TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TMAC Resources Inc. (TSX: TMR) (“TMAC” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an update on exploration results from the 2018 drilling campaigns at both Doris Mine and the Madrid North Deposit, on its 100% owned Hope Bay Project.
| Highlights Doris North: | ||||
|
- TM500148 |
BTD Extension | 261.4 g/t Au (18.5 g/t Au capped*) over 7.1 metres | ||
| Including | 2,710 g/t Au (100 g/t Au capped*) over 0.66 metres | |||
| And | 6.6 g/t Au over 10.4 metres | |||
|
- TM500152 |
BTD Extension | 71.8 g/t Au over 1.4 metres | ||
| and | 1,255 g/t Au (100 g/t Au capped*) over 1.5 metres | |||
| and | 5.4 g/t Au over 8.0 metres | |||
| *Individual gold assays in the BTD Extension zone are capped at 100 g/t for the purposes of resource estimation. | ||||
| Highlights Madrid North: | ||||
|
- TM00375 |
Naartok West | 11.5 g/t Au over 25.1 metres | ||
| Including | 18.1 g/t Au over 14.0 metres | |||
|
- TM00376 |
Naartok West |
12.9 g/t Au over 50.0 metres |
||
|
Including |
60.1 g/t Au over 8.5 metres |
|||
Jason Neal, Chief Executive Officer of TMAC, stated, “We are pleased with the very positive and encouraging results of TMAC’s exploration drilling in Doris North below the dyke (“Doris North BTD”) and at Madrid North. Drilling on the Doris North BTD zones has demonstrated that the high grade, Doris North Hinge structure continues to the north, below the diabase dyke, and has the potential to add significant high margin gold ounces to the Doris Mineral Resources inventory. The Madrid North surface drilling program is focused on the Naartok West zone, and has confirmed the continuity of the thick, high grade core of the mineralized zone near surface, which will assist in the detailed planning of the Madrid North advanced exploration and bulk sampling program scheduled to commence in 2019.”
Doris Deposits
The Doris Trend is a north-south oriented structural trend developed within Archean-aged, mafic metavolcanic-dominant, host rocks. The Doris gold mineralization occurs within a fold structure, at the contact between two geochemically distinct mafic metavolcanic units, a high-titanium metabasalt and a high-magnesium metabasalt in either quartz vein or within shear breccia. The drill results reported are from the most northern known extent of the Doris Trend, below the diabase dyke, within the Doris North BTD East Limb and Doris North BTD Extension zones (Figure 1). The Doris North BTD zones are the extension of the Doris North zone, below a late, locally relatively flat-lying diabase dyke that bisects the known gold mineralization at Doris into upper and lower elevations. The Doris North BTD zones are subdivided into the Doris North BTD East Limb and Doris North BTD Extension, separated by the northwest-striking North Fault. The Doris North BTD East Limb is interpreted as the down-dip continuation of the Doris North East Limb mineralization, south of the offsetting North Fault and beneath the diabase dyke. The Doris North BTD Extension is interpreted as the down-dropped continuation of the Doris North “Hinge” structure on the north side of the North Fault, beneath the diabase dyke. The Doris North “Hinge” structure is the highest grade area within the known Doris mineralization, with individual assays as high as 5,777 g/t Au over 0.5 metres, within a 5.6 metre quartz vein intersection grading 523 g/t Au, in historical hole 10TDD741 (Figure 2). Underground sill development by TMAC through this area confirms the continuity of local, extremely high grade areas within the hinge structure, with quartz veins in three development rounds grading 77.7 g/t Au over 1.7 metres, 457.2 g/t Au over 2.6 metres and 63.8 g/t Au over 1.7 metres based on development face chip assays. Initial Mineral Resources below the dyke from the Doris North BTD zones were reported in the June 30, 2017 Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources statement, consisting of 68,000 tonnes Indicated Resource grading 18.3 g/t Au, within the Doris North BTD East Limb. An additional 200,000 tonnes, grading 14.7 g/t Au of Inferred Resources are estimated within the Doris North BTD Extension.
