Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. (TSX: KL | NYSE: KL |ASX: KLA) announced that the new wide, high-grade intersections from drilling along the Detour Mine Trend at the Detour Lake property in Northern Ontario, Canada, highlight significant potential for mineral resource growth between the existing Main Pit and planned West Pit location.
The company said that the new high-grade intersections near bottom of Mineral Resource pit shell in Saddle Zone highlighted the potential for growth in open-pit and underground Mineral Resources. Significant results included 1.13 gpt over 155.1 metres; 9.02 gpt over 13.0 m; and 1.01 gpt over 42.6 m.
KLA said that the drilling in Central Saddle Zone continued to intersect exceptional grades and widths at shallow depths, while the drilling in Eastern portion of Saddle Zone confirmed continuity of mineralization to the west and below Main Pit Mineral Reserve pit shell.
The company said that the drilling below West Pit Mineral Reserve intersected broad zones of mineralization extending to depth, while the drilling west of planned West Pit intersected mineralization up to 425 m west of existing Mineral Reserves.
Drilling at Detour Lake
The company had recently commenced a 270,000 m exploration program at Detour Lake, targeting completion by the end of 2021. The program was aimed at collecting information for an updated, and potentially expanded, Mineral Reserve and to support the completion of a new production plan, expected to be released in early 2022.
KLA has now reported new results from the drilling in the Saddle Zone, located between the existing Main Pit and planned West Pit locations, and from the area west of the West Pit Mineral Reserves. The company said that the results from 38 holes and two wedge holes (23,911 m) of drilling along the Detour Mine Trend at the Detour Lake property have been quite encouraging.
Central Portion of the Saddle Zone
The company said that the drilling at the central portion of the Saddle Zone intersected exceptional grades and widths at shallow depths, further demonstrating continuity of mineralized corridor connecting Main Pit and planned West Pit location. Drilling in the central portion of the Saddle Zone included nine holes and one wedge hole (6,445 m).
Significant results from the drilling included: 1.13 gpt over 155.1 m, 1.90 gpt over 32.7 m, incl. 15.07 gpt over 2.1 m, 3.98 gpt over 9.3 m, 1.0 gpt over 29.2 m, 18.87 gpt over 2.6 m and 2.0 gpt over 10.0 m from hole DLM-21-103; 9.02 gpt over 13.0 m, 2.21 gpt over 26.0 m, incl. 5.15 gpt over 8.0 m, 1.84 gpt over 11.0 m and 9.99 gpt over 2.0 m from hole DLM-20-079BW; 1.56 gpt over 70.2 m, 31.91 gpt over 5.0 m, 3.18 gpt over 10.0 m, 18.45 gpt over 2.3 m, 17.40 gpt over 3.2 m 15.10 gpt over 2.0 m and 3.35 gpt over 9.0 m from hole DLM-20-092; 1.37 gpt over 43.1 m, incl. 12.17 gpt over 3.0 m, 1.37 gpt over 19.2 m, 1.33 gpt over 11.0 m, 0.71 gpt 67.2 m and 9.28 gpt over 2.0 m from hole DLM-20-078 and 1.10 gpt over 42.6 m from hole DM-21-144 which targeted the DMT between 200 and 400 m below surface as well as at depth.
Additional significant results included: 1.08 gpt over 56.0 m, incl. 13.01 gpt over 2.0 m and 3.38 gpt over 10.0 m, incl. 14.76 gpt over 2.0 m from hole DLM-20-79B, 1.34 gpt over 40.0 m, 0.71 gpt over 81.6 m and 0.86 gpt over 37.2 m from hole DLM-21-098A; 0.94 gpt over 56.2 m and 0.99 gpt 18.1 m from hole DLM-20-085A and 1.42 gpt over 19.9 m and 0.73 gpt over 15.0 m from hole DLM-21-106 which targeted the DMT between 100 and 200 m below surface.
Eastern portion of Saddle Zone
The company said that the drilling in Eastern portion of Saddle Zone confirmed continuity of mineralization to the west and below Main Pit Mineral Reserve pit shell.
Key intercepts included 1.96 gpt over 60.4 m and 2.12 gpt over 36.3 m, incl. 21.45 gpt over 2.0 m from hole DLM-21-111; 0.90 gpt over 103.0 m and 90.03 gpt over 2.5 m from hole DLM-20-099; 0.81 gpt over 131.0m from hole DLM-21-151; 1.49 gpt over 64.8 m, including 23.95 gpt over 2.0 m and 2.54 gpt over 35.1 m, incl. 27.77 gpt over 2.0 m from hole DLM-21-126, 1.08 gpt over 75.0 and 1.04 gpt over 33.8 m from hole DLM-21-090 and 3.91 gpt over 23.0 m, including 35.66 gpt over 2.0 m from hole DLM-21-127.
West Pit
The company said that drilling below West Pit Mineral Reserve intersected broad zones of mineralization extending to depth.
Significant results from the drilling included: 2.94 gpt over 51.9 m, including 29.37 gpt over 4.0 m, 1.41 gpt over 47.2 m and 0.92 gpt over 46.2 from DLM-21-122; 2.37 gpt over 36.0 m, 2.58 gpt over 10.0m and 095 gpt over 30.7 m from hole DLMa-21-102A.
West Pit Extension
KLA said that the drilling west of planned West Pit intersected mineralization up to 425 m west of existing Mineral Reserves.
Significant results from the drilling included: 0.75 gpt over 41.5m from hole DLM-21-135 which intersected the DMT approximately 100 m west of the current Mineral Reserve pit shell in the planned West Pit, as well as 10.66 gpt over 13.0 m, including 34.51 gpt over 3.0 m, 23.92 gpt over 2.3 m, 3.52 gpt over 5.0 m and 0.65 gpt over 47.8 m from hole DLM-21-119A and 1.14 gpt over 78.4 m from hole DLM-20-060 which intersected this structure between 200 to 400 m to the west.
Management comments
Tony Makuch, President and CEO of Kirkland Lake Gold, said: “We continue to have a great deal of success drilling along the DMT. New wide, high-grade intersections continue to confirm the continuity of the mineralized corridor connecting the Main Pit and planned West Pit.
We are also having success intersecting high-grade mineralization near the bottom of the Mineral Resource pit shell in the Saddle Zone, which highlights the potential to add significant new open-pit, and possibly underground, Mineral Resources. We also continue to expand mineralization to the west of the planned West Pit, indicating that we have yet to determine the full expanse of the deposit running along the DMT. We are continuing our extensive drill program at Detour Lake, following up on each of the key targets, with 12 drills currently working and plans to complete 270,000 m of drilling during 2021.
When we issued the new technical report for Detour Lake at the end of March, we described it as an important milestone for the project that included expanded production, low unit costs, a long mine life and attractive economics.
We also indicated that it was very much an interim report, that we fully expect to improve upon when we factor the substantial exploration success we are achieving into a new technical report and life-of-mine plan next year. The drilling results we have announced today provide us with even greater confidence that the 2022 technical report will clearly establish Detour Lake as one of the world’s premier gold mines.”
Image Source: Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd