Matador Mining identifies high-grade anomalies from till sampling at Cape Ray gold project
Auteco Minerals will acquire up to 80% of the Pickle Crow gold project, which historically produced 1.5Moz gold at 16g/t gold.
Matador Mining (ASX: MZZ) has identified eight new high-tenor gold grain anomalies in the western side of the Malachite structural target area within its Cape Ray gold project in Canada.
Results from an extensive till sampling program completed late last year recovered 336 gold grains south of the Cape Ray Shear Zone (CRSZ).
One sample collected 470 metres from the zone contained 76 pristine gold grains, indicating the sample was taken close to the gold source.
The Malachite area is situated in the centre of Matador’s 120-kilometre-long Cape Ray Shear tenement package, on the largest structural bend along a mineral corridor which hosts a 4.8 million ounce resource owned by Toronto-listed Marathon Gold.
The area is geologically-complex, with a large array of interpreted faults and shear zones splaying off the CRSZ and wrapping around multiple intrusions and other prospective host rocks.
Till sampling program
Matador’s till sampling program covered an area of 15km by 4km at Malachite, which is an area larger than that which hosts Marathon’s 4.8Moz Valentine Lake project to the north.
The Malachite structures were revealed through a detailed magnetic survey last year with data received and interpreted by year end.
Managing director and chief executive officer Sam Pazuki said the samples confirm the area’s prospectivity.
“Finding gold grains in these numbers and with so many in pristine condition is highly encouraging and suggests we could have gold-bearing structures in bedrock very close to the sample location,” he said.
“The Malachite area is underexplored with no drilling to date and only a fraction of the area sampled … our summer exploration program will include extensive field work at Malachite to identify specific areas to drill.”
Total anomalies
A total of 17 high-tenor gold grain anomalies have now been identified at Malachite, including 716 gold grain samples from nine anomalies reported in April.
It included 607 pristine grains indicating the sample was more than likely taken less than 100m from the basement gold source and proximal to the junction of second and third order fault splays 2.9km north of the CRSZ.
Largest tenement package
Matador has one of the largest tenement packages in Newfoundland and the geochemical anomalies identified at Malachite have been a primary driver for the company’s recent decision to test the greater potential of this multi-million-ounce gold belt.
Newfoundland remains one of most underexplored tier one jurisdictions globally and Mr Pazuki said Matador is well positioned to make new discoveries on the island’s largest and most highly-endowed gold structure.