Doris North BTD Exploration Drilling
The 2018 underground diamond drilling program commenced in late January with stope definition drilling on the Doris Connector zone to support production. In late March, exploration drilling commenced, and has focused on infill drilling within both the Doris North BTD East Limb and the southern portion of the Doris North BTD Extension. The Doris North BTD Extension drilling will continue through 2018, with the objective of upgrading and expanding on the current Inferred Resource, as the Doris North BTD exploration drive advances north and additional drilling platforms become available. Geochemical analysis and detailed modelling, confirm that the Doris North BTD Extension zone is hosted at the contact between high-titanium metabasalt and a high-magnesium metabasalt, within a structural fold, similar to the Doris North Hinge, above the diabase. Similar to the Doris North Hinge, the 2018 drilling results within the Doris North BTD Extension zone have intersected extremely high grade gold mineralization, Including the second highest individual assay result to date from the Hope Bay Project, in hole TM50148 which intersected 2,710 g/t Au over 0.7 metres. Highlights from the recent assays include drillhole TM50148 which intersected 261.4 g/t Au (18.5 g/t Au capped) over 7.1 metres, including 2,710 g/t Au (100 g/t Au capped) over 0.66 metres and drillhole TM50152, intersected 71.8 g/t Au over 1.4 metres and 1,255 g/t Au (100 g/t Au capped) over 1.5 metres. A summary of the assay results of the twenty-seven 2018 Doris North BTD drillholes received to date is provided in Table 1 and drillhole locations are illustrated in Figure 2. The Doris North BTD Extension is open to the north, where previous, widely spaced surface drilling has intersected significant mineralization. Drillhole TM00058 intersected 112.8 g/t Au over 1.5 metres, and drillhole TM00132 intersected 21.0 g/t Au over 2.0 metres. Drilling on the Doris North BTD Extension will continue through the second and third quarters of 2018.
TABLE 1: DORIS NORTH BTD EXPLORATION DIAMOND DRILLING INTERSECTIONS.
| Doris BTD - TMAC 2018 Intersections | |||||||||||||||||||
| DRILL HOLE | ZONE | AZIMUTH (degrees) | DIP (degrees) | Inclusion | FROM (m) | TO (m) | CORE LENGTH (m)1 | ASSAY (Au g/t) | CAPPED (Au g/t)2 | ||||||||||
| TM50117 | BTD Extension | 58.0 | 15 | 43.99 | 56.47 | 12.48 | 3.87 | ||||||||||||
| Including | 49.29 | 52.22 | 2.93 | 12.73 | |||||||||||||||
| And Including | 54.74 | 56.47 | 1.73 | 5.00 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50118 | BTD Extension | 71.0 | 12 | 36.20 | 51.58 | 15.38 | 3.13 | ||||||||||||
| TM50120 | BTD Extension | 71.0 | -2 | 48.58 | 60.00 | 11.42 | 8.68 | ||||||||||||
| Including | 48.58 | 52.00 | 3.42 | 24.92 | |||||||||||||||
| And Including | 57.30 | 60.00 | 2.70 | 10.80 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50121 | BTD Extension | 71.0 | 19 | 41.43 | 42.50 | 1.07 | 1.51 | ||||||||||||
| TM50123 | BTD Extension | 42.0 | -1 | 62.24 | 67.43 | 5.19 | 13.24 | ||||||||||||
| Including | 63.00 | 64.00 | 1.00 | 67.50 | |||||||||||||||
| And | 75.00 | 75.34 | 0.34 | 9.15 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50124 | WVW | 42.0 | -8 | 58.00 | 61.00 | 3.00 | 13.26 | ||||||||||||
| Including | 58.00 | 59.00 | 1.00 | 33.90 | |||||||||||||||
| BTD Extension | And | 74.75 | 77.65 | 2.90 | 96.60 | ||||||||||||||
| Including | 75.50 | 76.50 | 1.00 | 278.00 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50126 | BTD Extension | 45.0 | -40 | 115.25 | 117.30 | 2.05 | 0.84 | ||||||||||||
