The Northern Miner Sept 27 2021 Issue 20

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MINEXPO 2021: THE MINING INDUSTRY MEETS IN LAS VEGAS / 3 Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf 1 2016-06-24 4:27:20 PM

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Azimut’s Patwon appears to be widening at depth SITE VISIT

| More drilling planned, but laboratory backlogs are impeding planning progress

Taranis Resources’ B.C. bulk permitting tussle a provincial exploration industry boon | New regulations lighten the load for companies evaluating projects

REGULATIONS

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BY HENRY LAZENBY RADISSON, QUEBEC

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uebec-focused project generator Azimut Exploration (TSXV: AZM) expects the mineralized intrusion underpinning the Patwon discovery of 2019 to widen and increase in grade at depth, president and CEO Jean-Marc Lulin tells The Northern Miner. “There was plenty of visible gold evident in the core samples recovered from the June drill program, but for which results remain outstanding,” Lulin said on a recent sponsored site visit to the flagship Elmer property in the province’s remote James Bay region. It could even be that the company’s drills are closing in on a second intrusive, but until the company receives the assay results from backed-up laboratories, it would remain hard to tell. Further drilling remains halted in anticipation of the results. According to Lulin, the Patwon zone is a consistent, steeply dipping, gold-bearing zone that has been traced over a strike length of 500 metres and to a minimum depth of 450 metres, where the system remains “robust and open,” with a possible gold grade increase with depth. The average estimated actual width is about 35 metres based on the published results from 44 drill holes. True widths can reach up to 80 metres. “Patwon shows an impressive cen-

tral core that extends from surface to a minimum depth of 450 metres, with an estimated true width of 50 metres and a grade-by-thickness factor ranging from 50 to 412 (based on true widths),” says Lulin. “The core zone appears to widen to the west and with depth. It correlates spatially with a vertically dipping felsic intrusion, indicating a strong possibility for kilometre-scale vertical extent.” Patwon is an orogenic gold-bearing system in a three-kilometre-thick sequence of felsic volcanics with porphyritic intrusions, mafic volcanics, polymictic conglomerates and gabbroic sills. This deposit type classically has the potential for kilometre-scale vertical extension. To date, the team’s understanding of the mineralization is mainly related to quartz-vein networks and their wall rock alteration haloes, with pyrite as the dominant sulphide, occurring as fine-to-coarse disseminations, crosscutting stringers and semi-massive to massive lenses. Alteration comprises pervasive silica, feldspar, sericite, chlorite, carbonate and tourmaline. Native gold grains are frequent. The team has traced the northwest-southeast-trending mineralized envelope northwards, dipping an average of 75° and is subparallel to the schistosity. “It appears geometrically simple, with no internal folding or crosscutting barren dykes, commonly found in other deposits in the James Bay area,” notes Lulin.

Azimut Exploration president and CEO Jean-Marc Lulin at the Patwon discovery outcrop. AZIMUT EXPLORATION

“The preliminary geometry supports the concept of an initial openpit mining operation. The consistent high-grade component in most holes suggests the potential for an underground mining component as well,” says Lulin. The intensity of quartz veining may be partly controlled by rheologic contrasts between host lithologies (felsic intrusives, felsic volcanics and mafic rocks) within an extensive shear zone. Initial metallurgical tests indicate potentially excellent gold recoveries through a gravity circuit and cyanide leaching. Patwon is a gold-only system with no unwanted elements, such as arsenic or bismuth. Back-of-napkin calculations show Azimuth has already identified about one million ounces at substantial grade at Patwon to date. Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) formerly held the Elmer property under option from Eastmain Resources (now Fury Gold Mines (TSXV: FURY; NYSE-AM: FURY)), initially centred around the Duxbury claim, which was later folded into the larger Elmer property. Lulin says Azimut had noticed strong anomalies in its ‘big data’ analysis and had identified a strong See SITE VISIT / 16

BY HENRY LAZENBY

he recent receipt of an Environmental Management Act (EMA) permit allowing explorer Taranis Resources (TSXV: TRO; US-OTC: TNREF) to undertake a bulk sample at its Thor polymetallic project in British Columbia is a bitter-sweet victory, president and CEO John Gardiner tells The Northern Miner. The August issued permit follows the July issuance by the Energy, Mines, and Low-Carbon Innovation (EMLI) ministry of a Mines Act permit approving the 10,000-tonne bulk sample plan submitted initially by Taranis in 2018. The Mines Act permit is the principal authorization required for Taranis to execute bulk sampling activities. The permit has a duration of five years, and Taranis has already paid a portion of the reclamation bond to EMLI to commence site stability investigations this summer. Similarly, the EMA permit concludes the permitting phase for the bulk sample. But to get it, the company had to jump through regulatory hoops that led nowhere. According to Gardiner, a bulk sample is a valuable and indispensable exploration-level tool — and in many cases, it is required to assess deposits for their geological and economic viability. He says the B.C. government made sweeping changes to the Mining Act following the 2014 Mt Polley disaster. “Unknown to many exploration companies, bulk samples got swept under the rug in B.C. following the Mt Polley incident,” Gardiner says in an interview. “Essentially, the government legislated them out of existence because bulk samples could be construed as ‘mining.’” “If you told a doctor that his CATscan machine was going to be legislated out of existence, how do you think the doctor would react? More importantly, how do you think the patients would fare? “I can guarantee you that there would be many failures to diagnose critical disease — and with the ‘removal’ of bulk sampling, the determination of whether a mineral deposit is economical or not would suffer in the geological perspective,” he says.

FORECAST: MOODY’S SAYS METAL PRICES TO SOFTEN IN 2022 / 2

“THE LACK OF ANY PERMITS FOR BULK SAMPLES FOR YEARS IN THE PROVINCE WAS A COMMON OBSERVATION.” DAVID JOHNSTON PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER OF MINES OF EASTERN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Unfortunately for Taranis — a budding explorer holding a 100% interest in the Thor silver, gold, zinc, lead, and copper deposit near Trout Lake in southeastern B.C. — the company had to not only navigate permitting a bulk sample, but it also had to convince the B.C. government of the undertaking. In the process, “Taranis singleSee REGULATIONS / 2 PM40069240


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