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Dore Copper options Joe Mann gold mine in Quebec
Recently listed Dore Copper Mining (TSXV: DCMC) has signed an option agreement to acquire 100% of the Joe Mann gold mine in Quebec. The project is 50 km from the company’s Copper Rand mill, which previously processed material from the mine between 2004 and the mine’s closure in 2007.
The 2,700-tonne-per-day Copper Rand concentrator is 8 km southwest of Chibougamau.
The Joe Mann gold mine, privately held since 2008, operated for 27 years between 1956 and 2007 and produced 1.2 million oz. gold at a grade of 8.26 grams gold per tonne; 607,000 oz. silver at 5 grams silver per tonne; and 28.7 million lb. copper at a grade of 0.25% copper.
The mine remains open at depth and along strike, and the property offers exploration targets, Ernest Mast, Dore Copper’s president and CEO, says in a press release, noting that exploration will focus on the potential to extend high-grade mineralization at depth as well as defining new mineralized zones, all of which are accessible from an existing 1,145-metre shaft. (The shaft was last deepened in 2001.)
After the mine closed, three holes were drilled from underground to test the depth extensions of the mine, 170 metres below the lowest level (1,051 metres below surface). Hole 189B intersected the main zone and returned 26.66 grams gold over 2 metres and 14.72 grams gold over 1 metre. Hole 188 also intersected the main zone and cut 30.3 grams gold and 1.3% copper over 3 metres and in the south zone, 9.23 grams gold over 1 metre.
“We believe Joe Mann may demonstrate similar potential to Wesdome’s Eagle River, Alamos Gold’s Island Gold, or Kirkland Lake’s Macassa mine,” Mast says, “where the high-grade gold deposits not only continue at depth but with improved grades while yielding new discoveries.”
Mast notes that one of the highest priority targets lies in the more recently discovered West Zone, which is a potential structural off-set that allows much thicker, higher grade veins to form, and which remains open. Historic mined intercepts in the area include: 2 metres of 24.62 grams gold per tonne; 4 metres of 31.54 grams gold; and 3 metres of 24.28 grams gold. Unmined historic intercepts include: 5 metres of 10.3 grams gold; 3 metres of 166.1 grams gold; and 3 metres of 10.4 grams gold.
In 2017, an airborne magnetic survey identified several moderate to strong magnetic anomalies.
In addition, recent surface prospecting has identified new parallel zones several hundred metres to the south of the main mine.
Under a staged cash-and-shares option agreement with Ressources Jessie and Legault, a 2% net smelter return royalty is also granted to Ressources Jessie, which will have the option to buy back 1% for $2 million and a further 0.5% for $4 million.
At the end of December, the company completed the second tranche of a private placement of flow-through shares that raised $4.5 million.