| TM50127 | BTD Extension | 31.0 | -4 | 74.05 | 75.10 | 1.05 | 0.75 | ||||||||||||
| TM50129 | BTD Extension | 70.0 | -47 | 84.00 | 85.00 | 1.00 | 0.20 | ||||||||||||
| TM50131 | Exploration | 294.0 | -50 | 109.00 | 133.00 | 24.00 | 2.89 | ||||||||||||
| Including | 127.00 | 133.00 | 6.00 | 8.51 | |||||||||||||||
| And | 133.00 | 138.00 | 5.00 | 7.81 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50132 | Exploration | 318.0 | -50 | No Significant Assays | |||||||||||||||
| TM50134 | BTD East Limb | 108.0 | 17 | 40.52 | 42.47 | 1.95 | 3.19 | ||||||||||||
| TM50136 | BTD East Limb | 77.0 | 13 | 46.02 | 49.80 | 3.78 | 0.72 | ||||||||||||
| TM50138 | BTD East Limb | 112.0 | -3 | 98.80 | 99.35 | 0.55 | 26.70 | ||||||||||||
| TM50139 | BTD East Limb | 119.0 | -24 | 105.09 | 106.35 | 1.26 | 13.15 | ||||||||||||
| And | 109.75 | 125.30 | 15.55 | 1.22 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50141 | BTD East Limb | 98.0 | -1 | No Significant Assays | |||||||||||||||
| TM50143 | BTD East Limb | 125.0 | -23.0 | 129.85 | 130.51 | 0.66 | 0.78 | ||||||||||||
| TM50144 | BTD East Limb | 131.0 | -39.0 | No Significant Assays | |||||||||||||||
| TM50146 | BTD East Limb | 100.0 | -15.0 | 113.26 | 114 | 0.74 | 17.75 | ||||||||||||
| And | 114 | 115 | 1.00 | 26.50 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50147 | BTD Extension | 121.0 | -3.0 | 67.39 | 69.84 | 2.45 | 48.13 | ||||||||||||
| And | 101 | 104.83 | 3.83 | 6.69 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50148 | BTD Extension | 118.0 | 5.0 | 71.91 | 79 | 7.09 | 261.43 | 18.47 | |||||||||||
| Including | 72.8 | 73.46 | 0.66 | 2710.00 | 100.00 | ||||||||||||||
| And | 91.58 | 101.94 | 10.36 | 6.59 | |||||||||||||||
| Including | 95.5 | 96.66 | 1.16 | 45.80 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50149 | BTD Extension | 121.0 | 12.0 | 76.7 | 77.5 | 0.80 | 67.40 | ||||||||||||
| And | 97.4 | 97.9 | 0.50 | 143.00 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50150 | BTD Extension | 116.0 | -15.0 | 59.34 | 61.21 | 1.87 | 62.54 | 26.69 | |||||||||||
| Including | 59.34 | 59.79 | 0.45 | 249.00 | 100.00 | ||||||||||||||
| TM50151 | BTD Extension | 118.0 | -30.0 | 125.9 | 126.65 | 0.75 | 3.03 | ||||||||||||
| TM50152 | BTD Extension | 102.0 | -20.0 | 61.7 | 63.1 | 1.40 | 71.80 | ||||||||||||
| And | 74.3 | 75.8 | 1.50 | 1255.00 | 100.00 | ||||||||||||||
| And | 86.3 | 94.3 | 8.00 | 5.40 | |||||||||||||||
| Including | 87.5 | 89 | 1.50 | 24.20 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50153 | BTD Extension | 100.0 | -12.0 | 86.77 | 87.69 | 0.92 | 1.32 | ||||||||||||
| And | 97.5 | 101.16 | 3.66 | 3.53 | |||||||||||||||
| TM50154 | BTD Extension | 101.0 | -30.0 | 58.3 | 59.9 | 1.60 | 8.48 | ||||||||||||
1 True width varies depending on the dip of the drill hole. Drill holes were designed to intersect target zone(s) at as close to a perpendicular orientation as possible, therefore, true widths are estimated to be approximately 45% to 85% of down hole widths.
Madrid North Deposits
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. The Madrid North Deposit consists of four separate mineralized zones, Naartok West, Naartok East, Rand and Suluk. The 2018 surface diamond drilling is focused on near surface (above 150 metres) infill drilling, to define the continuity of the thick, high-grade core of the Naartok West zone, which will assist in the detailed planning of the Madrid North advanced exploration and bulk sampling program scheduled to commence in 2019.
