Founders Metals Provides Antino Gold Project
Founders Metals Provides Antino Gold Project
Overview
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 5, 2023) - Founders Metals Inc. (
TSXV: FDR
)
("
Founders
" or the "
Company
") is pleased to provide an overview of the newly acquired Antino Gold
Project ("Antino") in southeastern Suriname and within the Guiana Shield gold belt (Figure 1).
The 200
km
2
Antino Project is the most advanced active gold exploration project in Suriname with over 30,000 m
of historical drilling, 35,000 auger samples, airborne geophysics, and recently acquired LiDAR data. The
concession covers an area of historical artisanal gold production with more than 500,000 reported
ounces
1
.
Project Highlights
Fully permitted for exploration, drilling, and small-scale mining on the property
An established camp that can accommodate up to 100 workers is available on site, and it is fully
connected to water, electricity, and internet services
Easily accessible by commercial flights from Paramaribo or by boat along the Lawa river
5 km from Maripasoula (pop. 12,000), providing access to a skilled local workforce
Year-round exploration possible, including rainy season (May-Jul)
Lack of systematic exploration provides significant potential for large-scale expansion and new
discoveries
Highlights from historical drilling include:
Drill hole
Length (m)
Grade (g/t Au)
Location
UA003
62.00
9.59
Upper Antino
UA004
9.64
33.25
Upper Antino
UA008
4.00
35.71
Upper Antino
UA002
8.00
11.57
Upper Antino
ADH010
10.00
8.53
Buese
ADH011
9.00
5.40
Buese
ARC128
15.00
6.10
Buese
ADH075
4.50
8.71
T1A
Figure 1. Map of the Guiana Shield Greenstone Belt with significant gold deposits and occurrences
shown. The Antino Project is in southeastern Suriname and less than 10 km from the Yaou gold deposit.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7574/161441_3caf3818d4bdeb91_002full.jpg
The Antino Gold Project
The Antino Gold Project is an advanced-stage gold exploration project located in southeastern
Suriname, within the Guiana Shield Gold Belt (Figure 1). The project is approximately 270 km from the
capital city of Paramaribo and is accessible by air to the Antino Camp airstrip or by barge along the
Maroni/Lawa River bordering French Guiana. The over 200 km
2
exploration and mining concession
(Figure 2) holds Rights to the Exploitation of Gold (Suriname mining titles), and all necessary permits for
exploration, drilling, and mining have been obtained.
The Project covers a significant area of alluvial and small-scale saprolite open pit gold mining with
~500,000 oz of reported gold production to date
1
. Alluvial gold was first discovered in the Antino area in
1891, with small-scale open-pit mining operations commencing in 1999. The current and historical
mining is concentrated in two areas known as the Upper Antino and Buese camps (Figure 2), where
open pit operations are limited to the weathered saprolite layer. Historical placer mining operations
found success along the many creeks on the property. The ongoing permitted mining activity in the area
provides significant infrastructure and support for exploration and drilling programs. Local operators
provide Founders with already on-site accommodations, communications, exploration equipment, heavy
machinery, and personnel resulting in very cost-effective exploration and drilling work.
Figure 2 - Map of the Antino Project.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7574/161441_3caf3818d4bdeb91_003full.jpg
Geology and Mineralization Overview
The Antino Gold Project is in southeastern Suriname, in the heart of the Guiana Shield. This
underexplored region is home to numerous world-class gold deposits with combined gold resources of
over 110 million ounces. Regionally extensive greenstone belts (Figure 1) consisting of metamorphosed
volcanic and sedimentary rocks variably intruded by granitic bodies, host most of the Guiana Shield's
gold deposits. In Suriname, the gold-rich greenstones extend throughout much of the northeast and east
portions of the country. The Marowijne Group volcano-sedimentary stratigraphy that underlies the Antino
Project is a well-known host of major gold deposits in the region including, Suriname's Rosebel mine
(22.1 M oz
1
), and the Yaou gold deposit (1.63 M oz
2
) located less than 10 km from Antino across the
Suriname-French Guyana border.
The Marowijne Group rocks at Antino consist of an arcuate package of amphibolite, andesite, chlorite-
sericite schist, metagraywacke, siltstone, and tonalitic intrusions crosscut by several regional-scale
shear zones
3
. These shears make ideal fluid pathways for transporting gold-rich fluids from depth and
are an important control on mineralization at Antino. These shear structures commonly contain high-
grade, gold-bearing quartz and quartz-carbonate veins and local quartz breccias systems surrounded by
lower-grade halos. Where they cut intermediate intrusive rocks, mineralization is more widespread
making these bodies excellent moderate to high-grade bulk-tonnage targets.
Figure 3. Map of elevated Au in soil/auger samples in target zones and along regional NW structure.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7574/161441_3caf3818d4bdeb91_004full.jpg
The property's most prominent structural feature is the kilometre-scale Antino Shear Zone (Figure 3 -
mineralized structural corridor) that transects the Upper Antino and Buese mining camps. Gold
mineralization along this structure is commonly linked to abundant higher-order faults or splays off the
main structure. Auger sampling data show gold mineralization occurring over more than 8 km of strike
length, supporting a link between the Upper Antino and Buese Camps. In addition, these data show
other km-scale gold trends, providing future exploration upside through near property-wide, large-scale
gold mineralization (Figure 3).
Upcoming in 2023
Preparations and planning are underway for an early summer 2023 diamond drill program and details of
this year's exploration plan will follow in future news. Founders' technical team is also working on the
preliminary results from a recent bedrock and alteration mapping program that included an extensive
surface sampling program. The results of that work are pending and will be released as they become
available. Founders' CEO, Colin Padget, commented, "The historical mining on the property shows us
there is plenty of gold in the weathered surface material and historical drill results confirm mineralization
continues to depth. Our team is very excited to be moving ahead at Antino and looking forward to the
results from the upcoming 2023 drill program. As the most advanced gold exploration project in
Suriname, we see Antino as having the potential to grow into a significant gold asset in Suriname and
the Guiana Shield."
About Founders Metals Inc.
Founders Metals is a Canadian exploration company focused on advancing gold projects in the Guiana
Shield. Its flagship project is the over 20,0000 ha Antino Gold Project in South America's underexplored
and mining-friendly country of Suriname. Historical surface/alluvial gold mining on the property has
produced over 500,000 gold ounces to date
1
. Historical exploration work at Antino includes, over 30,000
m of historical drilling, >35,000 auger gold-in-soil samples, property-wide aeromagnetic survey data,
and a 2022 LiDAR survey, providing numerous opportunities to expand known high-grade greenstone
gold mineralization and delineate new targets.
1
2022 Technical Report - Antino Project; Suriname, South America. K. Raffle, BSc, P.Geo & Rock Lefrançois, BSc, P.Geo.
2
March 31, 2022 Orea Mining Press Release
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Per:
"Colin Padget"
Colin Padget
President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director
For further information, please contact:
Dave Burwell
Vice President, The Howard Group
Telephone: +1 (403) 410-7907
Email:
Nick Stajduhar
Director, Founders Metals
Telephone: +1 (780) 701-3216
Email:
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This news release may contain certain "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the
Company's actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results,
performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-
looking information speaks only as of the date of this news release. Except as may be required by
applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking
statement, whether because of new information or future events, or results or otherwise.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit
https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/161441