First Côté JV Gold Pour Targeted For 2H, 2021
IAMGOLD Corporation (TSX: IMG) has received additional positive assay results from its delineation diamond drilling programme at the Gosselin Zone discovery, located approximately 1.5 km northeast of the Côté Gold deposit in Ontario.
The Gosselin delineation drilling programme is being undertaken as part of the Côté Gold Joint Venture Project, a 70:30 joint venture between IAMGOLD and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (SMM).
Côté, located 125 km southwest of Timmins and 175 km north of Sudbury, Ontario is currently under construction with first gold production anticipated in the second half of 2023.
In January 2021, IAMGOLD reported the completion of 33 diamond drill holes totalling 13,735m as part of the resource delineation drilling programme, completed between the fourth quarter 2019 and early December 2020.
Executive Vice President, Growth, Craig MacDougall, said assay results previously reported from the first 24 diamond drill holes totalling 10,049m confirmed the continuity of broad gold bearing mineralised intervals associated with the Gosselin Zone.
Of the remaining nine diamond drill holes totalling 3,686m, one hole was completed on Three Ducks Lake from a barge-based platform and eight drill holes were completed from land-based drill pads on the Young-Shannon peninsula.
Assay highlights include: 81m @ 1.34 g/t Au, 103m @ 1.44 g/t Au, 115m @ 0.95 g/t Au, 37.2m @ 1.40 g/t Au, 101.6m @ 1.86 g/t Au, 16m @ 3.58 g/t Au; 96.4m @ 1.02 g/t Au, including 11.1m @ 3.40 g/t Au.
“These additional results continue to highlight the importance of this new discovery and we are now starting to demonstrate the connection of the Gosselin and Young Shannon Zones outlining mineralisation over a sizable area,” Mr MacDougall said.
‘Our exploration programme will continue to focus on the delineation of the mineralised zone targeting the completion of a maiden resource estimate later this year.”
The Gosselin discovery is located immediately northeast of the Côté deposit and is accessible by a network of construction roads on the developing mine property.
The diamond drilling programM4 was designed to complete in-fill and delineation drilling on the Gosselin and Young-Shannon Zones, at a nominal drill hole spacing of approximately 75M. Drilling results to date demonstrate widespread gold mineralisation contained within sericite-altered, locally brecciated Chester Intrusive tonalite and diorite at grades similar to the adjacent Côté deposit.
Diamond drilling data collected from this program continues to increase the understanding of the geological, alteration and structural controls on the Gosselin mineralised system and is being integrated into exploration models to guide future drilling campaigns.
Results have so far demonstrated gold concentrations associated with a number of veins of specific compositions hosted within altered intrusive units that appear to define a favorable structural corridor. These interpretations will help refine the deposit model to support a planned future mineral resource estimate.
Drilling completed to date has better defined and expanded the dimensions of the combined Gosselin – Young-Shannon Zone, now traced over a strike length of approximately 1.0 kilometer and 450 metres width (perpendicular to strike), and extending to a vertical depth of 450 metres (see figure 2). The zone lies immediately northeast of the Côté deposit, below Three Ducks Lake and remains open at depth, to the northwest, east and southwest.
A northern winter diamond drilling programme has commenced on ice-based platforms on Three Ducks Lake and is expected to continue into March 2021. The Côté Exploration team continues to conduct the on-going drill program in concert with the ongoing Côté mine construction work, adhering to the health & safety and environmental protocols established for the Project.
Assay results will continue to be validated and incorporated into the geologic and structural models for the Gosselin – Young-Shannon Zone to support the planned resource estimate expected later this year. The 2021 exploration drilling which commenced in January will include the completion of approximately 14,500m of diamond drilling to continue to delineate and expand the mineralised zone.
Elsewhere on the property, exploration, including additional drilling will continue to evaluate other identified targets along the developing mineralized trend of the Côté deposit and the Gosselin Zone.
