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Spectacular gold intercepts for KL Gold at Macassa

Oct 20, 2020


Spectacular. Unreal. Those are just two of the adjectives being used to describe Kirkland Lake Gold's drill intercepts at its flagship Macassa Mine.

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. has reported new results from 135 holes (47,683 m) of underground exploration. Holes in the program were completed from platforms located on the 5300, 5600 and 5700 levels and designed mainly to confirm and extend resources within the SMC, LSMC and Amalgamated zones. Resources within the Amalgamated Zone consist of a series of mineralized lenses first identified by drilling in 2019 which are located on the south side of the SMC and adjacent to the Amalgamated Break.

“Today’s results are encouraging as they support our view that there is substantial exploration potential in areas where the dip of the SMC approaches the contact with mineralized zones stacked vertically along the Amalgamated Break," said Tony Makuch, President and CEO of Kirkland Lake Gold.

"These are separate areas of gold mineralization coming together, which is very interesting, and what we are seeing are some extremely high-grade intersections. The results today also continue to expand the mineralization at depth in the LSMC and identify new areas of high-grade mineralization along the Amalgamated Break, further increasing our confidence that there are new Mineral Reserves to be discovered as we drill along the Break through the Kirkland Lake camp. The new intersections being reported around the SMC and along the Amalgamated Break complement the results we issued in April that identified a large corridor of high-grade mineralization in close proximity to the #4 Shaft location, located at depth along the Main Break below the former mine workings on the Kirkland Minerals property. In combination, our drilling at Macassa this year has been successful in all three key areas of our exploration program: continuing to grow and expand the SMC, confirming the considerable exploration potential of the Amalgamated Break and demonstrating that there are significant ounces yet to be discovered, and mine life to be added, along the historic Main/’04 Break.”   

One of the holes (427 m) completed during the program (57-992) was collared in a platform on the north side of the 5700 Level and drilled in a southwesterly direction to test the margin of the SMC (see Figures 1 and 2). The hole was highly successful intersecting 253.7 gpt over 14.5 mincluding 1,572.9 gpt over 0.6 m, 1,313.5 gpt over 0.3 m and 1,265.1 gpt over 0.6 m near the planned target location and slightly below the current Mineral Reserve for the SMC. The new intercept is also located between 9 and 39 m west of three previously unreported intercepts from the SMC including 101.1 gpt over 4.1 m from 57-704, 100.1 gpt over 2.0 m from 57-689 and 37.7 gpt over 3.6 m from 57-703, as well as four additional high-grade intercepts located immediately north of the Amalgamated Break. One of these four Amalgamated Zone intercepts is a new result and included 68.2 gpt over 2.3 m from 53-3053while the other three intercepts had been previously reported (see press release dated May 2, 2019) and included 429.1 gptover 3.3 m from 57-704, 164.8 gpt over 3.0 m from 57-689 and 26.7 gpt over 2.0 m from 57-703. Current interpretations for this part of the mine suggest that the new and previously unreported intercepts occur where the shallow southward dipping SMC begins to intersect steeply north dipping zones adjacent to the Amalgamated Break resulting in a broad zone of alteration containing multiple high-grade structures containing between 1 and 5% pyrite and local visible gold. Due to the complexity of mineralization in the vicinity of new intercept, the true width cannot be definitively established at this time, but is estimated to be between 5 and 10 m. The area to the west and to depth of the new intersection remains open for testing for at least another 25 to 30 m.  

A total of 54 of the new holes (22,204 m) of drilling from the new program were drilled northwards from platforms on the 5300 and 5700 levels and were designed to infill and expand inferred Mineral Resources near the west limit of the LSMC (Figure 3). Key intercepts from the drilling include 33.3 gpt over 2.0 m, including 177.6 gpt over 0.4 m, from 53-4114, 32.1 gpt over 2.0 m, 22.0 gpt over 3.2 m and 20.2 gpt over 2.0 m from 53-4116A, 31.8 gpt over 2.0 m from 53-4120, 24.6 gpt over 2.1 m from 53-4118, and 19.3 gpt over 3.2 m and 22.8 gpt over 2.0 m from 53-4162, which are from holes targeting inferred Mineral Resources and untested gaps in drill information on the upper west side of the LSMC. Additional key intercepts from this area include 103.3 gpt over 2.4 m, including 542.0 gpt over 0.3 m, from 57-90358.9 gpt over 2.2 m from 57-87949.5 gpt over 4.3 m, including 164.9 gpt over 1.2 m, from hole 57-975 and 41.2 gpt over 2.0 m and 38.0 gpt over 2.1 m from 57-976These intersections are from holes designed to infill and expand inferred Mineral Resources on the lower west portion of the LSMC structure. Considering the results achieved and the fact that the area immediately to the west of the new holes remains largely untested, the potential to add new Mineral Resources with further drilling is considered excellent.   

An additional 80 holes (47,688 m) of drilling from the new program were drilled southwards from platforms on the 5300, 5600 and 5700 levels to confirm and expand current inferred Mineral Resources within the Amalgamated Zone near the current west limit on the 5300 Level (Figure 4). Significant results from the drilling include 11.0 gpt over 2.4 m from 53-4040, which was drilled near the top of the current Mineral Resource, as well as 210.4 gpt over 8.2 m, including 463.0 gpt over 3.7 m, from 53-4033, 52.9 gpt over 2.0 m, including 172.3 gpt over 0.6 mfrom 53-4041 and 35.4 gpt over 2.0 m from 53-4045, which were drilled 50 to 60 m up dip.

Additional significant results include 48.2 gpt over 2.0 m, including 317.6 gpt over 0.3 mfrom 57-900, 20.2 gpt over 2.1 m from 57-902, 13.5 gpt over 3.0 m from 57-895 and 13.2 gpt over 2.0 m from 57-975, which were drilled mainly to infill an untested gap in the east part of the current inferred Mineral Resource, as well as 8.3 gpt over 9.0 m from 56-777, 14.4 gpt over 2.4 m from 53-4027 and 12.9 gpt over 2.0 m from 53-4039, which were drilled near the west edge of the current Mineral Resource and extending mineralization by another 25 m.

Based on the latest results, and the large areas remaining to be tested along strike and dip, the potential to identify new areas of high-grade mineralization along the Amalgamated Break remains excellent.

Exploration drilling at Macassa is currently continuing with nine drills underground and one drill on surface. Drilling over the balance of the year will remain focused on testing the SMC and Amalgamated Zones. 



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