TMAC Provides an Update on 2018 Exploration Activity; Drilling Continues to Intersect High-Grade Gold over Significant Widths at Both Doris and Madrid North
Press Release
TORONTO—- TMAC Resources Inc. (TSX: TMR) (“TMAC” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an update on exploration activities and results from the 2018 drilling campaigns at both Doris Mine and the Madrid North Deposit, on its 100% owned Hope Bay Project. Drilling at Doris has continued to upgrade confidence in and expand on the high grade BTD Extension zone, which remains open to the north. The 2018 drilling at Madrid North has focused on the core of the Naartok West and Naartok East zones, and has confirmed the continuity of both grade and width of mineralization, near surface, which has potential to provide significant high-grade ore early in the Madrid mine plan.
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Figure 1: Doris Deposit Longitudinal Section (Photo: Business Wire)
| Highlights Doris North: | ||||||
|
– TM50156 |
BTD Extension | 11.3 g/t Au over 16.2 metres | ||||
| Including | 26.2 g/t Au over 5.6 metres | |||||
|
– TM50168 |
BTD Extension | 126.5 g/t Au over 0.7 metres | ||||
| And | 38.2 g/t Au over 9.7 metres | |||||
| And | 21.2 g/t Au over 0.8 metres | |||||
|
– TM50172 |
BTD Extension | 16.4 g/t Au over 6.5 metres | ||||
|
– TM50175 |
BTD Extension | 24.2 g/t Au over 10.9 metres | ||||
| And | 57.8 g/t Au over 1.5 metres | |||||
| Highlights Madrid North: | ||||||
|
– TM00381 |
Naartok West | 7.4 g/t Au over 65.7 metres | ||||
| Including | 14.4 g/t Au over 26.1 metres | |||||
|
– TM00392 |
Naartok West | 17.1 g/t Au over 1.5 metres | ||||
| And | 12.6 g/t Au over 15.5 metres | |||||
|
– TM00396 |
Naartok West | 6.6 g/t Au over 42.2 metres | ||||
| Including | 32.9 g/t Au over 5.0 metres | |||||
|
– TM00422 |
Naartok East | 10.4 g/t Au over 9.6 metres | ||||
|
– TM00434 |
Naatok East | 4.9 g/t Au over 29.5 metres | ||||
| Including | 10.9 g/t Au over 10.5 metres | |||||
|
– TM00441 |
Naartok East | 11.0 g/t Au over 12.5 metres |
Jason Neal, Chief Executive Officer of TMAC, stated, “We have had a very successful exploration program in 2018 despite a limited budget. We had prioritized our exploration efforts to focus on Doris BTD and on near surface mineralization at Madrid North. Both drilling programs have continued to return high-grade gold assays and define high margin ore. At Doris BTD, which remains open to the north, we are extending mineralization in areas that are near existing underground development and have the potential to be included in our 2019 mine plan. Also in 2019, we expect to have developed drill platforms to test a further 100 metres of strike length to the north. At Madrid North, the near surface mineralization at Naartok East and Naartok West has the potential to form the early part of any mine, and we are also assessing the potential for ore from Madrid North to be produced in 2019. The Madrid North drilling has been successful in defining the near surface, wide, high-grade core of both Naartok East and Naartok West, and at Naartok East shallow drilling has delivered grade and strike extent materially beyond what was predicted in our current model of the near surface expression.”
Doris North BTD Exploration Drilling
The Doris BTD zone is the equivalent of the high grade Doris North zone, north of and beneath the diabase dyke (Figure 1). The results reported are part of an ongoing drilling program, designed to upgrade and expand the current Doris BTD Inferred Mineral Resource, and are in addition to those reported in the June 2018 news release. The 2017 Doris BTD Inferred Mineral Resource is 200,000 tonnes grading 14.7 g/t Au, containing 94,000 ounces of gold. Results from the 2018 diamond drilling will be incorporated into the year-end Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve statement. Diamond drilling from underground platforms has continued to define the high grade Doris BTD fold structure which remains open to the north. Within the Doris North zone and Doris BTD zone, quartz veins hosting gold mineralization tend to thicken within the hinge of the fold, relative to the veining on the limbs. The west limb, although relatively narrow, commonly contains very high grade gold mineralization (Figure 2). Assay results demonstrating the high grade gold within the west limb of the Doris BTD include TM50199 which intersected 536 g/t Au over 0.4 metres and TM50202 intersecting 176.0 g/t Au over 0.7 metres. Results within the fold hinge include TM50172 grading 16.4 g/t Au over 6.5 metres and TM50175 grading 24.2 g/t Au over 10.9 metres. A summary of the 2018 Doris BTD assay results received since the June news release is provided in Table 1 and drillhole locations are illustrated in Figure 3. Assay intervals reported today are downhole lengths and true widths are estimated to range from 30-90% of downhole lengths. Development of the exploration drive, and diamond drilling will continue through the fourth quarter, and into 2019 as drilling platforms become available. It is anticipated that the Doris BTD zone, once defined by drilling and modelled, will add additional high grade ore to the Doris mineral reserve base and be accessible with minimal development in 2019.
