Sector
NewswireTM
Sector: Mining - Metals and Minerals :
News Release - April
21, 2017 05:10 PM ET
MacDonald
Mines conducting metallurgical test of Gold-laden Oxide Sands as it
preps for
bulk sampling at Wawa-Holdsworth Gold
Project
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Company has LOI 100%
interest at Wawa-Holdsworth Gold Project with terms to extract
>50,000 oz Gold from oxide sands.
-
Oxide Sand Zones offer
quick pathway to cash flow; neither aggregate licencing nor bulk sampling
permissions will be required for the extraction of the oxide sands on the Wawa-Holdsworth
Project.
-
Previous sampling
over 332.5 m along strike reached depths of 8 m and contained
an average gold grade of 3.45 g/t and an average silver grade of
29.99 g/t.
-
Market Equities Research Group
projects ~81,700 oz Gold equiv. (non NI 43-101) in the Oxide
Sands at Wawa-Holdsworth Project.
NEW
YORK, NY, April 21, 2017 /Sector Newswire/ -
Macdonald Mines Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V: BMK) (US Listing: MCDMF)
(Frankfurt: 3M72)
earlier this month
announced that it has shipped approximately 100kg of oxide
sands to SGS Minerals Services to conduct metallurgical testing and
investigate potential processing methods for the Wawa-Holdsworth
Pyrite prospect. This news falls on the heels of the Company
announcing that it is initiating a bulk sampling program of
the oxide sands at its Wawa-Holdsworth Project. The property is located 25 km
NE of Wawa Ontario, Canada, uniquely positioned proximal Arogonaut's
>6Moz Au Magino deposit property, and Richmont's >1Moz Au
Island Gold Mine, along an underexplored extension of the prolific
Michipicoten Greenstone Belt. Last week the Company announced 100% ownership of the Wawa-Holdsworth
Gold Project with terms that point to an imminent production
scenario (see terms below).
Oxide Sand Zones offer quick pathway to cash flow
Fig. 1 (below)
Black Sands of
Wawa-Holdsworth Property
MacDonald Mines was recently the subject of a Market Equities
Research Group Market Bulletin that placed a near-term (12 month)
price target of $1.50/share for BMK.V. The Company is also currently
the subject of a Mining Journal review which may be viewed at
http://miningmarketwatch.net/bmk.htm online.
Excerpts:
MacDonald Mines advancing Gold laden zones toward cash flow, and
highly prospective for new discovery next to multi-million oz miners
MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd.
(TSX-V:
BMK) (US Listing: MCDMF) (Frankfurt: 3M72) last week
announced 100% LOI ownership of the Wawa-Holdsworth Gold Project with terms that point to
an imminent production scenario; aside from
5.5 million shares of BMK.V issued (along with equal warrants
exercisable at $0.30 -- something we like to see as the belief is
share price of BMK.V will rise substantially) and a partially
repurchasable 1.5%NSR, the bulk of the principle consists of
MacDonald Mines paying the equivalent of 5,000 ounces of gold
equivalent to Noble once MacDonald has extracted, refined and sold a
minimum of 50,000 ounces of gold from the oxide sands portion of the
Property.
In brief, the oxide sands are the cap of the pyrite prospect on the
property, which to date is just over 2,200 metres long and has a defined
historic (non NI 43-101) resource of sulpher but never tested for Gold until 1988 (it was
noted to have gold in it from trace to over 8 g/t, however no
assaying was done for silver at the time). 43-101 compliant drilling in 2002
covered 332 m of strike length (of the 2,200 m); within that known
length and extrapolated for tested widths + estimated depth we get
sizeable tonnage of apparent ~3.45 g/t Gold (average grade tested)
and ~29.99 g/t Silver (average grade tested) ready for the taking.
