VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Gold explorer Eastmain Resources has announced a new resource estimate for the past-producing Eastmain mine project, located in the Otish Mountains of Northern Quebec.

Derived from historic information developed by previous operators and 26 drill holes completed by Eastmain within the deposit's mineral resource domains – of which seven were specifically drilled as verification holes in 2017 – the new mineral resource estimate demonstrates the high average gold grade of the Eastmain mine mineralisation and consistency with historic interpretations.

The eponymous Eastmain deposit now hosts a compliant indicated resource of 899 000 t grading 8.19 g/t gold, for 236 500 oz of gold. The inferred resource comprises 579 000 t grading 7.48 g/t gold, for 139 300 oz of gold.

Eastmain said a higher gold price assumption of $1 250/oz has afforded it the opportunity to reduce the cutoff grade to 2.5 g/t gold, while resources from the C Zone have added significantly to the gold endowment within the deposit.

Further, Eastmain reported that verification drilling of historic gold grades returned significant mineralisation, including 23.1 g/t gold over 4.4 m; 12.9 g/t gold over 7 m; and 17 g/t gold over 3 m.

Significantly, Eastmain advised that exploration 600 m to the north-west of the A Zone mineral resource domain intersected an interval returning 9.33 g/t gold, 23.8 g/t silver and 0.44% copper over 2 m in hole EM17-126. Historic holes in this area suggest the potential for a new mineralised zone similar to the Eastmain mine can be explored.

Eastmain also completed geophysics, trenching, geological mapping and drilling in 2017 near the Julien and Hillhouse targets, providing important geological and structural information to guide exploration of new targets along, or in zones parallel to, the Mine Trend.

Eastmain dusted off and took another look at the Eastmain mine project after the Quebec government built the Route 167 Nord three years ago, as part of the province’s ‘Plan Nord’ to provide critical infrastructure needed to develop Quebec’s far northern regions.

This infrastructure has allowed the company to re-evaluate the potential of this former producer, re-assess the historic mineral resource estimate and initiate an extensive exploration programme.

“We have established that the robust high-grade nature of the deposit will limit sensitivity to gold price fluctuation. With additional verification drill holes, we are confident that we will be able to convert more inferred mineral resources to the indicated mineral resource category. The historic on-site infrastructure, including a ramp to the shallow mining areas, provides an advantageous head-start for advanced exploration,” president and CEO Claude Lemasson said in a statement.