Mining

Matador Mining releases maiden resource figures for Cape Ray gold project

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By Imelda Cotton - 

The Cape Ray gold project has delivered a maiden indicated and inferred JORC (2012) compliant resource of 750,000oz gold and 2,700,000oz silver.

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Exploration junior Matador Mining (ASX: MZZ) has delivered a maiden JORC resource at its flagship Cape Ray gold project located in Canada’s emerging Newfoundland mining district.

The company has reported an indicated and inferred resource of 13.3 million tonnes at 1.7 grams per tonne gold and 2.7g/t silver, for 750,000 ounces gold and 2.7 million ounces silver, open in all directions with significant scope for quick expansion on strike and at depth.

An indicated 423,000oz gold at 2g/t makes up around 56% of the maiden resource.

A higher grade component of 3.3mt at 4.0g/t for 421,000oz gold also exists, utilising a higher 2g/t cutoff grade.

Matador said additional mineralisation identified in sampling of unassayed historical core has not been included in the current resource figures.

Mining-friendly region

The Cape Ray gold project lies within the underexplored Cape Ray Shear Zone gold belt which transects the mining-friendly island of Newfoundland over a strike length of 200km.

Referred to as Canada’s “forgotten mining province”, the region is considered a heavily-endowed virgin gold province with limited large-scale exploration conducted since its discovery in 1977 by Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO).

Matador controls 65km of the Cape Ray Shear Zone, of which approximately 60km remains undrilled, with significant gold occurrences across the entire length of strike.

The company believes there is “exciting potential” in 4.5km of continuous high-grade mineralisation at the centre of the project, which has an average historical drill depth limited to 120 metres.

Six known gold deposits – Zones 04, 41, 51, Window Glass Hill, Isle aux Mort and Big Pond – have been drill-tested by Matador to date over a strike length of 15km, comprising 560 diamond core holes for a total of 85,000m drilling.

Upcoming drill campaign

Matador managing director Paul Criddle said Cape Ray’s maiden resource is a significant milestone for the project and will drive an upcoming 4000m campaign designed to further drill-test the shear zone.

Specifically, the campaign will target the down plunge extent of existing deposits, test the close-to-surface H and PW Zone prospects, and aim to expand early-stage resources at Isle aux Mort and Big Pond.

“Having 56% of this resource base [in the indicated category] positions us to further grow the resource with confidence as we progress towards developing a world class mineral province,” Mr Criddle said.

Matador’s upcoming drill program will help the company create a greater understanding of the geological model, identify new mineralised zones and potentially increase the size of the global resource at Cape Ray.

At midday, shares in Matador Mining were trading 6.45% higher at $0.330.