Foran Mining is working on yet another possible mineralization zone by its McIlvenna Bay property near Flin Flon.
Foran released results from two areas near its McIlvenna Bay project June 28, publishing assay results from its Bigstone project (located about 25 kilometres west of McIlvenna Bay) and its Marconi prospect, about 500 metres east of Bigstone.
At Bigstone, 15 holes have been drilled in the past year, along with infill drilling done after the initial holes. With the new site at Marconi, initial surveys seem to show a 900-metre-long line of anomalous copper mineralization, backed up by results from 13 historic drill holes not far from Bigstone.
Many of the Bigstone holes show lower copper grades, but five of the holes have shown more than one per cent copper in assay results, along with seven holes showing more than 10 per cent zinc grade.
Foran drilled a pair of holes last year at the Marconi site, finding results with moderate grade copper (higher than .5 per cent copper) intercut with higher grade zones (higher than one per cent copper) in some areas. Historic drilling results from the site have shown very little zinc, but some holes have shown higher copper grades.
This summer, the company plans to extend drilling at Marconi, drilling seven new holes and covering about 3,000 metres of total drill length, focusing on higher grade zones.
The results come not long after initial assay results from a new area, known as the Tesla zone, were released. Those results, released earlier this month, showed results the company considered to be “a potential game-changer”, according to statements made by Foran executive chairman and CEO Dan Myerson at the time. The Marconi prospect was found through the same magnetic and fixed-loop surface electromagnetic surveying that found the Tesla zone.
“On the back of our new discovery at Tesla, we are excited to announce more exploration success at Bigstone-Marconi. These results continue to underpin our strategy to explore and discover near-mine opportunities under a centralized milling scenario,” Myerson said of the Marconi results in the company’s June 28 statement.
“We continue to intercept high grade copper and zinc mineralization, but recent work outlines a substantial opportunity to also uncover extensive anomalous gold zones. It is evident that our exploration techniques are working, and this is only the tip of the iceberg given our vast canvas of targets. Through systematic exploration and drilling, there is significant potential to transform our properties into the next major mining camp in Canada.”
