TMAC Resources Intersects Significant Near-Surface Gold Mineralization Outside Current Mineral Resources at Madrid North
TMAC Resources Inc. (TSX:TMR) (“TMAC” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide drilling results from the Madrid North Naartok gold zone (“Naartok”), situated in TMAC’s Hope Bay Property, Nunavut, Canada. Naartok is approximately eight km south of the Company’s Doris processing plant which is in the final stages of construction and expected to begin producing gold early in 2017 and achieve commercial production in the first quarter of 2017.
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FIGURE 1 - MADRID NORTH NAARTOK ZONE PLAN SECTION AT THE -50 MRSL LEVEL (Graphic: Business Wire)
| Drilling Highlights Naartok: | ||||||||
| • TM00352 | Madrid North - Naartok | 2.9 g/t Au over 24.1 metres | ||||||
| Including | 13.3 g/t Au over 3.0 metres | |||||||
| And | 15.3 g/t Au over 6.0 metres | |||||||
| • TM00365 | Madrid North - Naartok | 10.5 g/t Au over 12.0 metres | ||||||
| Including | 15.5 g/t Au over 6.0 metres | |||||||
Dr. Catharine Farrow, Chief Executive Officer stated, “We are very pleased with this year’s drill results at Hope Bay. Earlier this year, we reported drill results that extended the known gold mineralization at the Doris deposit and also reported numerous very high-grade gold intersections in the Doris BTD zone below the known Doris gold reserves. The drill results at Naartok, which is within trucking distance of the Doris processing plant, are also very encouraging and demonstrate the significant upside potential of the Madrid gold trend not currently captured in our Mineral Resource base. These results have enabled us to make step-changes in our understanding of host breccia internal morphology, alteration and structure, all of which interact as high-grade ore controls. These results also demonstrate the excellent prospectivity of the entire Hope Bay Belt and provides further encouragement for us to continue to advance the other known Hope Bay deposits towards development.
The Naartok drill program successfully defined a wide zone of lower grade breccia-hosted gold mineralization that hosts high-grade gold domains, similar to the existing Naartok Mineral Reserves. This new Naartok gold target trends to the north and is oriented orthogonally to the Naartok West Mineral Resource (see Figure 1).
The primary objective of the 2016 exploration program has been to support the advancement of Hope Bay through detailed geological modelling and definition diamond drilling within the Doris trend and thereby add significantly to the gold resource inventory. A secondary objective of the 2016 exploration program has been to further refine the geological understanding of the Madrid North Deposits and continue to upgrade and expand the Naartok Mineral Resource inventories. The existing Mineral Resources at Naartok (Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources of 6.44 million tonnes grading 8.4 g/t Au and containing 1.73 million Au oz.) are currently defined in the Naartok East and Naartok West zones. The 2016 drilling program was focused on following up on historical, near surface intersections, extending north-east from the Naartok West zone, but not included in the current resource base (Figure 1). Wider spaced historical drilling had intersected a similar style of gold mineralization over a strike length of approximately 250 metres extending from surface to a depth of approximately 200 metres (Figure 2).
Gold mineralization at Naartok is hosted within a brecciated mafic volcanic domain and is associated with elevated intensity of silicification, sericite alteration and pyrite mineralization. Gold mineralization within the brecciated mafic volcanic domain is characterized by broad zones of low to moderate grade mineralization within a weakly brecciated matrix, whereas higher grade gold mineralization is associated with more intensely brecciated volcanic and intercalated sedimentary rocks. For example, 2016 drillhole TM00352 intersected 24.1 metres grading 2.9 g/t Au including 3.0 metres of 13.3 g/t Au and 6.0 metres of 15.3 g/t Au. Results of initial drilling in 2015 were encouraging (TMAC news release, February 25, 2016) and the 2016 program intersected significant gold mineralization outside of areas of known Mineral Resources. Interpretation of the results has facilitated further refinement of the geological model and controls on gold mineralization and highlighted the potential to add significant gold ounces to the Madrid North resource base with focused diamond drilling.