Extrapolating that known 332 m length (x ~6) over the 2,200 m there
appears 146,000 tonnes of such material for the taking in the
initial strike set. The average depth based on historic drill holes
would be much larger as far as
surface extraction goes. The assumption on a parallel and multiple
sets of sulphide sands is valid and has been proven in drill holes
-- this rationalizes 550,000 to 675,000 tonnes (not yet NI 43-101, but
the science is there to more than support an ~81,700+ ounce Gold
equivalent target), most of
which can be self financed from production that appears to require
little capex at all to begin. Neither aggregate licencing nor bulk
sampling permissions will be required for the extraction of the
oxide sands on the Wawa-Holdsworth Project.
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Excerpt of
Recent (April 5, 2017) news release from MacDonald Mines:
MacDonald Mines Begins Metallurgical Testing of
the Oxide Sands at its Wawa-Holdsworth Project
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired
- April 5, 2017) - MacDonald Mines
Exploration Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:BMK) ("MacDonald
Mines", or the "Company") has shipped
approximately 100kg of oxide sands to SGS
Minerals Services to conduct metallurgical
testing and investigate potential processing
methods for the Wawa-Holdsworth Pyrite prospect.
The Wawa-Holdsworth Pyrite
prospect is a gold and silver bearing, black
coloured, "oxidized cap" ("oxide sands") that
overlies a massive pyrite zone. The strike of
the pyrite zone runs over 2 km and its thickness
ranges from 2 to 10 metres. The oxide sands
reach a depth of more than 8 metres. A sampling
program of the oxide sands conducted in 2002
produced an average grade of 4.03 g/t gold and
30.89 g/t silver. Preliminary mill testing by
normal vat leach processing without crushing or
other processing resulted in a 94 % gold
recovery (Seymour
M. Sears, P. Geo., 2002).
The metallurgical testing
initiated by MacDonald Mines will investigate
simple processing methods that require no
chemicals to concentrate the gold and silver and
achieve the highest possible recovery.
To evaluate multiple options the
following will be completed:
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Head assays;
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Mineralogical characterization of the feed;
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Bond ball
mill grindability test;
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Heavy
liquid separation testing;
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Knelson
Concentrator testing;
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Flotation
and leach testing on gravity tailings as
diagnostic tests.
Quentin Yarie, MacDonald's President and CEO
commented: "In the few months our team has
worked on the Wawa-Holdsworth Project, we've
already initiated
a bulk sampling program of the oxides sands,
initiated metallurgical test work on the
immediate gold target on the property and
secured a 100% interest in the property.
Following spring breakup, the Company will ramp
up its sampling program to better define the
oxide sands and continue
to prepare for their potential extraction."
Wawa-Holdsworth Project Highlights
-
Approximately 285 hectares,
20 kilometres northeast of the town of Wawa
-
Neighbouring Argonaut's >6Moz gold Magino
Deposit & Richmont's >1Moz gold Island Gold
Mine
-
Numerous
gold showings with diversified
mineralization styles occurring in a 500
metres-wide deformation corridor
-
Year-long
road access and easy access to rail, road,
electrical power, labour force and suppliers...
...click
here for full copy of release from source |
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Market Equities Research Group projects
(non NI 43-101) along the initial strike set of sulphide sands
alone:
Gold Oz |
Silver Oz |
146,000t |
146,000t |
@3.355
g/t |
@29.2
g/t |
15,750
oz |
137,000 oz |
Can$1,500.00/oz |
Can$20.00/oz |
Can$23,625,000 |
Can$2,740,000 |
Table 1. Guesstimate of gold in initial strike set of sulphide sands alone.
The Pyrite Zones are believed to contain multiple Gold-laden Oxide
Sand Zones.
At present, five related zones have
been confirmed, thus >four times that above number (>675,000 tonnes = ~72,800 oz Gold, ~633,700 oz Silver *non NI
43-101 = ~81,700 oz Gold Equivalent (using US$17/oz Silver and
US$1,200/oz Gold conversion) on parallel and multiple
sets which have been proven in drill holes. Note: Values derived are
based on past exploration results of Reed Lake Exploration (pre dating
NI 43-101) and Hawk/Nobel's exploration results (NI 43-101 compliant)
which affirm 550,000+ tonnes.