Madrid North Exploration Drilling
The Madrid North Deposit consists of four separate mineralized zones, Naartok West, Naartok East, Rand and Suluk (Figure 4). The 2018 surface diamond drilling is focused on near surface (above 150 metres) infill drilling, to define the continuity of the wide, high-grade core of the Naartok West zone and Naartok East zone. Diamond drilling results reported today are in addition to those results reported in June 2018 and represent the remainder of the 2018 Madrid North drilling results. Drilling at both Naartok West and East, continued to intersect intervals of significant width and gold grade, confirming the previous interpretations and demonstrating continuity within the core of the mineralized zone. Highlights from the Naartok West zone include drillhole TM00381 intersecting 7.4 g/t Au over 65.7 metres including 14.4 g/t Au over 26.1 metres and drillhole TM00396 intersecting 6.6 g/t Au over 42.2 metres. Highlights from the Naartok East zone include drillhole TM00422 which intersected 10.4 g/t Au over 9.6 metres and TM00441 which intersected 11.0 g/t Au over 12.5 metres, including 23.6 g/t Au over 5.4 metres. A summary of the 2018 Naartok West and East assay results received since the June news release is provided in Table 2 and drillhole locations illustrated in Figures 5 and 6. The near surface core of the Naartok West and East zones represent a potential source of high-grade ore, which could potentially be scheduled early in the Madrid North mine plan.
Regional Exploration
Limited regional exploration activity was completed during the 2018 field season, consisting of gold in glacial till sampling and two regional exploration diamond drillholes north of Madrid. The gold in glacial till sampling program was concentrated in the northern portion of the greenstone belt, proximal to the Doris and Madrid infrastructure. A total of 790 samples were collected during the program, adding to the existing data collected in 2016 and 2017, which now covers the majority of the north half of the belt and areas proximal to the Boston camp. Samples are currently being processed and analysed, and the results will assist in the planning and targeting for the 2019 regional exploration drilling program. Regional diamond drilling consisted of two holes drilled approximately 1.5 km and 2.5 km north of the Madrid North Naartok zone, designed to define the geological stratigraphy beneath a wide, covered valley along strike of the Naartok zone. This initial drilling will help to refine 2019 diamond drilling targets north of Naartok.
2019 Exploration Outlook
The 2017 and 2018 exploration programs have been limited, due to the slower than expected ramp up of the Doris processing plant and associated reduced revenue. With the ongoing improvements in the Doris plant, and recently completed flow-through financing, exploration activity will increase significantly in 2019 with approximately $20 million in expenditures budgeted. Exploration programs are currently being planned at Doris, Madrid, Boston and regionally, and directed towards meeting near term production objectives through longer term, strategic and regional exploration objectives. Diamond drilling at Doris will include continued evaluation and expansion north of the BTD Extension zone and underground exploration focused on adding new resources to the Doris mineral resource base. Activity at Madrid North will initially focus on the Suluk zone, with a winter program designed to define the higher grade plunges within the Indicated mineral resource and upgrade classification of the Inferred mineral resources. The current mineral resources within the Suluk zone include 3.2 million tonnes grading 7.7 g/t Au Indicated mineral resource and 2.6 million tonnes grading 6.3 g/t Au, containing 724 koz and 524 koz, respectively. Also at Madrid North, surface diamond drilling programs will continue to define the near surface mineralization and target areas for potential expansion of the Naartok zones. The 2019 exploration program at Boston is schedule for later summer and is expected to transition to a winter ice drilling program late in the year. Initial drilling, supported out of the Boston camp, will focus on high priority regional targets, proximal to Boston. Exploration on the Boston deposit, will define the high grade plunges within the known resources. A second phase of winter drilling will target the high grade plunge down-dip of and below the current mineral resource inventory, with the objective to add materially to the current mineral resource inventory at Boston. In addition to exploration near the known deposits, a significant regional exploration program will be executed in 2019. Exploration targets near current and planned infrastructure at Doris and Madrid will be evaluated and prioritized for diamond drilling. Several historical surface showings south of the Boston deposit and gold in glacial till anomalies to the north of Boston will be evaluated during the initial phase of the 2019 Boston exploration program.
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