May 6 2020
Imperial Mining Group Ltd. ("Imperial") is pleased to announce that partial assay results have been received for Drillhole O-20002 (see Press Release : April 9, 2020) on its 100%-owned Opawica Gold project in the Abitibi region of northwestern Québec (Figure 1). The results confirm the presence of significant gold mineralization averaging 1.21 g/t Au over a 13.3 m core length with smaller intervals grading up to 3.11 g/t Au over 1.1 m within the Central Zone Structure.
“These partial results confirm the potential of the Central Zone shear structure which remains untested over most of its two km strike length,” said Peter Cashin, Imperial’s President & CEO. “Although unable to probe the gold structure at the intended 150 m vertical depth, geological observations in the drill core confirm a very favourable environment for economic gold deposits. Our upcoming project plans will use this new information to target further drilling to evaluate the gold potential over the entire strike length of the favourable structure. We currently await the assay results from the remaining holes completed during the program.”
Drilling was undertaken to evaluate areas of economically significant historical gold intersections (6.9 g/t Au over 3.8m and 5.1 g/t Au over 2.8m), as well as geophysical/geological targets favourable to gold concentration in the area. Of importance was the intersection, in drillhole O-20002, of an intense deformation and alteration structure containing 1% to 15% pyrite, minor pyrrhotite and occasional chalcopyrite and tourmaline. The intensity of the structural deformation, favourable alteration and sulphide mineralization observed has led Imperial staff to interpret the area as highly prospective for economic gold deposits.
The gold-bearing section sits downhole and adjacent to a moderately to strongly sericitized quartz-feldspar porphyry dyke, which is interpreted to represent an important marker horizon for the siting of gold on the property. This significant finding will be used to guide future exploration on the property moving forward. Significant assays from this first hole are reported Table 1 and in Figure 2.
(NOTE: Historical diamond drill results included in this release were obtained from data compilation and verification of available technical reports, including analytical records, submitted to the Quebec Government for property assessment purposes. All previous drill-holes, cross-sections and analytical results were verified from the Quebec Government SIGEOM geoscientific database. No issues were observed or noted during the data validation period.)
Table 1 – Reported Drillhole O-20002 Assay Results
A total of 177 samples from holes O-20001 are currently being processed by AGAT Laboratory. Hole O-20003 has yet to be logged and sampled due to the COVID-19 virus suspension of exploration activities in Quebec.
QA-QC Protocol
Strict QA/QC protocols have been implemented for the Opawica Project, including the insertion of certified reference materials (standards) and blanks at regular intervals throughout the sequence of samples.
A total of 216, including 11 QA-QC, samples were sent to an analytical laboratory. All sample preparation and analytical work was carried out by AGAT Laboratories at their facility in Mississauga, Ontario. Several analytical techniques were used to characterize the samples, which includes trace element (Au, Ag and As) analytic techniques. Au was analyzed by Fire Assay (ICP-OES) technique on a 30 g aliquot. Ag and As were assayed using 4-Acid digestion with an ICP-OES finish
QP
The technical content in this press release was provided and certified by Pierre Guay, P. Geo., Imperial's Vice-President, Exploration, and Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
Source: https://imperialmgp.com/