Beauce Gold Fields (TSXV: BGF) has experimented with the use of a modified horizontal directional drilling method to test the auriferous till units of the paleoplacer channel on its property near the town of St-Simon-les-Mine in southern Quebec.
“Horizontal directional drilling has the potential to revolutionize placer gold exploration,” commented Beauce Gold Fields president and CEO, Patrick Levasseur.
“If successful, this innovative technique will not only enhance cost-efficiency, but also significantly improve sample coverage and reduce environmental impact, marking a significant leap forward in our exploration efforts.”
Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is commonly used in construction and civil engineering projects. The technique is used to install or replace utility lines (such as pipelines, fibre optic cables, electrical conduits, etc.) without extensive disruption to existing infrastructure.
The company recently experimented with the technique by combining an HDD rig and a vacuum tanker truck to collect the mix of bentonite mud and drill cuttings. Bentonite, commonly used in HDD, consists mainly of crystalline clay minerals that help stabilize the borehole walls, preventing it from collapsing.
As the drilling progresses, the bentonite-based mud carries the drill cuttings (rock fragments, auriferous till and saprolite) back to the surface, which is then vacuumed into a tanker truck. The high viscosity of bentonite helps to keep cuttings suspended in the fluid, ensuring efficient cuttings removal from the borehole.
Beauce Gold Fields is determined to trace the placer gold tills on its property back to their hard rock source. The gold-bearing till in the bed of local streams was dredged as late as 1962. At one time it was the largest such operation in eastern Canada. Modern interest is not in alluvial gold, but in the auriferous till and saprolite hidden underground.
For further information, please visit: www.beaucegold.com
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