Manhattan Gold has extended the drill-tested strike at its Jaws gold prospect in Nunavut, Canada, to 1.25 kilometres after a major step-out hole confirmed shallow gold mineralisation beyond the area previously explored.
The 275-metre step-out returned 21.34 metres grading 1.72 grams per tonne of gold from a depth of 32 metres, including a higher-grade 4.52-metre interval at 4.89 grams per tonne.
Manhattan said the result showed that the mineralised system remained open and continued well beyond the historically tested zone. The expanded strike includes a 490-metre corridor of high-grade mineralisation.
Sam Vaughan, a technical adviser to Manhattan Gold, said: “(This hole) is exactly the type of result we wanted from a major step-out.”
The Jaws prospect forms part of the company’s Hook Lake project, an area that also contains a historical, non-JORC-compliant resource of 3.4 million tonnes at 2.38 grams per tonne for about 285,000 ounces of gold.
Recent drilling has produced wider and higher-grade intersections than the historical work. These include 41.15 metres at 4.66 grams per tonne, with a 7.62-metre section grading 18.67 grams per tonne, and a further 74.67-metre intersection at 1.61 grams per tonne from 21.34 metres.
Further results awaited from Hook Lake
The drill rig has now been parked at Jaws for the season, with 10 holes still awaiting assay results. The outstanding results include maiden drilling from several regional targets across the broader, recently acquired 665-square-kilometre project area.
Among those targets is the Spectre volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit, where historical drilling intersected a polymetallic lens measuring 10.51 metres and grading 2.91 per cent copper, 6.70 per cent zinc, 95.67 grams per tonne silver and 1.04 grams per tonne gold.
Results are also pending from the previously untested Quantum and Lotus orogenic gold targets. Surface sampling has returned up to 16.75 grams per tonne gold at Quantum and 8.01 grams per tonne at Lotus, alongside a silver result of 2,660 grams per tonne at Lotus.
Nunavut has attracted exploration activity from companies including B2Gold and Fury Gold Mines, while Agnico Eagle operates the 6.7-million-ounce Meliadine mine about 225 kilometres north-east of Jaws.
Manhattan recently raised $4.5 million through a placement to fund its exploration programme, as it works to assess the wider gold and silver potential of the Hook Lake project.
