Midland Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE:MD) has reported that Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited has discovered an entirely new gold zone at shallow depth in the northwest part of the Maritime-Cadillac Property.
The property is contiguous to the Lapa gold mine property (800,000 ounces gold in proven and probable reserves; 3.2 million tonnes at 8.2 g/t Au), in commercial production since May 2009 (source: Agnico-Eagle Financial Statements released February 17, 2010).
Within the scope of the latest drilling campaign which began earlier this year, drill hole 141-10-26 intersected an entirely new gold-bearing structure named V4 West that graded 8.6 g/t Au over 5.5 metres from 383.1 to 388.6 metres, including an interval at 13.8 g/t Au over 3.0 metres. This new gold-bearing structure, intersected at only 350 metres vertical depth, consists of a series of quartz-carbonate veinlets with minor pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralization and locally, visible gold. The veinlets are injected in sheared ultramafic volcanic rocks and the potential of this new discovery remains wide open in all directions.
In addition, as a follow-up to drill hole 141-10-23 which intersected 1.7 g/t Au over 37.85 metres including an interval grading 4.8 g/t Au over 6.0 metres along the Dyke East-V3 structure (see Midland Exploration press release dated May 27, 2010), drill hole 141-10-24 was completed about 100 metres below hole 141-10-23 and yielded 5.0 g/t Au over 1.6 metres from 558.8 to 560.4 metres. This intersection corresponds to the Dyke East zone and is included in a wider anomalous interval grading 0.38 g/t Au over 37.7 metres. Several other gold-bearing sections were obtained in the same drill hole, including 1.2 g/t Au over 5.2 metres from 189.3 to 194.5 metres, and 1.7 g/t Au over 2.7 metres from 205.0 to 207.7 metres.
Drill holes 141-10-25 and 141-10-27, which intersected the Maritime Contact East structure at vertical depths of 350 and 600 metres respectively, did not yield any significant values.
A surface plan and a longitudinal section of these new drill intersections are available on Midland's website. Midland considers these results to be very encouraging, and further drilling should be undertaken shortly to test the depth and strike extensions of new gold-bearing zones defined on the property.
Progress of exploration drift
In the first half of 2010, Agnico-Eagle began driving an exploration drift at the Lapa mine, on its property contiguous to Maritime-Cadillac, at 1,010 metres depth along an east-southeast direction. This new 970-metre-long exploration drift will follow the southern contact zone of the Cadillac-Larker Lake Break. The latter fault zone represents the main structural feature controlling gold deposits in the district. The exploration drift will provide access for underground drilling to test mineralization along favourable volcanic units.
Quality Control
The exploration program on the Maritime-Cadillac project is conducted by Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited and the data are reviewed by Mario Masson, VP Midland Exploration and Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Assay samples are taken from BQ-size drill core sawn in half; one half is shipped to a commercial laboratory and the other half is kept for future reference. Assays were conducted by Lab Expert in Rouyn-Noranda. Significant assay results are duplicated at the original laboratory as well as in a second independent laboratory, ALS Chemex-Chimitec in Val-d'Or. Quality control samples, standards and blanks, were inserted in the sample stream for mineralized zones. Drill intersections are reported as core lengths and their true thickness remains to be determined.
Terms of the Exploration Agreement
On June 1, 2009, Agnico-Eagle Mines fulfilled all its obligations under the June 1, 2006 agreement and has acquired a 50% undivided interest in the Maritime-Cadillac property. Agnico-Eagle paid $100,000 and completed $1,000,000 of exploration work from fiscal 2006 to fiscal 2009. The company will also have the option to increase its undivided interest in the property from 50% to 65% over a period of 3 years, by solely financing a bankable feasibility study or by solely assuming all mining operations on the Maritime Cadillac Property, earning a 1% additional interest for every $1,000,000 spent on the property (up to 15% by spending $15 million). Agnico-Eagle is currently working to increase its interest in the project by funding ongoing exploration work on the project.
Source: Midland Exploration Inc.