Rockcliff Metals Corporation released some interesting and exciting news about two of their Snow Lake properties during the middle portion of the month of May. Firstly, they advised that their winter drill program hit high-grade gold mineralization at the company’s Laguna Gold Property. In addition to this, a second winter program, northeast of the Laguna at the Bur Zone, pushed through several near surface intersections of massive sulphides, and boasted results of 17.95 per cent ZnEq across 5.7 metres and 15.03 per cent ZnEq across 4.42 metres. (ZnEq, or zinc equivalent, is a clarification required when insufficient metallurgical testwork has been completed to provide accurate recovery values.)
On May 15, Rockcliff announced the completion of their six-hole winter drill program at the Laguna Gold Property wherein they discovered new quartz veins, alteration zones and quartz zones with visible gold and gold-bearing sulphides.
The six widely spaced drill holes, totaling 2,552 metres, were completed across a strike length of approximately 2,000 metres and confirmed that gold bearing zones at surface continue along strike and at depth. Two of the holes tested the continuity of the Laguna vein at depth beneath the past-producing Rex-Laguna gold mine; they yielded gold assays ranging from anomalous to 1.5 grams per tonne (gpt) gold across 1.0 metre. Two other holes tested recently discovered surface quartz veins, approximately 550 metres south of the Laguna vein. At 100-metre spacing, both these holes intersected the down dip continuation of the Laguna vein yielding 1.0 gpt gold across 6.0 metres including 4.2 gpt gold across 1.0 metre and 9.6 gpt gold across 1.6 metres including 18.8 gpt gold across 0.5 metres. Both holes also discovered additional gold-bearing quartz zones above and below the Laguna vein, several showing visible gold and yielding from trace to 0.3 gpt gold across 9.7 metres. A thick anomalous gold-bearing diorite (also newly discovered) averaged 0.5 gpt gold across 15.0 metres including 2.1 gpt gold across 1.3 metres and 2.0 gpt gold across 1.0 metre. The last two tested an area below the Moosehorn quartz vein, approximately 2,000 metres south of the Rex-Laguna gold mine. Assays of these holes included 2.5 gpt gold across 0.6 metres, 1.5 gpt gold across 0.5 metres and 1.4 gpt gold across 0.5 metres.
“We are pleased to have completed the first drill program at Laguna since 1944,” said Rockcliff’s president and CEO Ken Lapierre. “Kinross accelerated its $1.25M, 2 year work commitment by completing the commitment in the first 6 months of the option. With the success of the exploration and drilling, we are happy to report that Kinross will continue to advance the Laguna and the Lucky Jack properties with an additional minimum $1.0M exploration program beginning in May of 2019.”
The Rex-Laguna gold mine was Manitoba’s first and highest-grade former gold mine located within the Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt. Intermittent gold mining between 1916 and 1939 produced over 60,000 ounces of gold grading 18.7 gpt. The Laguna Gold Property includes 28 contiguous mining claims totalling 3,501 hectares, covering a minimum 6.0 kilometres of prospective strike length of the Laguna Gold Mine Trend.
KG Exploration Inc., an affiliate of Kinross Gold Corporation who optioned Laguna in mid-2018 has elected to continue with the option. They will carry out a significant exploration program this year that will include a second round of drilling. Rockcliff’s wholly owned subsidiary, Goldpath Resources Corp., holds an option to earn a 100 per cent working interest in Laguna and has optioned the property to Kinross. Rockcliff acts as operator of the exploration program at Laguna.
In respect to Rockcliff’s Bur Zone property, they advised that assay results from their Phase Two winter drill program intersected high-grade mineralization including the aforementioned 17.95 per cent ZnEq across 5.7 metres and 15.03 per cent ZnEq across 4.42 metres.
The Bur property is located 22 kilometres by road from the Hudbay copper-zinc concentrator and historical drilling has encountered disseminated, semi-massive and massive sulphide mineralization below overburden to a vertical depth of 950 metres. The property has an historical indicated resource of 1,050,000 tonnes, 8.6 per cent zinc, 1.9 per cent copper, 12.1 silver (g/t), and 0.05 gold (g/t), as well as an historical inferred resource of 302,000 tonnes, 9.0 per cent zinc, 1.4 per cent copper, 9.6 silver (g/t), and 0.08 gold (g/t). The deposit remains open in all directions.
“Our drilling confirmed significant extensions south of and above the high-grade historical Bur Zinc Deposit,” said Lapierre. “The deposit is one of the highest-grade undeveloped zinc-copper rich VMS deposits in the belt and is open along strike and at depth. The Bur property is located within the known 8,000 metre long Bur VMS Horizon. Continuing to expand the existing limits of the deposit as well as defining new areas of mineralization within this favorable horizon will be the focus of our future exploration programs at Bur.”
Rockcliff can earn a 100 per cent interest in the Bur Zinc Property through its option with Hudbay.
