Exploration and development company Maple Gold Mines has appointed Paul Harbridge – an accomplished geologist with more than 25 years of experience and a track record of discovering world-class deposits – to its technical committee, which helps guide exploration, drilling and project management at its projects located in Québec.

Harbidge is currently president and CEO of Faraday Copper, an emerging US copper developer. He was previously president and CEO of GT Gold and led the company to a C$456-million acquisition by Newmont Mining in May 2021.

Prior to that, Harbidge was senior VP of exploration for Goldcorp and has previously also led the exploration team at Randgold Resources.

"We are thrilled to have Paul Harbidge join our technical committee, as his experience successfully leading teams to multiple world-class gold discoveries further strengthens our technical group during this critical phase of growth for the company," stated Maple CEO Matthew Hornor.

He also said that 2023 was shaping up to be an exciting year for the joint venture that Maple has with Agnico Eagle Mines.

The venture is approaching completion of the first phase of about 6 000 m of deep drilling at the Joutel gold project. At the Douay project, a deep drilling campaign of about 10 000 m is testing beneath the known 6 x 2 km resource footprint.

A total of six drill holes and drillhole extensions are planned at Douay, several of which are expected to be drilled to 2 000 m downhole or more. Deep drilling will test beneath the current mineral resource (SLR 2022) and across the favourable Casa Berardi North Fault corridor, where modelled wireframes demonstrate the potential for higher-grade mineralisation at greater depths.

Deep drilling at Douay started in early January 2023 with drill hole DO-23-331, which is collared about 400 m southwest of the conceptual pit limits at the 531 Zone. Previous drilling at the 531 Zone has returned some of the highest-grade and largest gold accumulations to date at Douay, including 8.8 g/t gold over 28.5 m at a depth of 295.0 m in drill hole DO-21-310.

While the primary target for this hole is located about 1 900 m downhole, where it is expected to intersect the projection of the defined mineralised zone at the 531 Zone significantly down-plunge, DO-23-331 will also serve to test the full width of the mineralized corridor in this area. DO-23-331 is currently approaching 1 100 m downhole and is proving to be more mineralised than anticipated in the hanging wall rocks.

Two additional drill rigs were recently mobilised to Douay and the company expects five rigs to be turning concurrently throughout the first quarter.

"We are encouraged and cautiously optimistic after observing significant pyrite mineralisation in the upper portion of the first deep drill hole in an area well south of the 531 Zone with very limited drilling," stated VP for exploration Fred Speidel.

"These initial observations point to the potential for these deep drill holes to intersect new mineralized horizons enroute to the targeted depths."