Drill Data Indicates the Auriferous Saprolite Unit of the Beauce Gold Paleoplacer Channel Is Thicker and Broader than Estimated
Drill Data Indicates the Auriferous Saprolite
Unit of the Beauce Gold Paleoplacer Channel
Is Thicker and Broader than Estimated
Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) -
Beauce Gold Fields
(TSXV: BGF)
(Champs
D'Or en Beauce),
("BGF" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has completed an analysis of
drill hole data comparing all historical overburden placer channel drill holes, overlaid with the Company's
2021 diamond drill program. The study revealed that the auriferous saprolite unit of the paleoplacer
channel on the Beauce Gold property located in St-Simon les Mine, Quebec, is thicker and broader than
previously estimated.
Patrick Levasseur, President and CEO of Beauce Gold Fields, said, "We are excited to have made this
new revelation on Canada's oldest pacer gold deposit." Mr. Levasseur further stated, "This could mean
the historical gold estimates of the placer channel is underestimated."
The drill holes data for analysis was sourced from the Company's 38-hole 2021 diamond drill (DDH)
program that drilled the bedrock below the paleoplacer channel, totaling 4,585 meters (see BGF press
release February 7, 2022).
Data also included 272 historical overburden drill holes from Beauce Placer
Mining Company 1959 churn drill program (Missing Drill Logs Acquired, BGF press release January 21,
2021), churn drilling Coniagas Mines 1985, sonic drilling Geological Survey of Canada (GSC 1985),
reverse circulation (RC) drilling Macamic Exploration 1987 and Uragold's 2011 sonic drill program.
The Company cautions investors to note historical drill results, grades and historical gold estimates of
the placer channel are conceptual in nature. A qualified person has not completed sufficient work to
validate historical data nor to classify mineral resources as defined by National Instrument (NI) 43-
101; it is uncertain if future exploration will result in the target being delineated as mineral resources.
Gold in Saprolite
Beneath the Quaternary glacial till layering, the Beauce paleoplacer channel contains two Tertiary
auriferous units: a brownish diamictite basal till and an underlying saprolite bedrock or fractured shales.
Before ice age glaciations, the region had undergone a long period of tropical, humid conditions,
causing deep weathering of bedrock forming saprolite profiles. A transitional zone of fractured and
oxidized shale underlies the saprolite unit. Fresh shale is present a few metres below the saprolite and
or fractured and oxidized shale.
The weathering of sulphides and substantial erosion of quartz veins and antiform folds of a conceptual
bedrock Saddle Reef formation northeast of the paleoplacer channel, would have released gold and
material that led to the formation of a thick colluvial mantle over the sides and bottom of the Gilbert river
valley.
The coarse gold grains and nuggets are both detrital and chemically derived. The former is
weathered out of the rock as gold chunks; the latter first requires that the gold goes into solution and is
then precipitated as ever-growing nuggets (accretion) in the fractured saprolite and oxidized shale
layers.
Vertical Grade Variation
The churn and reverse circulation (RC) drilling results from the 1980s allow the construction of vertical
gold concentration profiles, which are shown in Figures (1) and (2). Each represents a combination of all
the relevant drill hole results. Bedrock in both graphs is shown as zero elevation. Note the distinction
between the plotted variables, the mass of gold per 3 m vertical section, and grade, taken from the
available drill log cross-sections. Although not directly comparable, the measures accurately reflect the
vertical variation relative to the bedrock surface in the gold content of the basal (aurefous) till and the
underlying saprolitic bedrock. It suggests the saprolite bedrock holds some of the highest gold grades
on average.
Figure 1: Vertical gold mass profile based on churn drilling results at 3 m vertical intervals.
Source: Coniagas Mines Ltd report (GM44862).
Figure 2: Vertical grade profile based on reverse circulation drilling results. Source: Macamic
(and Roche) report (GM42988).
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6198/151628_3ed5a15e44722998_001full.jpg
The two graphs, Figures (1) and (2), are comparable only in the gold concentration versus elevation.
Nevertheless, part of the differences between the graphs may result from the different performances of
the two drilling systems. RC drilling is prone to creating a common effect known as "drag ore" in that they
frequently contaminate the bedrock with gold particles derived from gravels at a higher elevation.
To a
lesser extent, we may see this effect with churn drilling.
