Pickle Crow Gold Project

Maiden Resource

 

1Moz at 11.3 g/t gold Inferred Resource

In September 2020, a JORC 2012 compliant Inferred Resource was announced for the Pickle Crow Gold Project in Canada for 1,000,000 ounces at 11.3 g/t gold. This was 20% increase on Auteco’s maiden Inferred Resource of 830,000oz at 11.6 g/t gold announced in June, following the commencement of maiden drilling in April 2020.

 

Independent JORC 2012 Inferred resource estimate at selected lower cut-off grades at the Pickle Crow Gold Project

Lower Cut-Off

Tonnes

(Mt)

Grade Gold g/t

Gold Million oz

2.0 g/t Au

3.2

10.1

1.1

3.5 g/t Au

2.8

11.3

1.0

5.0 g/t Au

2.1

13.7

0.9

  • Figures may not add up due to rounding
  • Mineral Resources that are not Ore Reserves have not demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues
  • Mineral Resources are reported at a block cut-off grade of 3.5 g/t Au
  • No minimum mining SMU parameters applied to the Inferred Mineral
  • The average bulk density assigned to the quartz vein hosted mineralisation is 2.7 g/cm3.

The Resource runs from the surface immediately adjacent to existing underground and surface infrastructure, and mineralisation remains open along strike and at depth. A 45,000m drilling program is underway to expedite Resource growth and test multiple walk-up targets throughout the remainder of 2020, with a further Resource update expected in 1H 2021.

 Above: Vein 5 Extension: Close up of new interval outside of Resource Estimate. AUDD0017: Detail of interval grading 0.3m @ 181.0g/t gold from 167.4m (within 0.6m @ 99.4g/t gold from 167.4).

High-Grade Gold in one of Canada’s most Prolific Gold Belts

Multiple advanced gold projects have been developed in the area over the past few years including:

  • Red Lake High-Grade Gold Camp operated by Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN): historic production of over 27 Moz at +20 g/t gold
  • Musselwhite deposit operated by Newmont Goldcorp 2.3 Moz Reserves
  • Madsen Project operated by Pure Gold Mining: 2.06 Moz @ 8.9 g/t gold (Indicated) & 0.47 Moz @ 7.7 g/t gold (Inferred)
  • West Red Lake Project operated by West Red Lake Gold: 1.09 Moz @ 7.6 g/t gold (Inferred)
  • Springpole Lake Project operated by First Mining: 4.67 Moz @ 1.04 g/t gold (Indicated)

There are a number of high-priority targets at the Pickle Crow Gold Project that have either not been followed up or have had little or no modern exploration test work undertaken on them. These include multiple unmined lode positions surrounding the historic underground workings, including potential new high-grade gold lodes as well as a number of shallow, near surface, broad mineralised zones that require exploration testing regionally across the 190 km2 project area.

A History of Highly Successful High-Grade Gold Mining

The Pickle Crow deposit was originally discovered in the early 1930’s and commenced commercial production in 1935. The mine operated until 1966 during which time it produced 1.5 Million oz of gold at an average grade of 16 g/t gold.

Various operators held the property since before the regional ground position was consolidated by TSX listed PC Gold in 2014. PC Gold was acquired by First Mining in 2015.

Historical data was recovered, digitised and verified in 2008 by PC Gold who completed drilling within the known veins from the existing historic mine. No further exploration was then conducted at the property subsequent to First Mining’s acquisition of the project in 2015; First Mining released a NI 43-101 compliant resource.

Above: Location map showing the Pickle Crow Gold Project, located in a Tier 1 jurisdiction within the Uchi Geological Sub-Province host to +35 MOZ of historic production

Geology and Mineralisation

 

The Pickle Crow Gold Deposit is a high-grade, shear-hosted, mesothermal Archean lode gold deposit. The deposit occurs primarily within mafic volcanics and banded iron formation (BIF) units in the Pickle Crow assemblage of the Pickle Lake Greenstone Belt in the Uchi Lake Sub-province of the Superior Craton of the Canadian Shield.

Mineralisation is focused around steeply northwest dipping, regional scale shear zones with the bulk of the mineralisation hosted near the Main Break structure, proximal to the highly strained, unconformable boundary between the Pickle Crow assemblage and the mafic-intermediate volcanics of the younger Confederation assemblage. A restricted, late-basin, Temiskaming-like sedimentary assemblage has also been identified in the hangingwall of this structure.

Multiple mineralisation styles have so far been identified on the property:

  • Quartz-Gold-Tungsten (+/-Tourmaline) Veins: These were the main focus of historical mining, frequently grading +15 g/t gold.
  •  Banded Iron Formation (BIF) Mineralisation: Stringers and sulphide mineralisation replacing iron minerals in the banded iron-formation.
  • Shear-Zone Hosted Mineralisation: Wide zones of shearing and alteration with discontinuous quartz veining and disseminated pyrite. Previously unmined and underexplored.
  • Quartz-Arsenopyrite stockwork veins in BIF: Underexplored mineralisation style.

Historical mining was focused on mining the quartz-gold-tungsten veins, the largest of which was the No.1 Vein (900 metre surface strike, mined to >1,500 metres below surface).

Excellent Location and Infrastructure

 

The Pickle Crow deposit is located in the Tier-1 Mining Jurisdiction of Ontario, Canada. The project is 400 km North of Thunder bay on State Route 590 with grid power less than 5 km from the project. There is year-round, paved road access to the project, as well as commercial flight access to Sioux Lookout located 2 hours’ drive to the South. Local services including shopping, hospitals and heavy equipment rental are located less than 5 km from the project in the town of Pickle Lake. The region has a recent history of mining and a skilled workforce is available in the region.

A 225tpd mill gravity mill was constructed on the Project in 2006 but never commissioned. Offices and core facilities are in good condition. Exploration can be conducted year-round.

 

Metallurgy

Excellent conventional gold recoveries of more than 98% gold recovered from the historic mining operation. During the successful operation of the Pickle Crow mine from 1935 to 1966, recoveries of +98% were reported from a gravity plus cyanidation circuit. Gravity recoveries for the period 1935 to 1948 are reported at +40%, increasing to around 60% in the later years of the mine with improving technology.

 

 

 

Regional Potential

Additional underexplored, mineralised trends within the property and outside of the maiden resource area have been identified. Walk-up drill targets within the near mine area are shown below and include (refer ASX announcement 26 March 2020):

Core Mine Shear

Shallow drill intersections include:

  • Springer Shaft Target: 1.7m @ 36.6 g/t gold from 15.1 m in CPSH-88-01
  • F Vein Target: 4.6m @ 9.3 g/t gold from 27.1m in CP-88-92
  • SW Powder house Target: 6.1m @ 7.3 g/t gold from 86.6 m in PL04-26

East Pat Shear

Drill intersections from the East Pat Target include:

  • 7 m @ 2.2 g/t gold from 21.5 m in PC-10-108
  • 0 m @ 7. 7 g/t gold from 232 m in PC-10-145

Cohen -Mac Arthur Shear
Drill intersections include:

  • MacArthur Target: 14.3 m @ 1.5 g/t gold from 30.5 m in PC-10-067

Kawinogans Target

Drill intersections include:

23.5 m @ 1.4 g/t gold from 196 m in PC-10-092

These areas are currently being subjected to initial geological field assessment by Auteco field geologists ahead of proposed regional exploration drilling in the winter (when the regional ground is more accessible). For further detail, see ASX announcement dated 1 September 2020.