AuTECO Minerals (ASX:AUT) reports it has found ‘bonanza’ grade gold through a sampling program 6km from the Pickle Crow Gold Project located in Ontario, Canada.
The Metcalf Prospect, located on the Tarp Lake Shear 6km northwest of Pickle Crow returned rock chip results including 569g/t, 27.4g/t and 9g/t Au, and this surface vein expression confirms the presence of a ‘significant’ vein system, with historical drill intersections returning 1.8m @ 66.9g/t and 1.8m @ 28.5g/t Au.
Approximately 3km south of Metcalf on the Tarp Lake Shear, a rock chip sample of 35.5g/t Au was collected from an outcropping vein.
AuTECO says these results confirm that the Tarp Lake Shear is a major regional gold bearing structure with strong potential for a significant discovery.
It also notes these results are considered ‘important’ as they demonstrate the scope to increase the resource based on regional discoveries as well as ongoing near-mine exploration.
Other areas mapped and sampled by AuTECO include the Cohen MacArthur target, with anomalous rock chips of up to 3.8g/t Au returned.
Preparations are in progress by the company to drill test both Metcalf, Tarp Lake and the Cohen MacArthur prospects during the winter drill campaign.
The company intends to continue the dual focus on both in-mining resource expansion at Pickle Crow and the regional discovery that will provide the next generation of resource growth for the company.
AuTECO CEO Darren Cooke said these results provide strong evidence to support the company’s view that they have an entire mineral district which includes the Pickle Crow deposit.
“We will drill these outstanding regional targets over coming months as part of our strategy to continue growing the inventory, with a resource update set for early 2023.
“We will drill these outstanding regional targets over coming months as part of our strategy to continue growing the inventory, with a resource update set for early 2023″
AuTECO is fully funded to continue the exploration and growth campaign with 2 rigs planned to drill for the remainder of 2022.”
‘Extensive’ mapping and sampling campaigns have been undertaken on the 500km-square exploration tenure, with a focus on the Tarp Lake and Cohen MacArthur shear zones, and numerous unknown vein structures have been identified.
Rock chip sampling has also yielded ‘highly anomalous’ results.
A project-wide collection of magnetic data is in progress over the entire 500km-square of exploration tenure under management by AuTECO.
Helicopter based acquisition is being flown, conducted at 100m line spacing over the regional areas and 50m spacing near the main Pickle Crow deposit.
The company reports preliminary imaging shows a marked improvement in comparison to the existing data set.
Drilling has also continued to focus on resource growth potential in the historic Shaft 1 and Shaft 3 areas of Pickle Crow, and recent drilling focused on extensions to the Vein 5 vein structure.
Historically, more than 200,000oz Au was extracted from the ‘high-grade’ vein, with the continuous structure averaging about 0.5m in width.
The recent AuTECO drilling has successfully demonstrated the vein continues along strike beyond the extents of historical mining.
Near-mine exploration drilling has also been conducted to test for mineralisation hosted in banded iron formation (BIF).
Mineralisation within the BIF occurs in veins surrounded by a gold-bearing sulphide halo, and the widths observed in historical intersections indicate the potential for bulk mining extraction within BIF-style mineralisation.
AuTECO intends to continue with a dual-tracked approach to drilling for the remainder of 2022, with a combination of extensional in-mine resource growth drilling and regional exploration.
The company is in the midst of a 50,000m drill campaign, of which around 20,000m is planned for early stage targets outside the current 2.23Moz resource, and it is expected to conclude in early 2023.
AuTECO Minerals is an emerging mineral exploration company focused on advancing ‘high-grade’ gold resources at the Pickle Crow Gold Project in the world-class Uchi sub-province of Ontario, Canada.
The Pickle Crow Gold Project currently hosts a JORC 2012 Inferred Mineral Resource of 2.23Moz at 7.8g/t Au, with a 50,000m drilling program underway to expedite growth.
The company says Pickle Crow is one of Canada’s ‘highest-grade’ gold mines, historically producing 1.5Moz at 16g/t Au.
AuTECO also has the Limestone Well Vanadium-Titanium Project in Western Australia.
Images: AuTECO Minerals Limited
