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Vancouver-based exploration company Balmoral Resources saw its share price embark on a steep climb today after the release of some positive news.
Responsible for the jump in share price are bonanza gold grades from Balmoral’s 2014 winter drill program at the Martiniere property in the Detour Lake area of Quebec. Specifically, the company intercepted 1,138 grams per tonne (33 ounces per ton) gold over 4.87 meters at the Bug Lake Footwall Zone. The latest intercept is seated within a 71.05-meter-wide gold mineralized interval that separates the Footwall and Bug Lake Zones. According to the company, that section of the property holds a record intercept of 9,710 grams per tonne (312 ounces per ton) over 0.57 meters.
The latest results from Balmoral’s drill program are important as they emphasize the “high-to-bonanza grade” nature of the Bug Lake Footwall Zone. They also extend the Bug Lake and related gold zones to a vertical depth of 400 meters. The zones, however, are still open at depth.
During the winter campaign, the company also tested the southern extension of the Bug Lake gold trend. 500 meters south of the MDE-12-143 hole, the company identified further high-grade gold mineralization associated with a newly identified “steep” section. So far, hole MDE-14-142 has returned intercepts of 9.35 grams per tonne gold over 5.17 meters and 4.78 grams per tonne gold over 2.65 meters from the upper and lower contacts.
Darin Wagner, president and CEO of Balmoral, is pleased with the company’s latest news as they give “confirmation of continued high-grade intercepts at depth and the discovery of another high-grade ‘steep’ along the southern extension of the Bug Lake Gold Trend emphatically demonstrate the continued up side and expansion potential of this system.”
Martiniere’s potential
Seated just 45 kilometers east of the Detour Gold (TSX:DGC) deposit, Balmoral’s Martiniere project hosts an expanding high-grade gold system that has, to date, been traced for over 1,500 meters and is still open in all directions. The project is located about 2 kilometers north of the regional-scale Sunday Lake Deformation Zone, which hosts the Detour Lake deposit.
Prior to the winter 2014 drill program, drilling along the southern extension of the Bug Lake gold trend was not sufficient to identify if the intercepts recorded were steeps or flats. However, the company has concluded that the Bug Lake gold trend is characterized by steeply dipping segments that are connected by shallowly east-dipping segments known as flats; they produce a somewhat sigmoidal pattern at both the Bug Lake poryphry and mineralized zones.
According to today’s press release, to date, drilling has intersected significant greater thicknesses and typically higher grades along the steeps, making them more favorable. Having recognized and better understood the characteristics at play within the gold trend, Balmoral sees significant potential for the discovery of additional high-grade gold mineralization along the sparsely tested southern extension at shallow depths.
Though no concrete plans have been laid, Balmoral is working on a 2014 summer drill program at Martiniere, with drilling planned to start up again in late June or early July. The program will focus on additional expansion of newly identified steep along the southern extension as well as on testing several high-priority targets within the broader system.
Securities Disclosure: I, Vivien Diniz, hold no investment interest in any of the companies mentioned.