Stelmine Canada has completed Phase 1 drilling at its 100%-owned Courcy Project in northern Quebec, where the objective is near-surface gold mineralization with district-scale potential.
Courcy Drill Hole Location Map. Image Credit: Stelmine Canada Ltd.
Highlights:
- Stelmine drilling has greatly increased the potential gold system in Zone 1 along the Couteau Fault to at least 300 m
- Phase 1 saw the completion of 14 drill holes totaling 2,237 m
- Stelmine drilling has yet to delimit the Courcy system in any lateral direction, and given the shallowness of the holes performed so far, the depth potential has yet to be thoroughly evaluated
- Zone 1 was tested on 12 of the 14 holes. Three of the holes found visible gold, including STH21-COU12, which was collared 300 m east of SOQUEM’s 2006 discovery hole and yielded 42 m grading 4.2 g/t Au
- At Courcy, there are many other gold zones, including Zone 4, 2 km to the south, where two drill holes found sulfide mineralization in an assemblage of fuchsite-bearing metasediments and garnet-rich amphibolite.
- The 21-km-long fault zone found by Stelmine geologists following SOQUEM’s limited drill program more than a decade ago is related to gold mineralization at Courcy, which is also shallow dipping.
Our initial drilling at Courcy leaves us very excited about the potential to identify a substantial high-grade system at Courcy. Our understanding of this structurally complex environment has evolved tremendously in recent months and we see strong potential for the stacking of veins in addition to parallel layers of massive sulphide.
Isabelle Proulx, CEO, Stelmine Canada Ltd.
Proulx added, “We eagerly anticipate the release of assay results from Phase 1 by the end of May/early June. We’re in a healthy cash position, ready to commence a new field season shortly.”
Moving Forward
Once all of the drill core assay findings have been received, analyzed, and interpreted, new exploratory work for Courcy is planned for the near future to assist with planning for Phase 2 follow-up drilling.
Stelmine geologists are planning a comprehensive exploration program for the promising Mercator Project (389 km2, 100%), located around 100 km northwest of Courcy, where channel sampling revealed mineralization over a large region (refer to August 20, 2021, news release).
This initiative will result in the first drilling of this intriguing potential. Soon, they will publish an update on Mercator.