Galleon Gold (TSXV: GGO) is planning to take an 86,500-tonne bulk sample from high-grade zone #9 at its West Cache gold project, located 13 km west of Timmins, Ont., on provincial highway 101. The advanced-stage exploration property convers about 10,370 ha.
President and CEO David Russell said in a release, that last year was challenging for the junior mining sector, and Galleon Gold was not immune to the malaise. The company sold non-core assets to raise the funds to continue work on permitting West Cache. The company has completed its work to apply for the closure plan, environmental approvals, and water permit.
The bulk sample has been designed for approximately 86,500 tonnes grading 8.13 g/t gold and containing an estimated 22,600 oz. of gold in situ. The mine plan has been developed with a ramp for single panel transverse longhole stoping based on a two-production level and four stope plan. In total, 2,525 meters of underground development has been designed for the bulk sample access and extraction. Drill stations for underground exploration will be included as part of the design.
Galleon noted that less than 10% of West Cache has been drill tested, and its grassroots exploration of new targets will continue, first from surface and eventually from underground. Targets will be selected following geological interpretation modelling and target work. Recent and historic VTEM and soil geochemistry indicate mineralized trends to the north and south of known resource areas. Drilling done last year in the South zone returned 8.76 g/t gold over 1.8 metres, 2.3 g/t gold over 5.5 metres, and 3.2 g/t gold over 3.2 metres.
The West Cache resource was calculated as part of the preliminary economic assessment in 2022. It contains 4.1 million indicated tonnes averaging 3.63 g/t gold (427,000 contained oz.) and 11.8 million inferred tonnes at 2.87 g/t gold (1.1 million contained oz.)
More details about the plans for West Cache are posted on www.GalleonGold.com.
