Richmont Mines to Commence 23,000m Drilling at Island Gold Mine

Richmont Mines (TSX:RIC,NYSEMarket:RIC) announced it is initiating a 23,000-metre deep directional drill program at its Island gold mine, located 50 km northeast of Wawa, Ontario,  further expand its resources at depth below its current one million ounce global gold resource. This drill program is to follow up on a very encouraging single deep hole from surface in 2014 that intersected 19.87 g/t Au over 3.93 metres at a depth of 1,200 metres, approximately 280 metres down plunge from the existing Island Gold resource.
As quoted in the press release:

The deep directional 23,000 metre drill program is designed to test the down plunge extension of the Island Gold Mine deposit, with approximately 30 drill targets in the area surrounding the 1,200-metre deep high-grade drill intersection. The decision was made to use directional drilling for these deep holes as it will reduce costs by allowing multiple pierce points from three deep pilot holes, and will also allow more accurate targeting. Three drills will be set up on surface to drill the three pilot holes from which approximately 10 legs will be done to test different drill targets. The planned array of 30 holes will test an area along the favourable shear zone covering approximately 500 metres laterally and 640 metres vertically, between depths of 860 metres to 1,500 metres.
A contractor is expected to be mobilized to site with three drills over the next couple of weeks and the program is expected to take six to eight months to complete at a cost of $3.5 – $4.0 million. The Corporation anticipates that approximately 6,000 metres of this program will be completed in 2015, at a total estimated cost of $1.0 million, with the remaining 17,000 metres to be completed in 2016. The Corporation does not expect any material change to its previously provided 2015 exploration budget guidance for Island Gold of $5.2 million.

Richmont Mines President and CEO, Renaud Adams, stated:

With the implementation of our accelerated mine development strategy at Island Gold well underway, we are now setting our sights on the potential exploration upside laterally and at depth, both on the main deposit, as well as elsewhere on our highly prospective, yet under explored, 77.0 km2 (7,696 hectares) property. As part of this, we are pleased to announce that we are initiating a program of deep directional drilling in an area down plunge to the east of the main deposit. We know that this area holds significant potential for a high grade extension, since a single hole from surface last year intersected 19.87 g/t Au over 3.93 metres, 200 metres to the east and 280 metres below our known deposit. This drill program will test the area immediately surrounding this intersection. Initiating and completing this deeper drilling will not only contribute to our understanding of the potential at depth and hopefully lead to a resource expansion, but it will also be very instrumental in helping us determine the long-term mine development strategy for Island Gold.

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