Mining News: Northern Neighbors: Amaruq resource expands, drilling continues

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. Aug. 20 provided an update on exploration at its Amaruq gold project in Nunavut, including an expanded resource of the project’s Whale Tail deposit. A 50,000-meter drill program completed during the first half of 2015 resulted in an updated inferred resource of 9.7 million metric tons grading 6.47 grams per metric ton (2 million ounces) gold for Amaruq, a 35 percent increase in gold content since the end of 2014. Most of this resource – 9.1 million metric tons grading 6.56 g/t (1.9 million oz) gold – is located in the Whale Tail deposit. The company is continuing to explore Amaruq with a second 50,000-meter drill program initiated in July. At Whale Tail, this drilling has encountered an open-ended high-grade ore shoot that has yielded intersections of 6.7 g/t gold over 32.3 meters from a depth of 284 meters in hole AMQ15-310; and 10.4 g/t gold over 21.9 meters from a depth of 311 meters in hole AMQ15-330. Gold mineralization has been found in a gap between the Whale Tail deposit and the eastern part of Mammoth Lake, including 10.8 g/t gold over 6.9 meters in hole AMQ15-351; and 9.3 g/t gold over 4.2 meters in hole AMQ15-302. The company said that infill and deep exploration drilling continues to cut multiple intercepts of high-grade gold amenable to both open-pit and underground mining. Engineering and environmental baseline studies are underway to support the permitting process for Amaruq as a potential satellite to Agnico’s Meadowbank mine, located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) to the southeast. The application to construct an all-weather access road between Meadowbank and Amaruq was filed in the first quarter of 2015.

–Shane Lasley