However, this is somewhat negated by sonic
drilling that recuperates complete drill cores of unconsolidated material and hard rock that allows for the
extraction of insitu gold grains. In 1985 sonic drilling by the Geological Survey of Canada extracted gold
nuggets from 2 feet of saprolite (Hole #20, 27g/m3). In 2011 UBR pulled gold grains from saprolite drill
cores G65-SO6.
Historical Paleoplacer Gold Deposit Open At Depth and Laterally
All five historical overburden drill programs from 1959 to 2011 aimed to test the basal auriferous till unit
of the paleoplacer channel for its economic potential. A hole was considered completed after a drill run
through the basal till layer into approximately 1 meter of saprolite.
The Company believes that past
operators stopped their drill holes prematurely; consequently, results might have been different had they
drilled entirely through the saprolite layer down to solid fresh shale bedrock.
An example of this disparity is Macamic's 1987 RC dill hole G80-2 drilled only 0.6 meters in the fractured
shales extracting coarse gold valued at 3.6 g/m3. In the Company's 2021 Diamond Drill hole SM-21-30,
the saprolite/fractured rock is at least 1.6 vertical meters thick in this area. According to the Company's
2021 Diamond Drill program, the saprolite and the highly fractured and oxidized shale zones developed,
on average, over 8.8 meters of vertical depth in the rock. There are places where these zones are more
than 18 meters deep.
The historical overburden drill programs positioned their drill lines perpendicular to the paleoplacer
channel for cross-section profiles.
On seven drill lines, the borehole at the end of a section was
mineralized, and, therefore zone remains open laterally.
In other words, the section or "drill line" should
have been
closed
with additional holes to confirm whether the mineralized gold zones continue.
Examples of the highest gold grades with open sections:
Hole G49-6 furthest hole to the right = 5.82 g/m3
Hole G38-8 furthest hole to the right = 1.48 g/m3
Hole G53-2 furthest hole to the right = 3.31 g/m3
Hole G59-2 furthest hole to the left = 0.53 g/m3
Hole G64-3 furthest hole to the right = 6.43 g/m3
Figure 3: Drill hole G-49-6 stopped at 1.5 meters in a mineralized (5.82gr/m3) mixture of gravel
and fractured shale. Macamic should have sampled the till segment above the mineralization,
drill deeper into it and drilled additional holes to the right to close the zone.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
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Of the Company's 38 DDH 2021 program, 25 holes recuperated a total of 275 meters of drilled core
segments of saprolite and oxidized shale layers.
The cores will be analyzed for coarse gold content.
More sonic drill holes would be needed to test the saprolite units for gold to confirm that the paleoplacer
channel is open at depth and laterally.
Sources and references: Sedar- Beauce Gold Fields 43-101 Report - Beauce July 4
th
2018, Author B.
Violette; VGP Reference (vertical grade profile): Garnett, R.H.T., 2014. "Vertical grade profiles of
offshore and coastal placers". Applied Earth Science (Trans. Inst. Min. Metall. B), vol. 123, no. 3, pp.
164-178.; Coniagas Mines Ltd. Report GM42988, Macamic (and Roche) report GM46219
Jean Bernard, B,Sc. Geo., is a qualified person, as defined by NI 43-101, who has reviewed and
approved the technical information presented in this release.
About Beauce Gold Fields
Beauce Gold Fields is a gold exploration company focused on placer to hard rock exploration in the
Beauce region of Southern Quebec.
The Company's objective is the trace old placer gold workings back
to a bedrock source to uncover economic lode gold deposits.
The Company's flagship property is the St-
Simon-les-Mines Gold project site of Canada's first gold rush that pre-dates the Yukon Klondike.
The
Beauce region hosted some of the largest historical placer gold mines in Eastern North America that
were active from 1860s to the 1960s It produced some of the largest gold nuggets in Canadian mining
history (50oz to 71oz). (Source Sedar: 43-101 Report - Beauce July 4
th
2018, , Author B. Violette)
Beauce Gold Fields website
www.beaucegold.com
Disclaimers:
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation,
statements containing the words "may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend",
"expect", "in the process" and other similar expressions which constitute "forward-looking information"
within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements reflect the Company's
current expectation and assumptions, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, our expectations regarding
mineral exploration. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future
events and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and other risks detailed from time-to-time in
the Company's on-going filings with the securities regulatory authorities, which filings can be found at
www.sedar.com
. Actual results, events, and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned
not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.
Neither the 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.
For further information contact
Patrick Levasseur, President and CEO Tel: (514) 262-9239
www.beaucegold.com
To view the source version of this press release, please visit
https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151628