Mining News: Targeting Committee Bay gold discoveries

Auryn Resources Inc. June 13 announced the start of a 25,000-meter exploration drill program at its Committee Bay gold project in Nunavut. This 14-week program is focused on making new discoveries by testing 12 to 14 high priority targets within five structural corridors across the 250 kilometers (155 miles) of the Committee Bay greenstone belt. These structural corridors were defined by Auryn's comprehensive regional till sampling programs conducted in 2015 and 2016. This rotary air blast drilling will be supported by detailed surface work to define exact drill-hole locations. This targeting work will include 3,450 line-kilometers of ground magnetics to further define target structures; 19,000 till samples to be analyzed by portable x-ray fluorescence units, or XRF detectors, to define chemically favorable positions on target structures; and 2,700 line-kilometers of boulder mapping to define source areas of gold-in-till anomalies. Additionally, Auryn plans to collect 2,000 regional till samples to complete its geochemical targeting across the entire 300-kilometer- (185 miles) long greenstone belt. In addition to its work at Committee Bay, Auryn plans to carry out a belt-wide till sampling program and drone imagery survey across its recently acquired Gibson MacQuoid gold project. Using the same methodology that has proven effective at Committee Bay, the company plans to collect 5,500 regional till samples and acquire high-resolution drone imagery across the 120-kilometer- (75 miles) long belt. The objective of the program will be to generate targets in anticipation of a drill program in 2018. Auryn views Gibson MacQuoid, which is situated between the Meliadine gold deposit and Meadowbank Mine in Nunavut, as an under-explored greenstone belt with excellent potential.

–SHANE LASLEY