Troilus Gold (TLG.T), a Canadian mineral explorer focused on advancing the past-producing gold and copper Troilus project, released results today from drilling at the Z87 pit at Troilus.
Troilus project is located in the historic Frotet-Evans Greenstone Belt northeast of the Val-d’Or district in Quebec, Canada.
The recent drill results were part of a 11,000-metre drill program intended to expand and identify higher-grade mineralization to the north.
The Z87 pit was the larger of the two formerly mined pits and still contains the most continuous and highest-grade resources at Troilus.
Results have extended high-grade mineralization more than 100 metres along strike, both to the north and the south of the previously defined main zone of Z87, furthering the growth of both estimated indicated and inferred resources.
The former Troilus mine produced two million ounces of gold and almost 70,000 tonnes of copper between 1996 and 2010.
Between these latest results and acquiring the asset in 2017, Troilus has already increased the inherited indicated mineral resource estimate by 142% to 4.96 Moz AuEq.
Highlights from the latest drill program includes 1.27 g/t AuEq over 101 metres and 1.8 g/t AuEq over five metres in hole 87-22-415 as well as 1.58 g/t AuEq over 65 metres and 1.12 g/t AuEq over 17 metres at hole 87-22-421.
Justin Reid, Troilus CEO, commented, “These drill holes represent some of the most significant results drilled to date. These outstanding results show the continued potential for growth around the formerly active open pits, with mineralization remaining open in all directions along strike. These intercepts are among the best and most continuous drilled at Troilus and demonstrate the value in our ongoing efforts focused on identifying potential economically significant expansion of known mineralization into areas not previously tested, which are easily accessible for mining. The Z87 area hosts the most continuous and highest-grade resources at Troilus, and we believe expansion of this main ore zone could materially improve the strip ratio and economics of the project. These results, coupled with other strong drill results obtained since our previously disclosed PFS [prefeasibility study] resource inclusion cut-off of March, 2022, have led to our decision to extend the timeline of our prefeasibility study to allow for the inclusion of the last four months of drill data into the mineral resource calculation, which we believe will ultimately result in a more robust mining scenario and a more accurate representation of the project. While the resource calculation and PFS reach completion, we will continue drilling north and south of the Z87 pit to build out from these spectacular results.”
The prefeasibility study and updated mineral resource estimate are now scheduled to complete by the end of the third quarter. Results will be announced as soon as they are available.
In recent news, Troilus announced that it had reached recoveries of 95.5% gold, 95.9% copper and 92.8% silver from the Z87 pilot plant test program.
According to company literature, PEA results place Troilus among the top five gold producers in the country today.
Taking the 2020 PEA into account, Troilus would be the largest Quebec copper producing asset based on 1-14 avg production of 7,358 tpa Cu, and the 12th largest in Canada.
The company reported $20.3 million in working capital as of April 30, 2022.
Currently Troilus trades at $0.49 per share for a market cap of $97.49 million.
–Gaalen Engen