Sudbury-based Wallbridge Mining has completed the rehabilitation of existing underground workings and has commenced ramp development and underground diamond drilling as part of a 35,000-tonne bulk sample and underground exploration program at its 100 per cent-owned Fenelon Gold property in northwestern Quebec.
The bulk sample program is designed to test six to seven stopes in several zones. Expected overall grade from these planned stopes is estimated to be 18 to 25 g/t gold.
"With ramp development now underway we are on track to.… start ore production from the first long-hole stopes," said Marz Kord, president and CEO of Wallbridge.
READ: Wallbridge secures loan for Fenelon bulk sample
Eight thousand metres of underground drilling is also underway as part of the stope definition and resource expansion program. Assay results from one drill hole included 35.91 g/t gold over 3.42 metres, including 63.33 g/t gold over 1.70 metres.
Deeper drilling to test the down-plunge of known high-grade shoots is planned for Q4 of 2018.
A 10,000-metre surface drilling program is also scheduled to start in the latter part of this year to follow known mineralized zones and expand resources at depth and further away from the mine workings.
Wallbridge's Fenelon Gold property is located in northwestern Quebec proximal to the Sunday Lake Deformation Zone, which hosts the Detour Gold Mine in Ontario and Balmoral Resources' gold deposits at Martiniere.
Since acquiring the property in late 2016, Wallbridge has completed an updated resource estimate and a positive pre-feasibility study on the existing resource.
The current 35,000 tonne bulk sample and underground drilling program is designed to provide the information needed to make a production decision by Q1 2019.
