Sep 24 2020
Troilus Gold Corp. has begun a new 20,000-m drill program at its fully owned Troilus property situated close to Chibougamau, within the Frotêt-Evans Greenstone Belt in Quebec, Canada.
Plan view of Troilus Property Showing Mineral Resource Area and Geological Interpretation of Mineralized Zones. New drilling will occur in all mineralized zones. Image Credit: Troilus Gold Corp.
The new drill program will be finished by the end of 2020 with the aim to upgrade existing mineral resource estimates and pursue the expansion and exploration of mineralization over the Troilus property, subsequent to the discovery of the Southwest Zone (“SWZ”) at the beginning of 2020.
Since 2018, a total of 80,500 m of drilling has yielded a total estimated indicated mineral resource of 4.96 Moz AuEq (177 Mt with an average grade of 0.87 g/ton AuEq) and also a total estimated inferred mineral resource of 3.15 Moz AuEq (116.7 Mt with an average grade of 0.84g/ton AuEq). The majority of which is obtained from 72,000 m of drilling close to the Z87/Z87 South and the J Zones.
Drilling at these zones will aim to upgrade the inferred mineral resources within the existing open pit constraining shells to aid the scheduled prefeasibility study, and also expand and extend near-surface mineralization to assist the open-pit mine development situation.
The Southwest Zone
The Southwest Zone is situated 3.5 km southwest of Z87, parallel and immediately next to the access road to the Troilus mine site. The Southwest Zone is defined by the same dioritic host rock as Z87 but has a more intense level of mineralization and alteration.
An 8,500-m drill program, which was performed in late 2019 and early 2020, yielded some of the favorable results ever drilled at the Troilus property, inclusive of 1.56 g/ton AuEq over 73 m in hole TLG-ZSW20-189, and defined a more than 500 m mineralized trend that remains exposed along strike.
The SWZ added 583,000 AuEq open pit inferred ounces (22.6 Mt with an average grade of 0.80 g/ton AuEq) to the entire projected mineral resources. Management believes that fruitful drilling at the SWZ has the possibility to outline more near-surface, higher-grade material that could have a substantial impact on upcoming engineering studies and production setups.
The drills are currently turning. We anticipate that our team will be able to complete a minimum of 20,000 meters before the end of the year. It is our expectation that drilling will aggressively continue through 2021 as well. Over the last three years, our technical team has consistently delivered positive results by refining our structural model and understanding of the Troilus deposit and controls on gold emplacement.
Justin Reid, Chief Executive Officer, Troilus Gold Corp.
Reid continued, “This has resulted in a 142% increase to estimated indicated mineral resources and a 350% increase to estimated inferred resources since we acquired Troilus in 2017, thereby solidifying management’s belief that this project has the potential to emerge as a long-life, open pit gold producer of scale located in one of the most favorable mining jurisdictions on the globe.”
The recent Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”)* results confirm that the Troilus project, based on the current estimated mineral resources, has the potential to deliver an after-tax IRR of 22.9% and NPV5% of $576 million based on $1,475/oz gold increasing to 32.2% and $915 million at $1,750/oz gold and 38.3% and $1,156 million at $1,950/oz spot gold prices over the course of a 22-year mine life with production averaging 35,000 tonnes per day.
Justin Reid, Chief Executive Officer, Troilus Gold Corp.
He further added, “It is our expectation that with more drilling we have the potential to identify additional resources that could further contribute to the economic forecast of the future mine in terms of the life of mine and/or daily production capacity.”
*Assuming a US$:C$ exchange of $0.74. All figures reported in US$ unless specified otherwise.
Troilus continues to remain underexplored and highly prospective. Wide-ranging field exploration work carried out this summer across the +107,000 ha Troilus property is presently being compiled to discover new prospective targets. Sample assays gathered in the field still need to be evaluated and will be updated shortly.
The company has hired the services of drilling company Forages Chibougamau Ltée, and three drills have been mobilized on the location.