Resource World Magazine

66 www.resourceworld.com D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8 MINING Hat trick for Eastmain Resources by Ellsworth Dickson Left are geologists Gilles Kamta Fotio, PGeo, and Jessica Borysenko, PGeo. To the far right geo technician Sophie Fielder. The group is examining an outcrop at the Broker vein on the Clearwater Project, northern Québec. Photo courtesy Eastmain Resources Inc. IT'S NOT OFTEN a single company has three very good gold projects in one region; however, such is the case for Eastmain Resources Inc. [ER-TSX; EANRF-OTCQX]. The company has been building gold resources at two of its projects in the James Bay region of northern Québec – the Eastmain Mine Project and the Clearwater Project with its Eau Claire deposit – and has recently reported a discovery with excellent channel sampling assays from its Éléonore South joint venture near the Goldcorp Inc. [G-TSX; GG-NYSE] Éléonore gold mine. The Éléonore South joint venture project, located adjacent to the southeast of the Éléonore Mine property, is comprised of Eastmain, 36.7%, Goldcorp, 36.7%, and Azimut Exploration Inc. [AZM-TSXV], 26.6%, the operator. The underground Éléonore Mine is a major operation that is expected to produce some 315,000 ounces of gold in 2017. Encouraged by excellent earlier drill results, the partners stepped out to strip and channel sample a prospective "corri- dor" to the southwest. A 6-metre wide, high-grade, gold-bearing vein system was exposed along a 36-metre NE-SW strike length. Channel sample highlights included 24.2 g/t gold over 3.80 metres, 51.4 g/t over 5.30 metres, 53.8 g/t over 4.55 metres and 79.6 g/t over 4.25 metres, plus other good assays. Another vein, about 15 metres southeast from the vein system noted above, returned 47.1 g/t gold over 7.70 metres and 35.6 g/t gold over 1.35 metres. The channel sampling is part of the $3.9 million 2017/2018 exploration program that includes 8,000 metres of drilling, geochemical and geophysical exploration and pros- pecting. Phase 1 of the drilling program is completed with assays pending on 18 holes (4,443 metres) targeting the prospective cor- ridor. Phase 2 is planned for January to March 2018. Meanwhile, trending to the southeast is Eastmain's 100%- owned Clearwater Project that hosts the Eau Claire gold deposit. Ongoing exploration has demonstrated increased grade and con- tinuity of gold mineralization. Eau Claire's geometry and grade is amenable for both open pit and underground mining. A recent independent NI 43-101 Technical Report states that Eau Claire measured and indicated resources are 4,170,000 tonnes at 6.16 g/t gold totalling 826,000 oz, while inferred resources are 2,227,000 tonnes at 6.49 g/t gold totalling 465,000 oz. The resource estimate includes an open pit resource at a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t gold within a conceptual pit shell and an underground resource at a cut-off grade of 2.5 g/t gold outside the conceptual pit shell. The report recommends engineering, environmental, permit- ting, and other studies, including continued resource definition, exploration drilling, rock and soil geotechnical, and hydrogeology investigations, environmental baseline studies, permitting, and social or community impact assessments and a Preliminary Economic Assessment that the company expects to complete in Q2 2018. At Eau Claire there are two sets of gold-bearing veins crossing each other at a sharp angle representing two different mineral- izing events. The older high-grade schist veins, which range up to 13 metres wide, have returned assays of 15.3 g/t gold over 6.0 metres. The younger quartz-tourmaline veins, which average 1.5 metres wide, also carry high-grade gold values – and higher val- ues where the two vein sets cross each other. In the top 400 metres of the Eau Claire deposit, there are 2,500 ounces of gold per verti- cal metre. The company expects to continue drilling below the 400 metre level where there is limited drilling, to expand and extend the known mineral resources. While it is known that the Eau Claire gold mineralization continues steeply to depth, high-grade gold was also discovered outside of the down-plunge gold zone and closer to surface at only 69 metres in depth. Hole ER17-771 returned 226 g/t gold over 0.5 metres. This area will be further investigated. About 200 km east of the above projects but still in the James Bay Gold Camp, is the company's 100%-owned Eastmain Mine Project. Approximately 40,000 ounces of gold were mined back in 1995 at 10.58 g/t gold until difficult access logistics suspended operations. The property has a historic resource of 255,750 ounces of 10 g/t gold in 878,000 tonnes in the A&B and C zones. Claude Lemasson, President and CEO, told Resource World that the company is currently upgrading resources to meet NI 43-101 reporting standards. In addition to drilling 3,000-metres to upgrade the historic resources, a 17-hole, 5,500-metre, drill program is under way on the Julien, Suzanna and Michel target areas. Included in the 5,500-metres, is at least 1,000 metres, to fol- low up on this year's Julien discovery that returned up to 42.4 g/t gold, 30.2 g/t silver and 0.53% copper over 10.5 metres. Each of the above projects has their own exploration camp and is road accessible. Eastmain has eight other gold prospects in the James Bay Gold Camp. n

• Cover