First Mining announces initial 2024 Duparquet Exploration Drilling Results
First Mining Gold Corp. (“First Mining” or the “Company”) (TSX: FF) (OTCQX: FFMGF) (FRANKFURT: FMG) is pleased to announce initial drilling results from the 2024 Phase 2B winter diamond drilling program at its Duparquet Gold Project (“Duparquet Project” or the “Project”) located in Quebec, Canada. The results reported from the winter drill program include targeted exploration areas of the North Zone which forms a foundational part of the Project’s gold resource, as well as discovery-level drilling of the Rex Target, an important exploration trend immediately north of the current resource.
Highlights include drill hole DUP24-018 returning 3.11 g/t Au over 13.16m, and hole DUP24-019 returning 3.07 g/t Au over 10.32m and 3.19 g/t over 4.53m. These results, coupled with additional holes through the winter program, continue to support ongoing testing and delineation of deeper mineralization trends at the North Zone target areas of the Duparquet deposit.
“These initial results from our winter program are encouraging and continue to demonstrate the upside potential at the Duparquet Gold Project,” stated Dan Wilton, CEO of First Mining. “These results demonstrate the strong continuity of higher-grade mineralization at Duparquet, and the near-surface high grade open pit potential at this past-producing mine. We continue to leverage our integrated geoscience model as we build resource and exploration confidence at the Project. Follow-up programs are underway, and we are excited to increase our exploration activity in the heart of the prolific Abitibi gold belt.”
The Phase 2 winter program commenced in February 2024 and included a seven-hole, 2,856 m drill program. First Mining’s 2024 winter exploration strategy aimed to explore plunge controls in several key mineralization trends, further supporting additional resource growth through grade optimization and depth extension. Drill holes DUP24-018 and DUP24-019 were successful in the intended approach, with intersections of significant gold mineralization consistent with the higher-grade trends that were targeted. Further assay results from the winter drilling are pending and are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
A plan map of the select Phase 2B winter exploration targets and drillhole locations are presented in Figure 1, and assay highlights of the initial holes from the 2024 Phase 2B drill program are presented in Table 1, with full assay results returned listed in Table 2 and drill hole locations included in Table 3.
Figure 1: Plan view of select drill holes within the North Zone and Rex Target Zone
Additional Details on Drilling Results at the North Zone and Rex Target Zone
The North Zone drilling strategy is focused on targeting strike extension opportunities as well as drill testing multiple deeper, higher-grade trends that support an extension down-plunge. The North Zone mineralization is hosted within porphyritic syenite with strong sericite and silica alteration, with higher grades being returned in zones with increased alteration, 2-5% sulphides, quartz carbonate veining, and brecciation associated with sheared contacts (Figure 2). The increased alteration and veining are spatially coincident with project modelling associated with D2 high strain zones that are interpreted splay shear zones from the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone.
Figure 2: Representative core sample from the North Zone, highlighting alteration and veining.
Drill hole DUP24-018 (Figure 3) was drilled across the mineralized shear zone at the northern contact of the Beattie syenite body and returned multiple intercepts of significant gold values. Highlights from the main mineralized shear zone include 20 g/t Au over 0.69 m at 144 to 144.69 m and 0.94 g/t Au over 3.78 m at 149.22 to 153 m that is hosted within a strong sheared and silica-altered basalt, and 3.11 g/t Au over 13.16 m at 175.52 to 188.68 m that is hosted within highly sheared and altered porphyritic syenite unit. This main zone has been characterized as a higher-grade area that is interpreted to have a strong potential for continuity down-plunge. First Mining has undertaken a systematic approach to explore this and a number of similar trends that will build further confidence in targeting drill extensions to depth in an effort to expand the mineral resource.
Additionally, further downhole within drill hole DUP24-018, several significant intercepts occur at 376.47-377.0 m which returned 11.70 g/t Au over 0.53 m, and at 385.82 - 399.97 m which returned 1.53 g/t Au over 14.15 m, including 17.70 g/t Au over 0.50 m from 393.74 - 394.24 m. These intercepts are all hosted within the syenite, and mineralization is associated with shearing, brecciation, and zones of silica and sericite alteration, increased veining and up to 1% disseminated pyrite. The Duparquet Project continues to demonstrate excellent mineralization continuity down-dip and along strike through these mineralization zones, trending both within and at the contact with syenite(s).
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