FIGURE 1: MADRID NORTH NAARTOK ZONE PLAN SECTION AT THE -50 MRSL LEVEL SHOWING THE LOCAL GEOLOGY AS WELL AS THE NAARTOK EAST AND NAARTOK WEST MINERAL RESOURCE ENVELOPES (RED). THE 2016 DIAMOND DRILLING WAS FOCUSED TO THE NORTH OF THE NAARTOK WEST ZONE IN THE AREA OUTLINED IN DASHED RED LINES.
FIGURE 2: MADRID NORTH NAARTOK ZONE 3D OBLIQUE VIEW LOOKING SOUTHEAST: NAARTOK EAST AND NAARTOK WEST MINERAL RESOURCE ENVELOPES (RED) AND THE NAARTOK EXPLORATION TARGET (PURPLE). TMAC’S 2016 DRILLHOLE INTERSECTIONS ALONG THE NAARTOK EXPLORATION TREND ARE SHOWN AS GREEN CIRCLES AND HISTORIC DRILLHOLE INTERSECTIONS AS YELLOW CIRCLES. INSET IMAGE 3D OBLIQUE VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST AT A PLUNGE OF 50 DEGREES.
Table 1 is a summary of the assay results for all 2016 diamond drilling on the Naartok zone. New data will be incorporated into the Naartok geological model and reflected in TMAC’s updated annual Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve statement in 2017.
| TABLE 1: NAARTOK DEPOSIT – 2016 DIAMOND DRILLING RESULTS. | ||||||||||||||||
| Naartok - TMAC 2016 Intersections | ||||||||||||||||
| DRILL | ZONE | AZIMUTH | DIP | Inclusion | FROM | TO | CORE | ASSAY (Au g/t)2 | ||||||||
| TM00343 | Naartok | 107.7 | -51.5 | 114.25 | 115.75 | 1.50 | 6.52 | |||||||||
| and | 334.55 | 337.00 | 2.45 | 8.74 | ||||||||||||
| TM00344 | Naartok | 107.9 | -62.5 | 206.00 | 207.50 | 1.50 | 28.90 | |||||||||
| and | 266.00 | 269.00 | 3.00 | 5.30 | ||||||||||||
| and | 281.00 | 284.00 | 3.00 | 5.03 | ||||||||||||
| and | 290.00 | 296.00 | 6.00 | 5.18 | ||||||||||||
| and | 356.00 | 357.50 | 1.50 | 7.13 | ||||||||||||
| and | 365.00 | 368.11 | 3.11 | 5.23 | ||||||||||||
| TM00345 | Naartok | 108.8 | -70.4 | 325.00 | 328.00 | 3.00 | 5.07 | |||||||||
| TM00346A | Naartok | 108.4 | -52.9 | 18.10 | 19.50 | 1.40 | 14.80 | |||||||||
| and | 25.85 | 27.50 | 1.65 | 5.59 | ||||||||||||
| and | 32.00 | 35.00 | 3.00 | 7.96 | ||||||||||||
| TM00348 | Naartok | 108.5 | -57.1 | 27.79 | 28.60 | 0.81 | 9.14 | |||||||||
| and | 141.50 | 143.00 | 1.50 | 5.18 | ||||||||||||
| and | 165.50 | 167.00 | 1.50 | 35.30 | ||||||||||||
| and | 209.00 | 210.50 | 1.50 | 14.75 | ||||||||||||
| TM00350 | Naartok | 119.0 | -52.1 | No Significant Assays | ||||||||||||
| TM00352 | Naartok | 119.1 | -60.6 | 184.92 | 209.00 | 24.08 | 2.92 | |||||||||
| Including | 206.00 | 209.00 | 3.00 | 13.27 | ||||||||||||
| and | 254.00 | 260.00 | 6.00 | 15.29 | ||||||||||||
| TM00358 | Naartok | 266.2 | -53.9 | No Significant Assays | ||||||||||||
| TM00359A | Naartok | 266.0 | -63.3 | 104.50 | 107.50 | 3.00 | 22.00 | |||||||||
| and | 116.50 | 118.00 | 1.50 | 13.45 | ||||||||||||
| and | 124.00 | 126.00 | 2.00 | 5.93 | ||||||||||||
| TM00360 | Naartok | 263.0 | -52.2 | 80.68 | 81.88 | 1.20 | 14.00 | |||||||||
| TM00361 | Naartok | 275.0 | -68.6 | No Significant Assays | ||||||||||||
| TM00362 | Naartok | 275.0 | -52.7 | 100.00 | 101.50 | 1.50 | 5.30 | |||||||||
| TM00363 | Naartok | 275.0 | -78.3 | 279.00 | 282.44 | 3.44 | 15.68 | |||||||||
| Including | 279.00 | 280.50 | 1.50 | 21.70 | ||||||||||||
| TM00364 | Naartok | 87.0 | -52.7 | 72.50 | 76.50 | 4.00 | 15.04 | |||||||||
| Including | 75.00 | 76.50 | 1.50 | 34.00 | ||||||||||||
| and | 143.70 | 145.60 | 1.90 | 31.48 | ||||||||||||
| TM00365 | Naartok | 87.0 | -60.3 | 162.00 | 174.00 | 12.00 | 10.49 | |||||||||
| Including | 166.00 | 172.00 | 6.00 | 15.52 | ||||||||||||
| and | 177.00 | 178.00 | 1.00 | 11.15 | ||||||||||||
| and | 184.00 | 190.00 | 6.00 | 6.90 | ||||||||||||
| and | 202.00 | 204.93 | 2.93 | 7.11 | ||||||||||||
| and | 235.00 | 239.00 | 4.00 | 5.17 | ||||||||||||
