Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSX.V: SIC) has announced the final results of the 1,260 C-Horizon tills taken on the Fleur de Lys project located in the Baie Verte Peninsula in northern-central Newfoundland. The results have established the potential of the Fleur de Lys Supergroup to host considerable gold deposits, similar to the ones found in the Dalradian Supergroup in Northern Ireland and Scotland, which are at an advanced stage of development. It is assumed that the Fleur de Lys and the Dalradian Supergroups are analogous sequences of metamorphic rocks associated with significant fault lines.
Tim Froude, the President and CEO of Sokoman Minerals, expressed his satisfaction with the success of the till program in identifying distinctive gold in tills lying on top of geologically-promising rocks and structures that have yielded impressive gold values in both loose material and bedrock. Froude stressed that the property is well-suited for cost-effective exploration, considering the local population’s supportiveness, existing mines, and supporting businesses. Froude further outlined that the anomalous areas are receiving utmost priority for further prospecting, trenching, or even rapid progression to the diamond drilling stage. Planning will include a review of data by Overburden Drilling Management (ODM) with input from the field teams. ODM’s preliminary interpretation of the till results revealed a target area that is 30 kilometers long, wherein the better-defined anomalies are located.
Overburden Drilling Management (ODM) of Ottawa, which is managing the Fleur de Lys Project, reports that the average amount of gold grains in the 10- to 12-kilogram samples of screened till is 10 grains. ODM has defined samples with double that amount, or 20 grains, as anomalous. Of the 1,260 samples collected, 328, or 25%, have at least 20 gold grains, with the highest amount being 230 grains. Moreover, 55 samples are found to have 60 grains of gold, and some have more than 50% of gold grains in pristine condition, which is believed to have originated from a local bedrock source within 200 meters. Furthermore, prospecting has revealed gold grains in tills, bedrock, and float samples that gave gold values exceeding 100 ppb Au (0.1 g/t Au). Of these samples, 18 exceeded 500 ppb Au (0.5 g/t Au), and 10 exceeded 1000 ppb Au (>1.0 g/t Au), with the highest reading being 4.6 g/t Au. The maximum gold value was found in outcrops in a region where gold-grain counts were abundant.
The Fleur de Lys Supergroup, the basis of the Project, is composed of the same type of rocks as the Dalradian Supergroup of the UK. This Supergroup is the source of three major gold deposits: the Curraghinalt and Cavanacaw deposits in Northern Ireland and Cononish in Scotland. Gold deposits of the Dalradian type are usually found in moderate to highly metamorphic regions and are of a high grade; the Curraghinalt deposit, for example, has more than 6 million ounces of NI 43-101 compliant gold resources, including 6.3 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated at 14.95 grams per tonne, equaling 3.06 million ounces, as well as 7.72 million tonnes at 12.24 grams per tonne gold in the Inferred category, amounting to 3.03 million ounces (2018 Mineral Resource Statement, Curraghinalt Gold Project, Northern Ireland, SRK Consulting Canada).
