Latest Drill Results From The Berry Zone
TORONTO - Marathon Gold Corporation reported additional drill results from recent exploration drilling at the Valentine Gold Project, central Newfoundland. These latest results represent fire assay data from sixteen drill holes located within the 1.5 kilometer long Berry Zone. Highlights include: VL-20-915 intersected 1.85 g/t Au over 95 meters including 24.69 g/t Au over 1 meter, 21.12 g/t Au over 1 meter and 11.22 g/t Au over 1 meter; VL-20-922 intersected 2.32 g/t Au over 68 meters including 45.78 g/t Au over 1 meter, and 2.38 g/t Au over 41 meters including 31.46 g/t Au over 1 meter and 19.91 g/t Au over 1 meter; VL-20-919 intersected 12.80 g/t Au over 14 meters including 91.01 g/t Au over 1 meter and 37.83 g/t Au over 1 meter; VL-20-918 intersected 7.42 g/t Au over 12 meters including 70.09 g/t Au over 1 meter; VL-20-916 intersected 2.51 g/t Au over 26 meters including 33.94 g/t Au over 1 meter and 12.19 g/t Au over 1 meter; VL-20-909 intersected 10.85 g/t Au over 4 meters including 35.73 g/t Au over 1 meter; and VL-20-920 intersected 4.44 g/t Au over 7 meters including 10.82 g/t Au over 1 meter and 10.49 g/t Au over 1 meter; and All quoted intersections comprise uncut gold assays in core lengths.
Matt Manson, President & CEO, said “The fire assay results from the Valentine Gold Project represent additional long and high-grade intercepts both from within the infill drill area at the Berry Zone and from the Frozen Ear Pond Road area further to the northeast. The results from our 2020 exploration drilling have demonstrated the potential for further resource growth at the Project, with the 1.5 kilometer long Berry Zone emerging as an important new area of concentrated gold mineralization. Fire assay results from the final twenty-nine holes drilled in 2020, representing 6,056 metres, are expected to be received shortly and will be released through the end of January. A first mineral resource estimate for Berry is expected toward the end of Q1 2021. In the meantime, we expect to recommence exploration activities at Valentine shortly after our year-end break, with a continued focus on the Berry Zone and other areas of potential new discovery. Details of our 2021 exploration program will be released prior to the end of the month.”
Gold mineralization at the Valentine Gold Project is contained predominantly within shallowly southwest dipping, en-echelon stacked Quartz-Tourmaline-Pyrite-Gold (“QTP-Au”) veins. At the Leprechaun and Marathon Deposits, as well as at the new Berry Zone, these QTP-Au veins form densely stacked and northwest plunging “Main Zone” envelopes within intrusive host rocks on the hanging wall (northwest) side of the Valentine Lake Shear Zone. The extent of mineralization appears related to the size and frequency of sheared mafic dykes which extend northeast-southwest within the hanging wall, parallel to the shear zone. Exploration drilling is generally undertaken in two orientations: down steeply towards the northwest at a high angle to the individual veins and down-plunge of the Main Zone stacking, or obliquely towards the southeast sub-parallel to the individual veins and across the strike of Main Zone mineralization.
The results released are derived from eleven drillholes located within the Berry infill drilling area between sections 13350E and 14000E, and an additional five drillholes in the FEP Road area between sections 14800E and 14870E. Overall, nine holes were oriented steeply down to the northwest testing for Main Zone type stacked QTP-Au mineralization close to the Valentine Lake Shear Zone (VL-20-904, 912, 915, 916, 918, 919, 920, 922 and 923). Four holes were oriented steeply down to the northwest within hanging wall rocks but at a greater distance from the shear zone contact (VL-20-910, 914, 917 and 921). One hole was oriented to the southeast from the hanging wall toward the footwall contact (VL-20-909). Finally, two holes were located south of the shear zone contact within footwall meta-sedimentary rocks and were terminated early (VL-20-911 and 913). Twelve of the sixteen drillholes returned “significant” drill intersections of greater than 0.7 g/t Au (Table 1). A further two drillholes returned additional intersections with gold grades above the 0.3 g/t Au cut-off used in the January 2020 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Project. Two drillholes did not intersect mineralization.