Sokoman advances Moosehead gold project in Newfoundland

In November 2019, the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum's Newfoundland and Labrador branch named Sokoman Minerals (TSXV: SIC) the Prospector/Explorer of the Year for its 100%-owned Moosehead gold property.

Moosehead, 150 km to the northeast of Marathon Gold's (TSX: MOZ) Valentine Lake deposit in central Newfoundland, sits along the extension of the Cape Ray-Valentine Lake-Alder Zone structural trend.

Tim Froude, Sokoman's president, optioned the 24-sq.-km project from Altius Minerals (TSX: ALS) in November 2017, and completed the earn-in for a 100% stake in February 2019. The company has drilled 88 holes (18,600 metres) since 2018.

Moosehead gained attention in July 2018, when drill hole 18-01 intersected 12 metres of 44.96 grams gold per tonne at a depth of 109 metres, including 1 metre grading 385.85 grams gold at a depth of 115 metres. The high-grade intercept worked out to more than 10 oz. gold per tonne.

News of the drill hole sent Sokoman's shares from 5 ? to 42 ?. Within a week, mine financier and investor Eric Sprott bought two-thirds of a $3 million private placement to become the company's largest shareholder with about 15%.

Sprott's investment still helps fund the company's exploration program.

A rock sample form Sokoman Minerals' Moosehead gold project in Newfoundland. Credit: Sokoman Minerals.

Hole 18-01 was drilled to test the up-dip potential of a deep, high-grade intersection from hole 03-15 drilled in 2003 that returned 277.96 grams gold over 0.44 metre from 257 metres downhole at a vertical depth of about 200 metres. The two high grade intercepts were separated by 15 years and about 80 metres vertically.

Other historic intercepts included hole 01-13, which cut 11.05 grams gold over 17 metres from 38 metres downhole, and 02-38 that intersected 14.07 grams over 17 metres from 74 metres downhole.

Froude says the success Marathon Gold has had at its Valentine Lake deposit - now sitting at over 4 million oz. gold (2.69 million oz. in the measured and indicated category and 1.53 million oz. in the inferred) - is "changing the perception of Newfoundland as not just a place for small-scale gold deposits, but world-class ones, as well."

Sokoman's work on Moosehead is focused on the central part of the property, where the drilling, mapping and trenching identified zones of higher grade gold mineralization in both a West Trend and East Trend.

In November 2018, drill hole 18-17 on the project's East Trend returned a 25 metre intercept grading 33.56 grams gold from 79 metres downhole, including 0.50 metre of 332.21 grams gold. The intersection contains more gold than the initial intercept in hole 18-01 based on a grade times thickness calculation. As well, approximately 60 meters above this, hole 19-39 intercepted 5 metres grading 124.20 grams gold including 1 metre averaging 550.30 grams gold.

Sokoman's drill program last year produced other highlights. Drill hole 19-62 cut 5 metres of 33.59 grams gold, including 0.90 metre of 124.15 grams gold starting at a downhole depth of 240 metres. Drillhole 19-81 returned 6 metres of 17.34 grams gold from 263 metres downhole, including 75.50 grams gold over 1 metre.

Because Froude is an exploration geologist and not a structural geologist, he brought in Earth Tectonics, a consulting firm specializing in structural geology, to help him better understand the controls on Moosehead's mineralization.

Sokoman released the results of Earth Tectonics' report in November. Among the key findings were that long section interpretations suggested a main zone consisting of several south-plunging high-grade shoots in the main fault-vein system. These could include at least two lenses. The deepest drilling outlined the highest-grade mineralization with three of five intercepts equating to greater than 100 gram-metres (gold grade times thickness calculations). The mineralization is open laterally along this trend and to depth.

The study also found that Moosehead's vein style and host structures are typical of a sediment-hosted or intrusive-hosted gold system controlled by reverse or strike-slip shears in a low grade metamorphic, compressional regime. Earth Tectonics concluded that the relationship between shearing and folding at Moosehead is similar to the Bendigo-Fosterville type gold deposits in Australia. These deposits are commonly multi-structured with principal shear-vein structures having considerable strike extent and depth of greater than 1,000 metres, as at Fosterville, the study stated.

"The Earth Tectonics report has greatly strengthened the case that the Moosehead property is of significant value to the company," says Froude. "The geology, structure and style of mineralization compare favourably to the Fosterville gold deposit in Australia, which added some very high-grade gold resources to the inventory of Kirkland Lake Gold after a deep drilling program in 2015."

CEO Tim Froude at the Moosehead gold project in Newfoundland. Credit: Sokoman Minerals.

This comparison and similarity to Fosterville is not a new idea for Froude, having spent most of his exploration career in this area of Newfoundland. He was fascinated by the similarities of the common geological features of the Bendigo-Ballarat area of Australia, home to the Fosterville mine, and this region of Newfoundland. In 2005, he toured Fosterville and says he saw similarities up close, and brought back a rock sample.

Thirteen years later, after drilling Moosehead, he placed his Fosterville sample on top of a Moosehead core box. They looked identical, he says, and only the labels identified the samples came from opposite sides of the world. This comparison is now further backed by the Earth Tectonics report, he claims.

"There were many geological deposit models presumed for exploration in this camp over the years," he states, "including Nevada's Carlin and Japan's Hishikari, but now the Forsterville model will be used and may already be leading to new discoveries in the region."

Froude says it was the success at Fosterville that helped drive up the value of Kirkland Lake Gold's shares 175% in 2017, 85% in 2018 and 61% in 2019, and he likes to point out that Sprott is a major shareholder in Kirkland Lake, too, with just over a 6% stake in the company.

Sokoman is just beginning to test the project's potential, he adds.

Recent drilling has confirmed the geometry of the central area of Moosehead's East Trend, which remains open along strike and at depth. In addition, Sokoman has flagged the across-strike link with the West Trend as an area of interest.

The next step is a 3D geological model and more drilling to incorporate the structural findings from Earth Tectonics, Froude says.

"Moosehead, unlike Fosterville, has only been tested to shallow depths [of about 200 vertical metres]," he says, and "the structural report identified multiple underexplored targets that will require extensive drill testing."

At press time Sokoman was trading at 9.5 ? with a one-year trading range of 4 ? to 23 ?. The junior has 109 million common shares outstanding for a $10.3-million market capitalization.