Esa (Au)
(Click image to enlarge)
At a glance
11km north of Barrick’s 23Moz Hemlo gold mine
Dissected by interpreted shear being explored by neighbours
Exploration permit secured, enabling rapid advancement of exploration
Project overview
First Class Metals’ Esa property encompasses 86 claims spanning approximately 20.6km² around 11km northeast of the renowned Barrick Hemlo gold mine.
The project is positioned between the Cedar Lake Pluton and the Musher Lake Pluton. Such intrusions are significant drivers of mineral-rich fluids and often found in close association with economic mineralisation.
A rock sample obtained from a boulder within Esa reporting a gold content of 0.7ppm Au first provided an indication of the project’s mineral potential. Shortly afterwards, First Class Metals confirmed the presence of an inferred shear zone running across the property through the reinterpretation of a mag/VTEM survey.
The Company then went on to identify outcrops of sheared material successfully through the completion of ground reconnaissance work. Likewise, these efforts saw the emergence of "Hemlo north limb"-style rock in boulders that also exhibited significant anomalous values of up to 0.7ppm Au.
Critically, the potential for mineralization at Esa extends across the entirety of the property, following the wide, confirmed shear zone.
To investigate this further, First Class Metals conducted soil sampling across 11 sub-parallel N-S lines targeting the inferred shear zone in 2022. The results proved encouraging, demonstrating anomalous trends running parallel to the shear and indicating significant potential.
To build on this, First Class Metals then conducted additional "infill" sampling lines in two separate programs during the 2023 season. All-in-all, it gathered more than 500 soil samples, and the results from the work, which has just concluded at the time of writing, are currently being processed
First Class Metals was recently awarded an exploration permit for the Esa property. marking an important milestone in its development of the project.
The permit allows for the stripping of overburden in selective areas along the shear zone where soil samples have indicated strong gold and pathfinder element anomalism.
This targeted approach, guided by the strong anomalies detected in the soil samples, will contribute to advancing Esa towards drill-ready status.
Next steps
Esa’s regional location, with Barrick to the south
Map showing the soil sample lines as well as the location of the 0.7ppm grab sample. Note the N-S and NW structures highlighted by the magnetics
Map of soil sample lines and proposed shear