Madrid North Naartok West Exploration Drilling
Previous diamond drilling has identified a thick, high-grade core within the Naartok West zone, with resulting drillhole intersections such as drillhole 05PMD288, intersecting 23.2 g/t Au over 15.9 metres, and drillhole and PMD099, intersecting 31.3 g/t Au over 11.0 metres. The 2018 drilling program is designed to better define the continuity of both the grade and width near surface, and facilitate detailed mine design and scheduling of the higher margin ore early in the mine life. Highlights from the recently received assays include drillhole TM00375 which intersected 11.5 g/t Au over 25.1 metres, Including 18.1 g/t Au over 14.0 metres and drillhole TM0376, intersecting 12.9 g/t Au over 50.0 metres including 60.1 g/t Au over 8.5 metres. A summary of the nine 2018 Naartok West assay results received to date is provided in Table 2 and drillhole locations illustrated in Figure 3. Drilling will continue into the third quarter of 2018.
TABLE 2: MADRID NORTH NAARTOK WEST EXPLORATION DIAMOND DRILLING INTERSECTIONS.
| Madrid North Naartok West - TMAC 2018 Intersections | |||||||||||||||||
| DRILL HOLE | ZONE | AZIMUTH (degrees) | DIP (degrees) | Inclusion | FROM (m) | TO (m) | CORE LENGTH (m)1 | ASSAY (Au g/t) | |||||||||
| TM00368 | Naartok West | 182.0 | -45.0 | 48.50 | 56.00 | 7.50 | 6.33 | ||||||||||
| TM00369 | Naartok West | 182.0 | -58.0 | And | 59.00 | 68.00 | 9.00 | 8.55 | |||||||||
| Including | 60.50 | 62.00 | 1.50 | 39.80 | |||||||||||||
| TM00370 | Naartok West | 182.0 | -70.0 | 48.00 | 84.50 | 36.50 | 6.30 | ||||||||||
| Including | 69.50 | 71.00 | 1.50 | 26.50 | |||||||||||||
| TM00371 | Naartok West | 182.0 | -80.0 | 69.50 | 110.00 | 40.50 | 6.03 | ||||||||||
| Including | 101.00 | 102.50 | 1.50 | 41.10 | |||||||||||||
| TM00372 | Naartok West | 182.0 | -45.0 | 42.00 | 63.50 | 21.50 | 3.53 | ||||||||||
| Including | 46.50 | 57.50 | 11.00 | 4.85 | |||||||||||||
| TM00373 | Naartok West | 178.0 | -45.0 | 35.00 | 51.50 | 16.50 | 3.40 | ||||||||||
| Including | 44.00 | 51.50 | 7.50 | 5.52 | |||||||||||||
| TM00374 | Naartok West | 178.0 | -55.0 | 35.00 | 53.10 | 18.10 | 6.09 | ||||||||||
| Including | 48.50 | 53.10 | 4.60 | 16.23 | |||||||||||||
| TM00375 | Naartok West | 178.0 | -70.0 | 53.50 | 78.60 | 25.10 | 11.49 | ||||||||||
| Including | 58.00 | 72.00 | 14.00 | 18.13 | |||||||||||||
| TM00376 | Naartok West | 178.0 | -80.0 | 44.00 | 94.00 | 50.00 | 12.87 | ||||||||||
| Including | 54.50 | 63.00 | 8.50 | 60.06 | |||||||||||||
1 True width varies depending on the dip of the drill hole. Drill holes were designed to intersect target zone(s) at as close to a perpendicular orientation as possible, therefore, true widths are estimated to be approximately 50% to 85% of down hole widths.
SAMPLE PREPARATION, ANALYSIS AND QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL
For the Doris and Madrid North drilling campaigns, samples were prepared at ALS Laboratories in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and assayed at their Vancouver, British Columbia laboratory (an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited lab for gold analysis). Analysis for gold is completed on sawn half core samples (NQ) using 50 gram fire assay with atomic absorption (AAS) finish. Samples with higher grade gold (>100 g/t) are re-assayed using the pulp and fire assay with gravimetric finish procedures. Samples with visible gold, and surrounding samples are analyzed using screen metallics (1000 g of material is screened to 100 microns, with all +100 micron material analyzed and two samples of -100 micron analyzed by 50 g fire assay with AAS finish, results are averaged based on weight). The Company control checks include the insertion of standard reference materials and blank samples to monitor the precision and accuracy of the assay data. For a complete description of TMAC’s sample preparation, analytical methods and QA/QC procedures refer to the 2017 Annual Information Form dated February 23, 2017 and 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.
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.
Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and management bases forward-looking statements on a number of estimates and assumptions 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 plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. See “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Information Form dated February 23, 2017 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for a discussion of these risks.
