Feb 1 2018
Balmoral Resources Ltd. announced that it has started its first exploration program on the HWY 810 property in Quebec. The solely owned HWY 810 property was attained by Balmoral via staking in 2016/2017.
The property covers more than 250 square km and is centered 15 km northeast of Hecla Mining’s multi-million ounce Casa Berardi gold mine and 35 km south of Balmoral’s Martiniere gold property (see Figure 1).
Balmoral has started a minimum 120 line km I.P. program targeting three areas of this district scale land package (Figure 2). The target areas were identified, via a compilation of historic work and modeling, as having potential for mesothermal gold mineralization; employing criteria obtained from the Company’s knowledge of the numerous deposits and active gold mines in the region. The I.P. results will be integrated into the selection of targets for initial drill testing.
Like the Company’s Martiniere Property, historic exploration on the HWY 810 property seems to have mainly focused on the base metal potential of the area, with just minor effort directed toward structurally controlled gold deposits just like those at Detour, Casa Berardi and Martiniere.
The HWY 810 property extends across three Archean geological domains and comprises of regionally extensive structural elements similar to those hosting major gold deposits elsewhere in the Abitibi region. The northern part of the property has been characterized by mixed mafic/felsic volcanic rocks and gabbroic intrusions, while the southern and central parts are characterized by mafic volcanic rocks with interbedded pyrite rich, graphitic sediments. This latter sequence is intruded, together with a structural corridor, by a huge intermediate pluton.
The property surrounds and includes, several known base metal occurrences, as well as a regionally extensive iron formation sequence. In addition to gold, there may be potential for the discovery of Cu-Zn VMS mineralization on the property given its location between the former developing, 50+Mt Selbaie Cu-Zn-Ag-Au mine to the north and the Estrades gold-rich VMS system to the south. As the name specifies, the property enjoys exceptional access, through an extensive logging road network connected to regional Hwy 810 which cuts north-south through the property. The Company presently uses Hwy 810 for access to its Martiniere and Grasset deposits.
It is always exciting for us, and Balmoral’s shareholders, to begin the exploration of a new, large scale property package in such a mineral rich region. With logistical support from our nearby activities we will look to quickly move selected areas of the HWY 810 property to the drill testing stage.
Darin Wagner, President and CEO of Balmoral Resources.
At Martiniere, the camp has presently been opened in preparation for winter geophysics and drilling. The Board of Directors of the Company has approved a winter 2018 exploration budget of $2.0 million which is completely funded from cash on hand. Details on the winter 2018 drilling and geophysical program at Martiniere will be upcoming shortly.