Platinex Inc. (“Platinex” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce exploration progress and plans for its South Timmins Mining Joint Venture (“South Timmins Mining” or “Joint Venture”) properties. The South Timmins Mining properties include the Shining Tree, Heenan, and Mallard gold projects, all of which lie along the Ridout-Tyrrell Deformation Zone (“RTDZ”) in the Abitibi Subprovince, one of the most gold enriched geologic regions in the world. IAMGOLD/Sumitomo’s Côté Gold project, Aris Mining’s Juby deposit, and numerous other small-scale historic gold producers fall within or are proximal to the RTDZ.
Following a comprehensive technical review of the South Timmins Mining assets, the Joint Venture has finalized its plans for an inaugural exploration program. Once the initial programs described below have been completed, drilling (approximately 2,000 meters) will commence during the second half of 2023, with more advanced field programs continuing through the joint venture earn-in period.
Summary of Work Programs:
Mallard Gold Project:
The Mallard Gold Project lies northwest of Côté Gold in the Swayze Greenstone belt and hosts a package of sheared and altered mafic through felsic rocks interpreted as a splay to the Ridout deformation zone, immediately to the south. Anomalous gold mineralization occurs across the property along that trend, with the principal gold occurrences at the Camp and River zones, in the northwest portion of the property.
Historical near surface drill intercepts at Camp and River (41O09NW0003) include:
- 5.04 g/t Au over 3.69 m (BE-85-1)
- 6.62 g/t Au over 1.83 m (BE-85-3)
- 1.85 g/t Au over 6.25 m (BE-85-4)
- 3.50 g/t Au over 2.77 m (BE-85-5)
- 5.31 g/t Au over 3.84 m (BE-85-6)
Work at Mallard will commence in August, and includes prospecting, geochemical surveying, and geological mapping. The primary objective is to identify potential extensions of the Camp and River zones which were previously explored by Noranda and had revealed gold mineralization hosted within two northwest-oriented shear zones. Following the completion of this program, the Company plans to conduct a diamond drilling program focused on Camp, River, and new targets generated in the area from the upcoming fieldwork.
Shining Tree Gold Project:
On July 24, work crews recommenced activity, and are currently advancing a comprehensive program at the Ronda/Central Area including Area 3 of the Shining Tree Gold Project. The central area hosts numerous gold occurrences and small historic producers, and past workers have largely focused on individual vein occurrences. The Joint Venture intends to assess the possible long-strike relationship between these occurrences, and the cross-strike potential, which has been largely ignored. The program includes prospecting, geochemical surveying, and geological mapping. Additionally, stripping and trenching in the Ronda area is planned to better understand the mineralization controls on the surface.
Ronda was identified as a priority area for further investigation, and this is the first work at Ronda since Platinex acquired the past producer. Within the Ribble structure, auriferous tension veins oblique to the strike of the structure are observed at surface and are an important gold host in the area where past mining occurred at Ronda. These veins have unknown strike extensions and would have been poorly tested in sparse historic drilling and present an excellent opportunity to define additional mineralization on the structure, especially considering the historical results from stripping and surface work completed by Haddington Resources Ltd. (41P11SE0035).
Exploration work is also planned in Area 1 which will include reconnaissance prospecting and geological mapping to target the RTDZ northwest of the Herrick area.
Work at Shining Tree’s Area 2 (projected 6 km strike length of the RTDZ) and Area 3 (identified by Windfall Geotek artificial intelligence and confirmed with subsequent soil gas hydrocarbon and B-horizon soil sampling) has been completed in July and results will be announced following the receipt of assays.
Heenan Gold Project:
The Heenan Gold Project, also located in the Swayze Greenstone belt, is located within the Woman River anticline and is centered on the Woman River iron formation. Previous work by Fancamp at Heenan returned coincident geochemical and grab samples values ranging from <5 ppb to 1,000 ppb Au for B-horizon samples, and <5 ppb to 422 ppb Au for grab samples associated with a northwest-orientated section of the Woman River iron formation. The samples coincide with multi-line Spectral IP anomalies as well as structurally complex magnetic data over the area of interest.
A stripping program is planned to commence in September with drilling anticipated to follow upon the completion of the program.
Follow-up:
Data generated through the above work programs at Shining Tree, Heenan and Mallard will aid in the development of a comprehensive geological model for the South Timmins Mining properties. Following the successful completion of these work programs the Joint Venture intends to select the highest priority targets for drilling. The Joint Venture also plans to continue advancing its green fields target portfolio over this period.