Alexandria Minerals Corporation has announced a second-phase drilling programme on its Orenada gold project in Val d'Or, Quebec. The company will begin a 4,000 metre drill programme on the Zone 4 and Zone 2 gold deposits at Orenada, to strengthen the new geological model and to provide the first step-out drilling using that model.
Orenada is located along the Cadillac Break shear zone, some 2.5 kilometres southeast of the company's current Triangle Too drill programme which is targeting Triangle Zone-type gold mineralisation. The Orenada programme will test for south-dipping high grade gold veins within the host shear zone, part of a broader group of high grade targets that occur between Triangle Too and Orenada.
Eric Owens, President and CEO of Alexandria, stated: "Our first drill test of the high grade veins at Orenada in 2015 was a great success. We believe these high grade veins will have an important impact on the grade and exploration potential of the Orenada gold deposit."
Two drill holes (OAX-15-54 and OAX-15-55) were completed in 2015 as a first test of the high grade veins at Orenada Zone 4, intersecting 3.4 metres grading 17.03 grams/tonne gold, 1.6 meters grading 15.2 grams/tonne gold, and 1.7 metres grading 10.5 grams/tonne gold, amongst others (See Press Releases April 30, 2015 and May 7, 2015). These veins are hosted within a broad lower grade envelope, reflected by the intersection of 111.3 metres grading 1.24 grams/tonne gold in hole 54 and 101.5 metres grading 0.93 grams/tonne gold in hole 55.
Those drill results provided the basis of a detailed re-interpretation of the geology at Orenada using all available data to that point, including underground mine maps as well as 296 drill holes completed by Alexandria and predecessor companies. The new geological model was built by correlating the high grade veins from the recent drill holes with earlier holes along the same cross sections and then extending this interpretation beyond those two sections over the 300 meter long Zone 4 deposit.
The goal of the second phase drilling program is to achieve the following: added precision of the new geological model at Orenada Zone 4; a first test of the new model at Orenada Zone 2, located about 500 m east of Zone 4; and fFirst exploratory step-out drill holes with potential for new discovery.
The company believes the results may well lead to improved size and grade of the deposit, as well as improved knowledge of the deposit.
