Reviewed by Alex SmithMay 4 2022
MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. announced that GoldSpot Discoveries Corp. (“GoldSpot”) has completed work on the MacDonald Mines’ 100% owned SPJ Project near Sudbury in Ontario. GoldSpot was hired to aid the Company in extending discoveries and finding new high-priority target regions using their patented machine learning technologies (“AI”) and geoscience expertise.
GoldSpot generated targets at the SPJ Property. Image Credit: MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd.
Highlights of the GoldSpot-Macdonald Mines Collaboration:
- According to GoldSpot’s AI and geoscience studies, the Alwyn, Glade, and McLeod targets potentially have strike lengths ranging from 1 to 3 km.
- The SPJ Project has identified 53 exploration prospects, including five high-priority zones.
- GoldSpot identified two additional regions as high-priority areas: the Scadding Trend and Pine.
- Glade, Alwyn, and McLeod are three of the five high-priority regions that correspond to targets identified by the MacDonald Mines exploration team over the previous year and a half for their gold (“Au”) and polymetallic potential.
- The Company will commence mobilization for an orientated drilling program scheduled for Alwyn and Glade (~1,500 m).
The excellent work undertaken by the GoldSpot technical team along with their machine learning application helped corroborate our team’s work to date, while expanding our understanding of the potential for much larger gold systems on our land holdings around the Scadding, Alwyn, Glade, McLeod, and Norstar areas.
Greg Romain, President and CEO, MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd.
Romain added, “While I have only been with MacDonald Mines a short time, I have grown more impressed by the potential that exists on this large land package that the Company has compiled, not only for gold, but also for key battery metals such as nickel (“Ni”), cobalt (“Co”), copper (“Cu”), and platinum group elements (“PGE”). I look forward to providing updates on the results as we progress.”
Phase 1 Drill Program
The Company will commence mobilizing for Phase 1 of the MacDonald Mines exploration program in the first week of May 2022. The drill program will include up to 1,500 m of oriented diamond drilling at the Alwyn Mine (Au-Cu) and Glade (Au) targets, both of which are high priority.
Alwyn Target
The occurrence of two large shear zones and a dense network of Au-Cu containing quartz-carbonate veins at the surface was verified by the 2021 trenching/mapping program at Alwyn Mine. Historical drilling at Alwyn found the same system, with 16.59 g/t Au over 1.52 m and 4.46 g/t Au over 3.81 m (Haultain Resources, 1983, AFRI 41I10NE0154).
During that historic drilling program, no copper or silver assays were reported. Notably, the assay data is historical and the qualified person has not independently checked the reliability of the historical results. The full breadth of the intersected mineralized zone is unclear.
According to GoldSpot’s machine learning targets, the zone Au-Cu mineralization found at the surface at the Alwyn Mine can continue across a 2.5 km long NW trend. This trend follows the massive McLaren Lake Fault, regarded as the dominant constraint on Au-Cu mineralization at the Alwyn and Ashigami mines in the past.
Oriented drilling is needed to verify prior intercepts and evaluate the lateral extension of the Au-Cu mineralized system discovered at the Alwyn mine.
Glade Target
Glade’s new drilling will be pursued on the success of the drilling and trenching operations conducted in 2021. According to GoldSpot’s targeting data, mineralization follows the top and bottom contacts of a Nipissing sill with Huronian sedimentary rocks, possibly covering a 3 km east-southeast trend.
The program’s focus will be to explore high-grade Au mineralization down plunge from Au-bearing quartz veins housed in the Nipissing diabase that were discovered on the surface and in the company's last drilling campaign.