque Batholith at the eastern contact with the Dubuisson Formation. The Bourlamaque Batholith, a synvolcanic intrusion, is a major geological feature of the Val-d’Or mining camp. It is a quartziferous granodiorite cut by fine-grained diorite dykes. Gold mineralization occurs in veins associated with shear zones dipping moderately south. Mineralization is associated with quartz-tourmaline-pyrite veins resulting from the filling of shear and extension fractures. Gold-bearing veins show a close association with mafic dykes intruding the granodiorite. A National Instrument 43-101 resource estimate for the Beaufor Mine property was prepared for Monarch Mining in August 2021 by Charlotte Athurion, P. Geo, BBA Inc.
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