Matador Mining increases acreage at Cape Ray gold project
Matador Mining says the new claims consolidate the company’s position along the Cape Ray Shear Zone.
Junior explorer Matador Mining (ASX: MZZ) has increased the size of its Cape Ray gold project in Newfoundland by 62 square kilometres (or 6%) to boost its total landholding in the area to 1,033sq km.
The company has staked a series of new claims immediately adjacent to its existing tenements and located north of the Bunker Hill target area.
They are close to where the multi-million-ounce Cape Ray Shear Zone (CRSZ) intersects with the second richest gold structure on the Canadian island, which passes through Matador’s Hermitage project and continues through New Found Gold’s Queensway project.
Prospective elements
The new package presents multiple prospective elements including highly anomalous historic lake sediments coincident with the projection of second order faults and shears splaying off the largest regional flexure in the CRSZ.
Silver, lead and zinc values are believed to be in the top 3% of all lake sediment anomalies in Newfoundland, and are considered to be key gold pathfinder elements in the zone.
Also included are fault splays coincident with a VTEM (versatile time domain electromagnetic) survey conductivity anomaly immediately south of the historic sediments.
They comprise anomalous silver, copper, lead and zinc assays completed in the 1980s by the Newfoundland government and correspond with the lake sediment anomaly.
Consolidating acreage
Chief geologist Warren Potma said the new claims consolidate Matador’s acreage along the highly-prospective CRSZ structural target.
“These newly staked claims are adjacent to our existing tenements and located on the largest regional bend in the CRSZ … structural bends and intersections in gold-rich fault zones are key factors used in the targeting of major gold deposits,” he said.
“They have never been drilled and have limited, if any, systematic surface sampling … they present an incredible greenfield gold discovery opportunity for us in the significantly underexplored Newfoundland region.”
Scoping study
A scoping study released in 2020 showed that high-grade, shallow open pit mineralisation could drive strong production and robust economic returns at Cape Ray.
The study outlined an initial potential seven-year mine life, with a forecast 51% (post-tax) internal rate of return, rapid payback within 1.75 years, and life-of-mine all-in-sustaining-costs of approximately $1117 per ounce gold.
Matador is currently undertaking exploration across the Cape Ray tenements, targeting brownfield expansion and greenfields exploration.