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Radisson chases potential ‘game-changing’ discovery at high-grade O’Brien project

Radisson observed specks of visible gold at a depth of 533 m in the Piche conglomerate

Radisson observed specks of visible gold at a depth of 533 m in the Piche conglomerate

Photo by Radisson Mining Resources

28th March 2017

By: Henry Lazenby

Creamer Media Deputy Editor: North America

     

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VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Following on the heels of a successful 2016 exploration campaign, junior explorer Radisson Mining Resources has doubled its current drill programme to 20 000 m and added a second drill at the O’Brien project, cut by the prospective regional Larder-Lake-Cadillac Fault, in Quebec.

Emboldened by successful drill intersections in recent months, the Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec-based company is planning to drill test several targets at the past-producing mine, billed as the richest mine by grade in Quebec ever, having historically produced 1.2-million tons grading 15.25 g/t gold for 587 121 oz.

“The aim is to complete a resource update by the third quarter of this year. We are hard at work compiling 60 years of historical data, assaying 15 000 m of historical drill cores, building a uniform database and supplementing the historical information with our expanded 20 000 m drill campaign,” Radisson corporate development officer Hubert Parent-Bouchard tells Mining Weekly Online in an interview.

Parent-Bouchard says the company is excited about results returned to date, as it points to significant potential to make a new gold discovery in this prospective area.

Radisson completed a 5 700 m drill programme last August and started a 10 000 m drill programme in October, focused on increasing the current resource. This programme was subsequently doubled to 20 000 m in February, following positive results for mineralisation outside the existing resource.

HITTING PAY DIRT
The O’Brien mine has a current National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource of 119 819 oz at 6.5 g/t gold in the indicated category and 188 466 oz at 6.4 g/t in the inferred category.

“The synergies derived from the ongoing historical data compilation exercise, combined with insights gleaned from the ongoing drilling programme, will help drive our exploration programme. The upside has never looked better on this property which was mined from 1926 to 1957; finding gold in multiple host rock types – to the west, north and south of the existing resource – is a potential game changer,” Parent-Bouchard states.

He notes that the deposit remains open at depth with the current resource ending at about 500 m, which is shallow compared with other mines in the region, including 3 500 m at the LaRonde mine and 1 500 m at the Lapa mine.

Parent-Bouchard says the geologic team is getting hot on the trail of making a new discovery, encouraged by the most recent drill results, which included drill hole OB-16-19 that intersected 5.8 g/t gold over 3.8 m at a depth of 300 m, in the Pontiac Group sedimentary package south of current mineral resources, and drill hole OB-16-20, which intersected 10.5 g/t gold over 1.5 m at a depth of 160 m in the Pontiac Group sedimentary package, south of current mineral resources and 4.3 g/t gold over 4 m at a depth of 305 m in the Piche volcanics, within the current mineral resources.

“We continue to encounter high-grade gold mineralisation both along strike of current resources and within the Pontiac sediments south of the current resources. The addition of a second drill rig will enable the company to accelerate its drill testing programme with one rig focussed on high-priority exploration targets outside the current resource envelope and the second rig testing extension of ore shoots within current resources,” Parent-Bouchard says, noting that the Pontiac meta-sedimentary units are the same sediments underlying the multimillion-ounce Canadian Malartic mine – Canada’s largest producing gold mine.

Further, specks of visible gold were observed at a depth of 533 m in the Piche conglomerate unit in drill hole OB-17-23. The drill hole was completed 200 m in vertical extension of drill hole OB-16-14 that intersected 20.2 g/t gold over 2.5 m west of the current resources. Hole OB-17-23 was sent to the laboratory for assaying and results will be available in the coming weeks.

The project sits in the Abitibi gold belt along the Cadillac Fault – a renowned mining camp with eight headframes in the immediate vicinity. Parent-Bouchard believes that, pending a new discovery at O’Brien, the company does not currently expect to build a mill, as there is ample spare toll milling capacity available from neighbouring mines, 7 km to 77 km from the mine.

Several other notable miners are active nearby, including Iamgold, Agnico Eagle and Yamana Gold.

A 61 kg sample grading 7.26 g/t gold tested in 2014 returned 59.2% visible gold recovered by gravity concentration, which, when combined with flotation or cyanidation, could lift recoveries to between 93% and 94%. However, Parent-Bouchard notes that further metallurgical refinement will take place once the full extent of the resource is better understood.

Management and insiders hold about 14% of the company, and Radisson also enjoys institutional support from Quebec government’s Caisse de dépôt, Frank Holmes’ US Global Investors and a large component of private investors, in addition to a float of about 35% of stock listed on the TSX-V.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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