Kiboko Gold Inc. reported results from the remaining 25 holes (4,846 metres (âmâ)) of its systematic 70-hole (11,269 m) Phase 1 verification exploration program at its Harricana Gold Project, located 55 kilometres (âkmâ) north of Val-dâOr, Québec. These 25 holes were drilled at the Hooper-Bunkhouse (âHBâ) and Lot 14 zones located west of the drilling at the Marcotte and Claverny zones within the Fontana area that were reported previously. Select intervals include: 4.2 g/t Au over 5 m (DDFON23-015), including 19.2 g/t Au over 1 m; 7.2 g/t Au over 0.85 m (DDFON23-014); 6.3 g/t Au over 1 m (DDFON22-012); 2.8 g/t Au over 2 m (DDFON22-034).
Harricana Gold Project â Fontana Area: Kibokoâs interpretation is that the Harricana Gold Project is a collection of parallel sub-vertical shear-hosted mineralized zones contained within a Riedel-type system. At the Fontana area of the property, the mineralized zones are predominately located along major NW-SE (N135°) shears (the âFontana Trendâ) and along conjugate shears with limited thickness and extension. Accordingly, a planned drilling azimuth of N045° was utilized for the exploration program.
This direction was expected to be perpendicular to the primary Fontana Trend (N135°) but also sufficiently oblique to other second and third-order mineralization for deposit evaluation. Kibokoâs exploration drilling across the Fontana area encountered silicification, ankerite, or carbonate-alteration and chloritization, and variable amounts of disseminated sulphides, which are favourable indicators for gold mineralization. Kibokoâs drilling has also demonstrated that the alteration has a wider extension than the gold-bearing, shear-hosted quartz-carbonate veins.
Hooper-Bunkhouse Zone: In Kibokoâs Phase 1 program, 25 holes (4,846 m) were drilled at the HB and Lot 14 zones of the Fontana area of the Harricana Gold Project. The results reported in todayâs news release are related to these holes. Within the HB Zone, the Company interpreted the presence of two significant trends related to gold mineralization, thereby adding structural complexity.
In the Phase 1 program, the main Fontana Trend was expected to be the dominant control on gold mineralization within the HB zone, with a secondary conjugate trend striking N025° with limited extension. While there is a large amount of historical drilling within the HB zone, it has a variety of structural features and vein orientations that make interpretation challenging without the structural data obtained in Kibokoâs Phase 1 program. Historical intercepts within the HB zone appeared to be dominated by intersections that were sub-parallel to the main Fontana Trend (N135°) with minor veins in the interpreted conjugate directions.
While Kibokoâs drilling within the HB zone intersected significant mineralization, including visible gold, it did not always reproduce the intervals seen in some of the historical results, but it also encountered unexpected mineralization. The discrepancy in results was not unexpected and is attributed to the nature of the mineralization and not due to geological discontinuity. As a result, the Companyâs current interpretation is that while the HB zone consistently intercepted the favourable alteration that typically surrounds gold mineralization at Fontana, and intercepted the Bunkhouse Trendâs shear zone, Kiboko did not encounter gold mineralization in the Bunkhouse Trend over the same widths as occasionally seen in the historical drilling.
While this is disappointing, it was not unexpected, and is attributed to the HB zoneâs structural complexity. The Company completed several drillholes that targeted an area of the Bunkhouse zone where a prior operator had reported spectacular results, including: 9.3 g/t Au over 25 m (JB-200); 14.4 g/t Au over 18 m (JB-200B); 21.6 g/t Au over 20 m (JB-200B). Using information gathered from holes drilled earlier in the Phase 1 program, the Company drilled two additional holes into the HB zone using different drill directions to target the Bunkhouse Trend (DDFON23-014 at N297° and DDFON23-015 at N334°).
Both holes encountered visible gold, coincident with the location of high-grade mineralization within the Companyâs exploration model and confirmed that the Bunkhouse Trend is host to higher-grade mineralization. A comparison of select intervals from Kibokoâs and historical drilling are presented in Figure 4, as a simplified geological section. As a result, the Company has determined that both JB-200 and JB-200B were most likely drilled down a high-grade structure and confirmed the geological continuity of the mineralization in this trend.
While the Company was not expecting to replicate JB-200 and JB-200B, the variability in gold grades in other nearby holes is consistent with historical data and is typical of moderate-grade environments containing both fine and coarse grains of native gold.