| and | 260.15 | 262.65 | 2.50 | 8.00 | ||||||||||||
| TM00366 | Naartok | 272.0 | -63.4 | 121.50 | 122.15 | 0.65 | 13.60 | |||||||||
| TM00367 | Naartok | 272.0 | -48.8 | 139.50 | 139.97 | 0.47 | 48.90 | |||||||||
1 Down-hole thickness; true width varies depending on dip of the drill hole. Drill holes were designed to intersect structures at as close to a perpendicular orientation as possible, therefore, true widths are approximately 50% to 85% of down hole widths. Composite intervals are based on geological observations.
2 Reported composite intervals >4.5 g/t Au / 1.5m.
SAMPLE PREPARATION, ANALYSIS AND QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL
For a complete description of TMAC’s sample preparation, analytical methods and QA/QC procedures refer to the technical report for the Hope Bay Project dated May 28, 2015 entitled “Technical Report On The Hope Bay Project, Nunavut, Canada”, which has an effective date of March 31, 2015 (the “Hope Bay Technical Report”), as filed on TMAC’s profile at www.sedar.com.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Information of a scientific or technical nature in respect of the Hope Bay Project, other than new information related to Doris mine development, is based upon the Hope Bay Technical Report, as filed on TMAC’s profile at www.sedar.com. Scientific and technical information contained in this document was reviewed and approved by David King, P.Geo., the Vice President, Exploration and Geoscience of TMAC who is a “Qualified Person” as defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
ABOUT TMAC RESOURCES
TMAC holds a 100% interest in the Hope Bay Project located in Nunavut, Canada. TMAC is a fully financed, gold development company on target to achieve its Path to Production plan, beginning with the Doris Deposit, by the end of 2016. The Company has a board of directors with depth of experience and market credibility and an exploration and development team with an extensive track record of developing high grade, profitable underground mines.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This release contains "forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws that is intended to be covered by the safe harbours created by those laws. “Forward-looking information” includes statements that use forward-looking terminology such as “may”, “will”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “continue”, “potential” or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking information includes, without limitation, bringing the Hope Bay Project into production, beginning with the timing of the construction of the Processing Plant, the commissioning of the Processing Plant at Doris by the end of 2016, the availability of funds under the Debt Facility, and that the cash on hand and drawdowns under the Debt Facility will be sufficient to fully fund the Hope Bay Project and the objectives of the exploration program.
Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made, Furthermore, such forward-looking information involves a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. See “Risk Factors” in the Company’s AIF dated February 25, 2016 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for a discussion of these risks.
The Company cautions that there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161103006020/en/
Contact
TMAC Resources Inc.
Catharine Farrow, 416-628-0216
Chief Executive Officer
or
Ann Wilkinson, 416-628-0216
Vice President, Investor Relations
www.tmacresources.com
or
Renmark Financial Communications Inc.
Daniel Gordon, 416-644-2020
514-939-3989
dgordon@renmarkfinancial.com
www.renmarkfinancial.com