Midland Exploration Inc. declared the initiation of a drilling campaign on its gold Lewis project. The property is situated about 60 km southwest of the town of Chapais.
Lewis Project Location. Image Credit: Midland Exploration Inc.
The drilling campaign, slated to begin in early February 2024, will consist of four drill holes with a combined anticipated depth of 725 m.
The drilling campaign will concentrate on new gold occurrences that Midland has found through prospecting since 2020, specifically the Golden Nest and Red Giant showings, which have shown up to 10.2 g/t Au in grab samples and 0.65 g/t Au over 6.0 m in channel samples, and up to 0.35 g/t Au over 9.0 m in channel samples, respectively.
Additionally, axes of induced polarization (or "IP") are targeted along the Golden Nest showing's eastward projection.
The Red Giant display is linked to an IP anomaly that is in close proximity to a magnetic high. The gold-bearing zone that trended east-west exhibits progressively higher grades and thicknesses in the west of the region that was scraped in 2020, and it is still fully open in this direction.
The Golden Nest gold showing is closely linked to an IP anomaly that displays 2–10 % pyrite mineralization and corresponds to a tiny outcrop of around 10 square meters that also shows a dramatic increase in resistivity. It is possible to follow the IP anomaly connected to this gold-bearing zone for several hundred meters.
In 2022, trenches were dug west of the Golden Nest, but the same mineralization was not found there. These eastward-extending IP anomalies are located close to a structure that is inferred from magnetic data to trend north-northeast. This structure may have caused a sinistral movement, or displacement, of the horizon where the Golden Nest showing is located.
Around 1 km separates these two showings, which are located in sheared mafic volcanic rocks and have an abundance of quartz-carbonate veins with localized arsenopyrite and pyrite mineralization. Strong ankerite and chlorite alteration are linked to mineralized zones. These easily reachable gold-bearing zones via logging roads have never been subjected to drill testing.
With 158 claims totaling 87 km2, the Lewis property occupies a desirable location close to the Guercheville-Opawica deformation zone, defined by a regional flexure.
The property is located 80 km northeast of the former Lac Shortt mine and approximately 80 km northwest of the Nelligan project jointly held by IAMGOLD Corporation (75%) and Vanstar Mining Resources (25%) (indicated resources: 1.99 million ounces; inferred resources: 3.6 million ounces; in accordance with Regulation 43-101 respecting Information Concerning Mining Projects).