Always be prepared: how we’re boosting our shot at Sunbeam drilling success
The moment the drill bit begins to turn is a critical milestone for any exploration business.
In fact, it doesn’t matter what mineral they are searching for, or where they are searching for it…
Drilling can move the potential of a project from the theoretical – where all the signs from the surface are pointing to a mineral body at depth – to the physical – where core taken from drilling can really begin to paint a picture of the true extent and quality of mineralisation beneath the surface.
In the event of success, this is where an explorer can generate an enormous amount of value for its early backers. You just have to look at the “discovery” stage of the Lassonde Curve to see that.
So, with this in mind, it probably won’t surprise you to hear that, at First Class Metals, we are committed to doing everything we can to maximise our chances of drilling success.
Indeed, as we covered in our recent report, we are right now working hard to examine the discovery potential at our four flagship projects in Ontario. Not to mention the work we’re doing to advance our earlier stage assets, all of which also represent exciting opportunities.
This week, however, I wanted to focus on an opportunity where we are currently making particularly strong progress: Sunbeam.
Collecting samples at Sunbeam
Exploration momentum
Although we’re excited about every property in our portfolio, it has to be said that Sunbeam presents us with a particularly unique opportunity.
On the one hand, it contains a historically producing high grade gold mine that has barely been reassessed in the modern era. But on the other, it also contains 30km of mineralisation trends where a number of promising gold showings have been identified.
That’s two types of exploration opportunity (possible extensions to known mineralisation along with earlier stage blue sky potential) under one “roof”.
Exciting, for sure.
But it also means that, to be properly assessed, Sunbeam requires a level of dedication and focus that simply hasn’t been possible in the past.
After all, until a few years ago, the historical Sunbeam mine was held by a completely inactive operator under a 100-year lease. As such, the entire project area was left almost entirely untouched by modern mining techniques until it entered the hands of Nuinsco several years ago.
Nuinsco was able to gather some encouraging early results from its investigation of the true extent of mineralisation at the historical mine site.
In fact, it produced grades of up to 83.5g/t from surface sampling in the mine area. Then, it returned grades of up to 93.3g/t within zones of strong deformation by drilling along strike and down dip of known gold mineralisation.
But since Sunbeam entered our hands late last year… we have been doing everything we can to build on these early steps and truly establish the entire project area’s prospectivity. For example, we have already:
Secured drill permits and moved excavators on site;
Conducted a very detailed historical review that covered all the recorded data produced from the project since the late 1800s;
Completed mapping and prospecting;
Our CEO Marc has even travelled to the project to support our efforts as they continue to accelerate.
Cutting outcrop at Sunbeam’s Roy gold showing
The work means that, when the rig does arrive, and we launch into our first drilling at Sunbeam, we can guarantee that we know as much about the project as possible.
And that, in turn, means we are maximising our chances of exploration success; an effective use of capital we very much owe to our shareholders for their continuing support.
We’ll keep you updated on our progress at Sunbeam – along with our other projects – as and when we can. In the meantime, do let me know if you have any other questions about what we’re up to.
