VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Solstice Gold Corp. (TSXV: SGC) (“Solstice”, “we”, “our” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an update on the exploration plans for its 100% owned New Frontier (“NF”) project, located in the northern extension of the prolific Red Lake Gold Camp (the ”Camp”).
New Frontier is approximately 20 km NW of our Red Lake Extension (RLX) project which is permitted and funded for 5,000m of Phase 1 drilling, planned to commence in early June, 2022 (see Figure 1 for both project locations). In this news release we provide compilation data from New Frontier showing gold in float and clusters of elevated gold and silver in third-party tills. Both data sets are in association with a major shear zone suggesting high potential for future gold discoveries which will be the objective of our planned 2022 field program.
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Pablo McDonald as Exploration Manager. Mr. McDonald is a mining professional with over ten years of experience on a diverse range of projects from greenfield exploration programs to some of the largest mines in the world. He comes to Solstice after spending nearly a decade in consulting with mid-tier and major mining companies where he designed and executed projects critical to extending mine life, most recently at the Peñasquito mine in Mexico. His experience includes projects in North and South America, Europe, and Africa. Mr. McDonald holds a bachelor Geological Engineering from Queen’s University.
The Company is also pleased to note that we have partnered with Vital Drilling Services based in Sudbury Ontario for our Red Lake program and Rimini Exploration and Consulting Ltd. based in Red Lake to assist with project logistics. Actlabs in Thunder Bay will be providing analytical services.
Mike Timmins, Solstice CEO stated, “As we make final preparations to support our upcoming drill campaign, we wanted to provide further detail on the various target areas beyond the Red Lake Extension project. New Frontier, while earlier stage than our drill targets to the south, is a compelling regional target at the confluence of crustal-scale structures and elevated geochemistry. Our goal is to bring New Frontier to the drill stage by the end of 2023 to add even more potential to our Red Lake project. We would also like to welcome Pablo McDonald as Exploration Manager, an excellent addition to our small core group. The team is very excited to be able to drill test RLX, a prospective yet underexplored area of the Camp, systematically for the first time.”
David Adamson, Solstice Chairman stated, “The Red Lake Gold District is one of the most prolific gold districts in the world. We now control 75km of the northwestern extension of the Camp through a combination of staking and third-party acquisitions. Despite their documented location within the area and their likely association with major crustal faults, both RLX and New Frontier are unexplored. Recent discoveries like Dixie, which is also associated with a deep-tapping seismic structure and lies outside the traditional core mining area, highlight the potential for new discoveries by the application of new exploration thinking and modern techniques in hitherto overlooked Camp extensions. Our goal is to demonstrate this potential at RLX through our upcoming Phase 1 drill program due to start in early June.”
Figure 1. Red Lake property location map with regional till data from assessment record (Agnico Eagle Mines, 2009). E1 and E2 refer to the general location of major structures interpreted by third parties from seismic data – see text for details.
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New Frontier - General Setting and Association with Major Crustal Structures
In February 2021, the Ontario Geological Survey (“OGS”) highlighted the northern extension of the Red Lake Camp in its annual ‘recommendations for exploration’ publication1. In that report the OSG drew attention to the interpretation of seismic profile data2,3. Collectively, these references identify two major crustal features, named E1 and E2. According to the OGS, similar structures further to the south occur close to the Red Lake Mine trend and the Dixie Project (LP Fault) owned by Evolution Mining and Kinross Gold Corporation, respectively. Both E1 and E2, may represent major deep-tapping crustal features which, elsewhere in Red Lake are associated with major gold deposits. Solstice controls the surface projections of both major structures at its RLX and New Frontier projects respectively.
At RLX, we have carried out a systematic exploration program of mapping, soil sampling and airborne magnetic and electromagnetic surveys. Planning for a 5,000m initial drill program is near completion and drilling will commence in early summer 2022. RLX hosts approximately 16km of underexplored Red Lake geology and structure that has not benefited from the application of modern exploration methods or the application of new geological models including the recognition of regional deep-tapping structural architecture. For more project details, please see our news release dated March 14, 2022. We expect to provide ongoing updates on our drill targeting in the coming weeks. At New Frontier, we will apply the same systematic approach. Below we provide a compilation of the project which forms a strong foundation for summer 2022 programs.
New Frontier Summary
The New Frontier project (Figure 2) covers approximately 11km strike length of Red Lake geology immediately adjacent to the interpreted E2 seismic structure with good road access from Red Lake. Lewis (2021)1 summarizes the property area thus:
“The Berens Lake South Arm area is interpreted to be the location of a deep-tapping seismic structure. Such structures have a close relationship to gold mining and mineral exploration within the Red Lake District. The South Arm area has received very limited historical exploration interest but has some very encouraging characteristics that indicate the presence of excellent opportunities for the discovery of gold mineralization. The identification of a deep-tapping seismic structure that correlates with shear zones from preliminary geological mapping indicates the potential existence of a conduit for migrating gold-bearing fluids. A pyrite-bearing carbonate altered grab sample containing 1.02 g/t Au and 2 overburden samples above the 95th and 99th percentile for gold provides evidence that gold mineralization exists within the South Arm area and makes it an interesting gold exploration target area.”
Figure 2. Compilation of New Frontier project information from public sources. Mapping is by Buse and Prefontaine (2007)4. Till data is from filed assessment data by Agnico5. One outlier value of 4,389 ppb Au removed for gold in till statistics.
