Mr. Chris Taylor reports
GREAT BEAR DISCOVERS KEY ULTRAMAFIC GEOLOGY DURING SUMMER MAPPING PROGRAM AT DIXIE PROJECT, RED LAKE DISTRICT
Great Bear Resources Ltd. has provided results from summer geological mapping, including a new geological discovery at its flagship Dixie project in the Red Lake district of Ontario.These new findings have provided additional high-priority drill targets.A fully financed 30,000-metre, approximately 150-drill-hole program is now under way that will continue through the remainder of 2018 and 2019, with results to be released on a regular basis.
The company has identified a critical ultramafic rock unit in outcrop with an interpreted strike length of at least two kilometres.The unit is folded into the D2 fold axis that is associated with gold in the primary drill areas at Dixie.Ultramafic rocks, together with D2 folding, are considered to be primary controls on high-grade gold mineralization across the Red Lake district.
Chris Taylor, president and chief executive officer of Great Bear, said: "With generally a few metres of overburden covering most of the project, bedrock is mostly concealed at Dixie and the extensive gold system was completely missed during the historical Red Lake gold rush.This also means our drill area was not geologically mapped.Great Bear's geological interpretation suggests we are drilling a dominantly mafic greenstone belt with comparable geological, structural, alteration and gold mineralization characteristics to the main Red Lake greenstone belt, where over 30,000,000 ounces of gold has been produced from 28 gold mines."
In addition to the discovery of the key ultramafic units, results of the summer field mapping program include:
Confirmation of the location of historical surface trench results (see attached table) including high-grade gold located approximately 200 metres to the northwest of the company's recent South Limb zone (SLZ) discovery, comprising a new drill target;Identification of several additional D2-related fold hinges with potential for Hinge zone style mineralization, comprising new drill targets;Discovery of a significant geological contact between the western and eastern halves of the Dixie project.This may represent a major contact separating felsic and intermediate rocks more closely related to the Confederation greenstone belt to the east, and mafic to ultramafic units to the west (where Great Bear is drilling), which are more consistent with the main Red Lake greenstone belt to the north;Collectively, several kilometres of additional strike length of highly prospective geology have now been defined for drill testing.These targets are in addition to the original Dixie Limb zone (DLZ) target which has a geophysically defined strike length of approximately 10 kilometres and has seen most of the project's drilling.All of the more than 100 drill holes which have intersected the DLZ have encountered gold mineralization.
Great Bear will continue to explore and define its high-grade gold discoveries at the DLZ, Hinge and SLZ zones, however, the new discovery of spatially extensive ultramafic units adds an additional number of high-priority drill targets that will also be tested during the current drill program.
New ultramafic discovery provides additional drill targets
The company has identified talc-serpentine-chlorite altered ultramafic rocks in outcrop on the property approximately 1.1 kilometres southeast of its main drill area.
The outcrop is approximately 500 metres south of the main D2 fold axis which is considered a primary structure related to gold mineralization.Ultramafic rocks were exposed through recent logging-related trail construction and mapped by Great Bear.While the area surrounding the discovery outcrop is largely covered by shallow overburden, the ultramafic has a distinctly high magnetic signature which can be traced on the company's 2017 high-resolution airborne magnetic survey along strike into an interpreted fold hinge located on the D2 fold axis.
In the DLZ and Hinge zone, high-grade gold occurs at or near a competency contrast between two distinct basalt rock units and between volcanic units and sediments.The newly discovered ultramafic/basalt contact should have a more pronounced competency contrast and equal or superior potential to host gold mineralization.This would present a similar gold mineralization control to the high-grade zone at the Red Lake mine, operated by Goldcorp Inc., and presents a suite of clear drill targets for the current drill program.
Historical trench results provide new drill target
Historical trenching by Teck Resources identified silica/sulphide alteration associated with high-grade gold at what it referred to as the Main zone. This area has not been drilled by Great Bear and is located approximately 200 metres to the northwest of the recent discovery of high-grade near-surface gold mineralization in the SLZ, which included 1.75 metres of 101.05 g/t gold.The Main zone was originally drilled with two holes in 1988, neither of which tested below the high-grade trench intercepts and has not seen any drilling since that time.Re-evaluation of the outcrop and nearby drilling suggested that the zone remains open for drill testing.The attached table shows highlights of "Main zone" trench results.
HIGHLIGHTED RESULTS FROM HISTORICAL TRENCHING200 METRES TO THE NORTHWEST OF THE SLZTrench Sample width (m) Gold (g/t)A 0.11 0.140.94 0.100.30 4.460.84 0.41B 0.76 1.750.53 1.680.68 1.340.64 5.930.2024.69C 0.44 0.310.48 1.340.44 8.330.35 8.230.84 1.440.8310.01D 0.46 0.410.32 4.050.49 3.500.34 1.68Results presented in the table have been obtained from historical assessment reports and original assay records. Great Bear has not collected assay samples from the trenches to verify the historical results. Great Bear's geologists completed geological mapping of the trenches and collected rock descriptions of the channel cut samples to verify the geology.
Two styles of high-grade gold mineralization
To date, two main styles of gold mineralization have been identified at the Dixie project:
Gold within silica/sulphide replacement zones along a calc-alkaline/tholeiitic basalt contact, hosted within basalt, sediments and rhyolite stratigraphy (the DLZ)Gold in quartz veins within basaltic rocks associated with red-brown hydrothermal biotite alteration and widespread iron-carbonate veining (the Hinge zone and SLZ).
In both cases, the gold mineralization is often located proximal to one of the mapped D2 fold axes, and also occurs at or near a major lithological contact.
About Great Bear Resources Ltd.
Great Bear is earning a 100-per-cent royalty-free interest in the Dixie property for remaining payments totalling $110,000 over three years.The property consists of 9,140 hectares located an approximate 15-minute drive along Highway 105 from downtown Red Lake, Ont.The Red Lake mining district has produced over 30 million ounces of gold and is one of the premier mining districts in Canada, benefiting from major active mining operations including the Red Lake gold mine of Goldcorp Inc., plus modern infrastructure and a skilled work force.The Dixie property covers a drill and geophysically defined multikilometre gold mineralized structure similar to that hosting other producing gold mines in the district.The project has seen over 200 drill holes to date and has yielded high-grade near-surface gold results from several gold zones hosted at an extensive mineralized geological contact -- the Dixie Limb zone.In addition, Great Bear is also earning a 100-per-cent royalty-free interest in its West Madsen properties which total 3,860 hectares and are contiguous with Pure Gold Mining Inc.'s Madsen property.All of Great Bear's Red Lake projects are accessible year-round through existing roads.
R. Bob Singh, PGeo, director and vice-president of exploration for Great Bear, is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the accuracy of technical information contained in this news release.
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