Gold Oz |
Silver Oz |
675,000t |
675,000t |
@3.355
g/t |
@29.2
g/t |
72,800oz |
633,700 oz |
Can$1,500.00/oz |
Can$20.00/oz |
Can$109,200,000 |
Can$12,674,000 |
Table 2.
Guesstimate of gold from initial strike set and parallel/multiple sets.
Fig. 3 (above) Exposed gold laden black
oxide sands.
Oxide Sands can be treated like aggregate.
Visible in the images of black oxide sands
(seen in Fig. 2 above) taken from the property is gold and some course
grain quartz (which likely also contain gold). The oxide sand zones
appear amenable to MacDonald Mines simply obtaining a permit for
mining aggregate; backhoe the material, then crush and ball mill the
material (to maximize recoveries), and transport the floured
material to one of the
several mills located within a few kilometers of the property.
Works programs underway this spring 2017 are geared towards
affirming a voluminous and robust understanding of these Oxide Sands
Zones -- the potential for substantial
share price appreciation closer to $1.50/share from current price levels appears in order
as exploration findings/results affirm what is suspected.
Sample of exploration
results in support of Company's 50,000 oz Gold target on
Oxide Sands:
In 2002, the Oxide Sands were sampled over 332.5 metres along
strike. They were reported to reach a depth of at least 8 metres and
contained an average gold grade of 3.45 g/t and an average silver
grade of 29.99 g/t. Preliminary metallurgical testing resulted in
between 69% and 98.7% gold recoveries, without even crushing.
Results from the 2002 Sampling
Program:
BLOCK
Block # |
A
(m) LENGTH |
(m)AVERAGEWIDTH |
(m) AVERAGE DEPTH |
SPECIFIC GRAVITY |
INDICATED TONNES |
GOLD GRADE
(gms/tonne) |
SILVER GRADE
(gms/tonne) |
A-1 |
30.0 |
6.9 |
4.65 |
2.5 |
2392 |
4.92 |
25.22 |
A-2 |
13.5 |
5.3 |
3.00 |
2.5 |
540 |
5.76 |
42.65 |
A-3 |
31.0 |
4.7 |
3.35 |
2.5 |
1228 |
5.95 |
47.09 |
A-4 |
10.0 |
3.5 |
3.74 |
2.5 |
328 |
5.94 |
50.78 |
A-5 |
24.0 |
2.9 |
3.66 |
2.5 |
630 |
5.10 |
50.14 |
A-6 |
8.0 |
5.3 |
5.49 |
2.5 |
583 |
2.99 |
36.01 |
A-7 |
11.5 |
7.5 |
5.03 |
2.5 |
1080 |
1.74 |
21.29 |
A-8 |
20.0 |
6.3 |
3.65 |
2.5 |
1140 |
0.85 |
9.91 |
Sub-total |
148m |
5.3 |
4.07 |
2.5 |
7921 |
4.03 |
30.89 |
BLOCK |
B |
|
|
|
|
|
|
B-1 |
21.0 |
6.4 |
1.92 |
2.5 |
645 |
1.17 |
17.43 |
B-2 |
53.0 |
3.8 |
1.14 |
2.5 |
576 |
1.20 |
17.94 |
B-3 |
17.5 |
2.8 |
1.60 |
2.5 |
193 |
3.04 |
44.06 |
B-4 |
17.5 |
5.5 |
3.20 |
2.5 |
769 |
3.88 |
50.56 |
B-5 |
10.0 |
5.5 |
3.20 |
2.5 |
439 |
3.51 |
41.28 |
B-6 |
45.5 |
3.6 |
2.28 |
2.5 |
944 |
1.84 |
16.83 |
B-7 |
20.0 |
3.0 |
1.83 |
2.5 |
275 |
1.54 |
18.6 |
Sb-total |
184.5 |
3.8 |
1.87 |
2.5 |
3839 |
2.27 |
28.14 |
TOTAL |
332.5 |
4.55 |
2.97 |
2.5 |
11760 |
3.45 |
29.99 |
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Table 2.
