K9 Gold Corp. could be distinguishing its property from most companies operating in central Newfoundland’s mining hotspot, the Exploits Subzone Gold Belt.
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Upon completion of each drilling program on its enormous flagship property, the Stony Lake Project, the company continues to release incredibly optimistic analytical results—particularly, the Jumper’s Pond zone, which remained the focus of its drilling season in 2022.
The company’s recently concluded diamond drill program included eight holes totaling 2,919 m drilled in the Jumper’s Pond zone. Analysis from that program revealed that many of those holes contained “multiple well-mineralized zones with significant widths of continuous gold mineralization.”
The “nugget effect” in the company’s statistics has also been reduced due to the “consistency in gold values” demonstrated by this most recent results.
The remarkable consistency of gold values is of particular importance in determining the true metal content of the Jumper’s Pond zone. Whereas with a high ‘nugget effect,’ the analytical results may not be indicative of the true metal content (either high or low), we now have significantly increased our confidence in the reliability of our data.
Chris M. Healey, P.Geo., Chief Geologist, K9 Gold Corp.
These findings are significant because they support those from the drilling season of 2021 and contribute to the body of information that will help the company create a 3D model of the site for potential mining.
The pattern of considerable widths of continuous gold distribution with consistent gold values is essential for a company to create a portfolio of data to support future open-pit mining.
Significant tonnages of mineralized material could potentially emerge where there are significant widths of gold mineralization, and this tonnage will support further mining.
The chief geologist of the company is aware of this pattern.
He further stated, “The latest drill results confirm and add to our inventory of wide zones of continuous gold mineralization. The intersections in hole JP22-029 (31.75 meters averaging 1.52 g/t Au) and JP22-030 (27.35 meters averaging 1.88 g/t Au) are of particular significance as they exhibit consistent grades throughout the intersections and are adjacent to significant intersections from the 2021 drill program, namely hole JP21-022, which intersected 127.4 meters averaging 0.61 g/t Au.”
“With multiple similar intersections from the 2021 and 2022 drill programs, we are moving to the point where we will be able to define a cohesive model of the Jumper’s Pond mineralized zone,” Healey added.
Even in one of the world’s top mining jurisdictions, the Exploits Subzone Gold Belt in central Newfoundland, news of the extraordinarily large zones of continuous gold mineralization discovered on K9 Gold’s highly potential site stands out.
Numerous well-explored assets, including those owned by Marathon Gold, Sokoman Minerals, and New Found Gold, are located in this mineral-rich region.
According to Chris Healey, no central Newfoundland gold play reports any widths of continuous gold as significant as what K9 Gold is discovering at Jumper’s Pond.
Healey further added, “We continue to intersect wide zones of gold mineralization with grades in the same range as found at Marathon Gold’s Valentine Lake project. Of particular importance is the consistency of gold values within each intersection. The broad zones are not based on a ‘spot high’ surrounded by low grade; instead, they are consistently in the 1-3 g/t Au range. This sets us apart from many of the other companies working in central Newfoundland.”
The Stony Lake Project has only been investigated to a depth of approximately 5%, therefore K9 Gold has only drilled 32 holes compared to New Found Gold’s 500 and Sokoman Minerals’ 300.
Therefore, even though the company is still in the early stages of exploration, trying to find out that many of the holes K9 Gold has drilled in the Jumper’s Pond zone demonstrate a highly consistent pattern of gold distribution within substantial mineralized zones is exactly what investors want to hear.
The encouraging and extraordinarily broad mineralized zone discovered in hole JP21-022 during the drilling season of last year served as the inspiration for this most recent batch of drill results.
K9 Gold set out to further confirm the discoveries with this year’s drilling program after discovering in those analytical data that JP21-022 intersected a 127.4-meter zone of continuous gold mineralization, averaging 0.61 g/t across the full length of the zone. K9 Gold has undoubtedly achieved that and is still expanding on its excellent discoveries.
According to the company, the next stage in evaluating Jumper’s Pond is to complete 3D computer modeling of the drill data. This will enable the company’s geologists to see the intricate structures housing the mineralization and then successfully design the next drilling phase at Jumper’s Pond.
K9 Gold has the chance to learn more about the precise subsurface features of its 13,625-hectare (33,668-acre) site with each drilling program.
Explaining why each drilling program is a means to an end as it continues to explore the potential of its Stony Lake site, Healey stated, “Every drill hole (whether mineralized or not) adds to our knowledge base and increases the accuracy of our geological modeling. This, in turn, leads to more efficient positioning of drill sites in the next phase of drilling, and hopefully additional positive results.”