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Gold in float, clusters of gold and silver in historic tills - both in association with a major shear zone.
In addition to the above features, the NF project area was part of a 2009 regional till survey carried out by Agnico Eagle Mines Limited. (“Agnico”). Clusters of gold and silver anomalies in tills occur at NF and 99% percentile gold anomalies occur very close to the 1.02 g/t Ontario Geological Survey (“OGS”) float sample referred to above. Also, the south part of the property contains airborne electromagnetic anomalies which occur close to anomalous gold in float, anomalous gold and silver in tills and the major shear zone which can be defined from OGS mapping and magnetic data. Collectively these features suggest high potential for the discovery of additional gold mineralization.
Field work to commence in summer 2022
We plan to carry out mapping and prospecting on the ground in the summer 2022. We have shown at RLX that humus sampling for gold and pathfinder elements is an effective technique so we will plan to include soil sampling at NF in areas of poor outcrop. The objective of the program will be to find gold in basement rock and/or areas of elevated soils to support the development of drill targets.
| 1 Lewis, S.O. 2021. Deep tapping seismic structure in the Red Lake district; in Ontario Geological Survey, Resident Geologist Program, Recommendations for Exploration 2020-2021, p.9-13. 2 Calvert, Andrew J. and Cruden, Alexander R. 2004. Seismic evidence for the preservation of the Archean Uchi granite-greenstone belt by crustal-scale extension. Tectonophysics 388 p.135-143 3 Lewis, S.O. 2021. Deep tapping seismic structure in the Red Lake district; in Ontario Geological Survey, Resident Geologist Program, Recommendations for Exploration 2020-2021, p.9-13. 4 Buse, S. and Préfontaine, S. 2007. Precambrian geology of the McInnes Lake greenstone belt, the supracrustal remnants study area and the Frame Lake pluton, Berens River Subprovince, Ontario; Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 6210, 128p. 5 IOS ServicesGeoscientifiques2009. Overburden Sampling Program, Red Lake Area, Ontario. Red Lake North Project. Ontario AFRI assessment file No. 2.44161. |
About Solstice Gold Corp.
Solstice is an exploration company with quality, district-scale gold projects in established mining regions of Canada. Our 180 km2 Red Lake land position is located on the northwestern extensions of the prolific Red Lake Gold Camp in Ontario. RLX is approximately 45km from the Red Lake Mine Complex owned by Evolution Mining. The Company is funded for phase one drilling in Red Lake. Our newly formed 322km2 Atikokan Gold Project is approximately 23km from the Hammond Reef Gold Project owned by Agnico Eagle Mines Limited and is fully funded for a robust field program in 2022. Our district scale Qaiqtuq Gold Project which covers 886 km2 with certain other rights covering an adjacent 683 km2, hosts a 10 km2 gold boulder field and is fully permitted with multiple drill-ready targets. Qaiqtuq is located in Nunavut, Canada, only 26 km from Rankin Inlet and approximately 7 km from the Meliadine gold deposits owned by Agnico Eagle Mines Limited.
Solstice is committed to responsible exploration and development in the communities in which we work. For more details on Solstice Gold, our exploration projects and details on our recently acquired portfolio of projects please see our Corporate Presentation available at www.solsticegold.com.
David Adamson was a co-award winner for the discovery of Battle North Gold Corporation's Bateman Gold deposit and was instrumental in the acquisition of many of the district properties in the Battle North portfolio during his successful 16 years of exploration in the Red Lake.
Sandy Barham, M.Sc., P.Geo., Senior Geologist, is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 standards responsible for reviewing and approving the technical disclosures of this news release.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
On Behalf of Solstice Gold Corp.
Mike Timmins, Chief Executive Officer
For further information on Solstice Gold Corp., please visit our website at www.solsticegold.com or contact:
Phone: (604) 283-7234
Forward-Looking Statements and Additional Cautionary Language
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements (“FLS”) including, but not limited to upcoming summer and fall field programs at New Frontier in 2022, bringing the project to the drill stage by the end of 2023, and phase 1 drilling at RLX commencing in early summer 2022. FLS can often be identified by forward-looking words such as “approximate or (~)”, “emerging”, “goal”, “plan”, “intent”, “estimate”, “expects”, “potential”, “scheduled”, “may” and “will” or similar words suggesting future outcomes or other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. There is also no guarantee that continued exploration at Solstice exploration projects, all of which are at an early stage of exploration, will lead to the discovery of an economic gold deposit. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any FLS include, but are not limited to, unforeseen delays related to drilling, the future impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic and government response to such pandemic, the ability of the Company to continue exploration at its projects during the pandemic and the risk of future lack of access to the projects as a result thereof, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, inability to locate source rocks, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects, regulatory approvals and other factors. FLS are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results.
Potential shareholders and prospective investors should be aware that these statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the FLS. Shareholders are cautioned not to place undue reliance on FLS. By their nature FLS involve numerous assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and various future events will not occur. Solstice undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any FLS whether as a result of new information, future events or other such factors which affect this information, except as required by law.
This news release contains information with respect to adjacent or other mineral properties in respect of which the Company has no interest or rights to explore or mine or acquire. Readers are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent or similar properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on the Company’s properties, nor is there certainty that Solstice’s projects will contain economic mineralization. This news release mentions other companies that are unrelated to Solstice, and this does not imply any agreements, partnerships, or rights with respect to any of these companies or their properties other than where explicitly defined. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance, and all investors are urged to consult their investment professionals before making an investment decision.
