S2 Resources Ltd (ASX: S2R) announced that assays received from the lower portion of diamond hole FAVD0064 have confirmed a second high-grade gold zone at the Company’s 100% owned Aarnivalkea prospect in Finland.
The company reported significant intercepts of 20.4 metres @ 2.3g/t gold in hole FAVD0064, including 8.0 metres @ 4.8g/t gold, located 575 metres north along strike from previous high-grade intercept of 6.85 metres @ 11.8g/t gold in FAVD0062, and 75 metres down dip of nearest hole on section.
S2R said that these two holes are the only holes testing the depth potential beneath the main Aarnivalkea zone previously discovered in shallow reconnaissance drilling.
The company said that the nearest diamond drill lines to FAVD0064 are 320 metres north and 120 metres south, with the former including hole FAVD0030 with 3.0 metres @ 1.3 g/t gold from 47.9 metres followed by 3m of core loss in heavily weathered bedrock. S2R said that planning is underway to follow up these significant results.
Aarnivalkea prospect
S2 Resources holds a large area of the prospective Central Lapland Greenstone Belt (CLGB) of arctic Finland under tenure via a mix of Exploration Licence applications and granted Exploration Licences.
S2’s substantial 595 square kilometre land holding in the CLGB is strategically positioned proximal to major structures prospective for both orogenic/mesothermal gold and magmatic intrusive base metal mineralisation.
The Aarnivalkea prospect is a greenfield discovery with historic BoT holes drilled in the region by Outukumpu not having been assayed for gold. It is located only 24 kilometres from Agnico Eagle’s Kittilä mine, the largest producing gold mine in Europe. The Aarnivalkea prospect is located within the Paana Central Exploration Licence. ML2018:0081.
Mineralised gold trend
In 2019, S2 discovered the mineralised gold trend at Aarnivalkea beneath shallow glacial cover in a previously unexplored area. The company said that the follow-up broad spaced shallow reconnaissance diamond drilling defined a broad zone of basement mineralisation over a +1,200 metre strike extent.
Diamond drilling at Aarnivalkea
In October 2020, the Company commenced drilling of four very widely spaced diamond holes, FAVD0061, FAVD0062, FAVD0063, and FAVD0064 to test for a range of possible down-dip and down-plunge extensions to the gold mineralisation defined in the earlier shallow drilling.
High-grade intercept was reported in hole FAVD0062 on 8th December 2020, which included 6.85 metres @ 11.8g/t gold from 223.0 metres, including 4.0 metres @ 18.1g/t gold from 223.0 metres.
S2R said that most assay results have now been received with all four holes intercepting gold mineralisation. One batch of samples from hole FAVD0063 are still awaiting assays.
The company said that the latest results from hole FAVD0064 returned a high grade intercept within a broad zone of gold mineralisation.
High-grade results from FAVD0064
S2 Resources said that FAVD0064 was the northernmost of four holes drilled in October 2020 to test for dip and plunge extensions to the gold mineralisation discovered in previous shallow reconnaissance drilling at the Company’s 100% owned Aarnivalkea prospect in Finland.
S2R announced that hole FAVD0064 returned a high grade gold intercept within a broader zone of mineralisation comprising 20.40 metres @ 2.3g/t gold from 193.1 metres, including 8.0 metres at 4.8g/t from 198.0 metres; 1.8 metres at 0.9g.t gold from 160 metres downhole; and 4.0 metres at 0.9g.t gold from 167 metres downhole.
The company announced that the assays received from the lower portion of diamond hole FAVD0064 confirm a second high-grade gold zone located 575 metres north of the high grade intercept hole FAVD0062.
Mineralisation at Aarnivalkea
S2R said that the mineralisation at Aarnivalkea remains open in all directions and there is no drilling below a depth of 120 metres between the intercepts in holes FAVD0062 and FAVD0064. The company said that the nearest shallow drill lines adjacent to FAVD0064 are located 120 metres south and 320 metres north.
Shallow DD hole FAVD0030
The company said that FAVD0030, a shallow diamond hole located on the northernmost section line (7,552,720mN), intersected 3.0 metres @ 1.3 g/t gold from 47.9 metres within strongly oxidised bedrock with 3 metres of core loss immediately after.
The company said that this intercept may reflect the presence of a deeply weathered and potentially leached sulphidic zone situated on the near surface strike projection of the new intercept in hole FAVD0064.
S2R said that its understanding of the controls on mineralisation is in its infancy. The company expressed confidence that the scale of this system (+1,200 metres total strike) and its propensity to generate high grade mineralisation is highly encouraging and warrants further drilling.
Next steps
S2R reported that at Aarnivalkea, the company is undertaking a detailed geochemical and structural study of the mineralised system to gain a better understanding of the key controls on high grade mineralisation to optimise follow-up drilling to test along strike and down-dip of the recent intersections.
The company said that the timing of this drilling will be dependent on diamond rig availability and noted that large portions of Aarnivalkea can be drilled all year round, including the zone between holes FAVD0062 and FAVD0064.
S2 Resources said that at the Palvanen exploration licence, located to the south of Aarnivalkea and adjacent to Agnico Eagle’s Kittilä gold mine, regional BOT drilling is planned across prospective stratigraphic / structural corridors to identify areas for follow-up infill BOT and diamond drill testing.
The Company reported that it is anticipating the grant of licences on the Ruopas area in the first half of 2021. Ruopas is prospective for magmatic intrusive style nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation, being located 85 kilometres west of Anglo American’s Sakatti copper-nickel-PGE deposit and 95 kilometres west Boliden’s Kevitsa nickel-copper and precious metal mine.
S2R said that the activities planned for 2021 include diamond drilling of the Ruopas 1 conductor and ground electromagnetic surveying and BOT drilling of recently identified base metal targets elsewhere on the Ruopas licence.
The company said that additional diamond drilling to follow-up the recent drill intercepts is also planned.
Management comments
S2’s Chief Executive Officer Matthew Keane said: “S2 has barely scratched the surface at Aarnivalkea after making a virgin gold discovery in 2019. The majority of holes to date have been drilled to less than 110 metres below surface on broad, 80 to 240 metre spaced section lines.
The four deeper holes drilled in October 2020 were designed to test the depth potential of the “smoke” identified in this earlier shallow reconnaissance drilling. The fact that two of the four holes identified high grade gold, some 575 metres apart, is highly encouraging”.