Drill Results within one section of Oxide Sands sound within Pyrite
Prospect.
The Pyrite Zones are
believed to contain multiple Gold-laden Oxide Sand
Zones:
The Pyrite Zones are a pyrite-altered Algoma-type iron
formation and represent a iron formation-hosted gold
target. Algoma-type iron formation are recognized hosts
of large gold deposits in Canada and the United States.
Key examples of gold deposits in Algoma-type iron
formation in Canada the Meadowbank, Meliadine and
Musselwhite gold deposits (Dubé et al., 2015). The
pyrite Zones forms steeply dipping east-west trending
lenses distributed along a mafic/felsic metavolcanic
contact over a defined strike length of 2.2 kilometres.
A gold intersection of 5.18 g/t gold over 1.5 metre were
also obtained in a sericite-altered shear zone in the
hanging wall of the pyrite zone whereas a 1988 drilling
intersection in the pyrite contains 0.85 g/t over a
11.83 metres. This appears to be similar to the Bousquet
deposit (see below) taken from 1917 report on the
property which identified a historic (non NI 43-101)
sulphide resource.
The Holdsworth Pyrite Prospect consists of massive
lenses of pyrite situated at the contact between mafic
and felsic metavolcanic rocks. These lenses trend
approximately east-west and dip steeply towards the
north. They are locally cut and offset by
north-northwest trending faults. At present, five
related zones have been confirmed by surface stripping
and prospecting and several others indicated by ground
geophysical surveys. The five confirmed zones (the
'East', 'East Extension', 'East Offset', 'West' and
'West Offset') have a combined strike length in excess
of 2200 meters. Two drill programs completed from 1918
to 1926 (Algoma Steel Corp. and the Grasseli Chemical
Co.) identified an iron reserve of 1,019,273 tons of
46 % sulphides within what is herein referred to as
the East Pyrite Zone.
The pyrite zone has been intersected in 6 holes in more
recent exploration programs including 2 holes by
Falconbridge in 1983 and 4 by Reed Lake Exploration Ltd.
in 1988. The Holdsworth Pyrite zones are of interest for
their gold potential for two reasons. One of these is
represented by the unoxidized portion of the sulphide
zone and it's surrounding rocks. A drill core sample
taken by Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd. (Band, 1983) was
reported to contain 0.35 oz/ton, Au across 1.5 meters.
Another sample from this hole taken from a pyritic shear
in the hanging-wall six (6) meters above the Pyrite Zone
was assayed four times yielding a range of assays from
0.24 to 0.51 oz/ton, Au. The massive pyrite typically
contain up to 5% sugary to greasy quartz stringers and
ribbons similar to the black sands. The massive pyrite
contained gold values ranging from nil to 0.14 oz/ton.
Three of the five holes drilled by Reed Lake Exploration
Ltd. were found to contain very anomalous gold values:
1.03 g/t Au over a core length of 2.13 meters (Hole
R23); 3.06 g/t over 6.1 meters (Hole R26) and2.08 g/t Au
over 5.8 meters (Hole R27).
The second zone of interest on the Holdsworth Pyrite
prospect is a gold and silver bearing, black colored,
"oxidized cap" that overlies the massive pyrite. This
coarse sandy material is in excess of eight (8) meters
thick in most locations, where sampled, and contains
gold values ranging from a few parts per billion to a
high of 14.2 g/t (0.41 oz/ton).
The oxidized material that forms a "cap" to the
Holdsworth Pyrite deposit has been described by old-time
prospectors as a 'black sand'. It consists of siliceous
grains and non magnetic iron oxide pellets ranging from
a few centimeters to several microns in size. It is
assumed to be the oxidized equivalent of the underlying
massive iron sulphide. The sulphide zones are frequently
anomalous in gold. Assays from a number of drill holes
(Band, 1983; Sears, 1989) have ranged from nil to 0.056
oz/ton, Au. The best intersection to date was from Hole
R26 (Reed Lake Exploration, 1988) which contained a 6.1
meter (20 foot) section assaying 1.06 g/t (0.031)
oz/ton, Au. The enriched gold values in the overlying
material are assumed to be related to the oxidizing and
weathering process.
