Midland Exploration Inc.is pleased to report the latest results of its reconnaissance campaign conducted this summer on its Willbob Project (wholly owned by Midland) including the discovery of several new significant gold showings with values up to 15.05 grams per tonne gold ("g/t Au") on the PBN showing.
These new gold occurrences are located along a high-grade gold-bearing corridor that includes also several other historical occurrences such as showing 31, which graded up to 31.0 g/t Au, as well as the Kuni (up to 19.8 g/t Au), Lafrance (up to 21.9 g/t Au), Dupuis East (up to 15.0 g/t Au), and Polar Bear (up to 6.4 g/t Au) showings.
The PBN showing is located 700 metres north of the Polar Bear showing (6.4 g/t Au) and returned values of 15.05 g/t Au, 0.68 g/t Au, and 0.16 g/t Au. These grab samples were collected in quartz veins with pyrite and galena mineralization and in a carbonate-facies iron formation. Another significant alteration zone with ankerite-albite-chlorite, named the Sunshine showing ("Sunshine"), returned gold grades up to 7.27 g/t Au. The Sunshine zone was traced over more than 150 metres strike length and also returned values of 3.18 g/t Au, 2.72 g/t Au, 1.72 g/t Au, 1.27 g/t Au, and six other gold values between 0.20 g/t Au and 0.65 g/t Au. (Note that gold values from selected grab samples may not be representative of the mineralized zones).
Over a short period of 28 days, a total of 619 grab samples were collected, mainly in the north part of the property between the Dessureault and Kuni South showings. The first phase of the 2016 summer program also included systematic mapping of quartz-ankerite-albite-chlorite alteration halos surrounding gold-bearing systems on the Willbob property. Only 212 samples have been analyzed to date, out of the 619 samples collected in the field. The remaining assay results are expected in the coming weeks.
An airborne magnetic survey was successfully completed and covered the entire Willbob property, which extends over more than 30 kilometres along a NNW-SSE axis by more than 7 km in width. The survey covered the property with flight lines spaced every 100 metres, for a total of 2,164 line kilometres.
Results of the 2015 work program included the discovery of two new showings with grades of 1.2 g/t Au and 77.6 g/t Au, respectively located 500 metres and 850 metres south of the Kuni showing. Closer and located between the two high-grade gold occurrences, a new polymetallic grab sample also yielded values of 1.2 g/t Au, 132 g/t Ag, 8.5% Pb and 7.1% Zn (see Midland press release dated August 26, 2015). Also in 2015, the new Golden Tooth discovery, including nearly 30 samples collected along a newly identified shear zone with quartz-albite alteration, revealed the presence of gold with ten samples grading more than 3.0 g/t Au and reaching up to 25.2 g/t Au (see Midland press release dated October 6, 2015). None of these new occurrences had been previously tested by channel sampling or drilling.
Similar to orogenic gold deposits, these showings are characterized by strong iron carbonate, fuchsite (chrome-rich mica) and quartz alteration as well as the presence of disseminated arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pyrite, observed over thicknesses ranging from 10 to 100 metres and traced discontinuously over more than 10 kilometres strike length.
Midland has great hopes for this project and intends to resume its exploration efforts in the fall, with prospecting, mapping, channel sampling, as well as a diamond drilling campaign totalling about 1,500 to 2,000 metres. The Willbob property consists of 318 mining claims covering a surface area of about 140 square kilometres and is located about 70 kilometres west of the town of Kuujjuaq, in Nunavik. The claim block is underlain by a volcano-sedimentary complex that exhibits complex folding and is injected with several gabbroic and ultramafic sills.