In 1988, Reed Lake Exploration Ltd. carried out a
stripping program over parts of the East and West Pyrite
Zones (Figure 4). In the early part of the program, the
overburden was stripped completely down to the black,
oxidized granular material. When it was discovered that
the overlying red and yellow soil was also highly
elevated in gold, the remainder of the stripping stopped
just below the overlying bouldery till. Sampling was
then carried out by means of surface channels at regular
intervals across the zone (Appendix 1). Two blocks
within the East pyrite zone in which the oxidized cap
was exposed yielded assays ranging from trace to 0.284
oz/ton, Au and an average grade of 0.208 oz/ton, Au. The
sampled width averaged 2.9 meters (9.5 feet) for a
strike length of approximately 100 meters (328 feet).
The actual width of the underlying pyrite zone has a
range of 2 to 10 meters (6.5 to 33 feet). In several
test locations, the bottom of the zone was not reached
at a vertical depth of 8 meters.
During the 1988 program, sampling from the red, yellow
and grey soil above the black oxidized zone was also
found to contain elevated gold values, ranging from
trace to 0.206 oz/ton, Au. This material extends
throughout the area stripped, so it was assumed that the
black granular oxide occurred beneath it at shallow
depths. A very limited amount of stripping was completed
on the West Zone to check for the existence of the
oxidized cap material. Six (6) grab samples were
collected from two three meter sections across this
zone. Four of these consisted of brown soil and
contained trace amounts of gold. The other two were of
black-green material and contained 0.052 and 0.064
oz/ton, Au.
The project
potential beyond the sands is substantial
The Wawa-Holdsworth project is
proximal to the crustal-scale Wawa–Hawk Lake–Manitowik Lake Fault
and encompass a 500 metre-wide deformation zone where gold was
concentrated in different structures. These includes the Pyrite
Zones, source of the gold-bearing Oxide Sands, the Soocana Vein
System and the Golden Goose Shear Zone.
Figure 4. Wawa-Holdsworth Gold Zones -Three styles of gold
mineralization exist on the original 285 hectares Wawa-Holdsworth
project (the Company has since added 84 claims of similar ground
nearby), all part of the same gold system within the 500 metre-wide
deformation corridor.
The three gold
mineralization styles on the property (and shown in the
claims map above) are:
-
An oxidized cap at
surface developed over a massive pyrite zone (Algoma
Iron Formation) -- "The Oxide Sands",
-
The precursor to the
Oxide Sands - a massive pyrite zone (Algoma Iron
Formation) at depths -- "The Massive Sulphide", and
-
Lode Gold in
traditional quartz veins -- "The Soocana Vein";
noteworthy historic (non NI 43-101 compliant)
drilling intersections include 16g/t gold over 4.3
m, and 6.9 g/t gold over 15.8m and demonstrates the
potential. In 1933 the Soocana Mining Company
Limited calculated a gold resource (historical non
NI43-101) of 54,000 tons of material grading 0.556
oz/t (19.06 g/t) -- this is historic resource was
never mined!
Location details:
Figure 4. Regional Location Map - Wawa-Holdsworth Gold
Project is located 25 km NE of Wawa Ontario, Canada, uniquely
positioned proximal Argonaut's >6Moz Au Magino deposit property, and
Richmont's >1Moz Au Island Gold Mine, along an underexplored
extension of the prolific Michipicoten Greenstone Belt. Within a few
km of impressive gold deposits of miners whose deposits keep
growing, and mills. There is road access to the property, it is
close to power, rail, and a stable workforce, in a mining-friendly
region.
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This release may
contain forward-looking statements regarding future events that
involve risk and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that these
forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ
materially from actual events or results. Articles, excerpts,
commentary and reviews herein are for information purposes and are
not solicitations to buy or sell any of the securities mentioned.
SOURCE: Sector Newswire editorial
editorial@SectorNewswire.com
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