Northern Superior to Test Expansion of CBSZ 43-101 Compliant (640,000 oz Gold, 1.7g/t Gold) Gold Resource* Croteau Est Property
The Company will test the northern and eastern extension potential of the CBSZ with a 2,530m, 220-hole reverse circulation (RC) drill program, scheduled to commence in August. The CBSZ gold deposit is currently defined from only 64 drill holes, 350m maximum depth over a 550m strike length, open at depth and open along strike both to the east and west. Within the CBSZ, gold is hosted in a 75-120m wide, east-west trending sericite-carbonate alteration zone and associated stockwork quartz veins.
In defining the original CBSZ discovery, several trenches exposing the CBSZ returned mineralized bedrock grab samples. Highlighted assays include (see Northern Superior press releases July 20, 2011, November 12, 2013):
- 15.0g/t Au;
- 52.8g/t Au;
- 68.7g/t Au; and
- 58.8g/t Au.
From these same trenches channel samples were also taken, highlighted assay values include (see Northern Superior press releases, October 12, 2011, July 5, 2017):
- 92.57g/t Au over 1m or 12.8g/t Au over 7.8m;
- 14.37g/t Au over 7.5m; and
- 8.49g/t Au over 5.7m.
Gold within the CBSZ is associated with at least 9 high grade gold shoots. Highlighted intersections reported include (see Northern Superior press release November 13, 2017, January 10, 2018):
- High grade widths of up to 11.06 g/t Au over 9.10m (including 43.75 g/t Au over 2.00m),
- 61.24 g/t Au over 5.95 m (including 705 g/t Au over 0.5 m)
- High grade mineralization occurring >400 m vertical depth: 7.50 g/t Au over 7.95m (including 56.40 g/t Au over 1.00m) between 489.90m to 497.85m; and
- Wide mineralized widths of up to 1.99 g/t Au over 34.65m (including 9.46 g/t Au over 2.35m).
All 9 high grade gold shoots are of mineable width and grade, dip to the east and are contiguous, as evidenced by the 96% hit rate experienced in the Company's 2017 core drill program (see Northern Superior Corporate Presentation, www.nsuperior.com). The mineralization was proven to extend directly to surface by projecting the shoots to surface and exposing it. This shoot consisted of two zones of >10g/t Au, 2.5m x 2.0 m and 2.0m x 0.5m, enclosed by a halo of >5g/t Au, 7.0m x 2.5m in turn enclosed by a halo of gold mineralization of >3g/t Au over an area of 8.0m x 3.0m (see Northern Superior press release, November 3, 2014).
Dr. T.F. Morris, President and CEO states: "The CBSZ is a gold deposit consisting of high-grade gold material, existing within a large alteration system open at depth and strike to the east and west. The potential extension of the high-grade shoots at depth remains a compelling target with a supportive geological model as witnessed by our 96 percent success rate with our Phase II 2017 drill program.
However, the Company has evidence that the CBSZ gold footprint extends farther north (at least by 600m) and along strike both east and west beyond what is currently defined, encompassing the tuffaceous sediments and the Croteau North Shear Zone (CNSZ) that are aligned parallel to the CBSZ (Figure 1). This evidence is derived from overburden sampling programs, trenching and core drilling. The same programs also included the CBSZ, thus providing a direct comparison of the various heavy mineral and geochemical signatures between the two data sets.
As such, before launching into a core drill program specific to testing the CBSZ at depth, the Company has designed an RC program to test the viability of a broader gold target north and east of the of the CBSZ (Figure 1)."
"It is important to note that the Croteau Est property is a large 30km by 15km land package and despite having a 640,000 oz 1.7g/t gold inferred resource on a very small portion of its land package, the remainder of this property remains largely under explored. With success from this RC program we see potential to step out further onto our numerous regional targets on the property (see Figure 2)."
The RC Program
The RC program is designed to address three primary issues, the answers to which are necessary in determining the potential economic viability of a larger gold footprint north and east of the CBSZ. These include:
- Accurately determine the distribution and lithogeochemistry of the three primary lithological units (CBSZ, CNSZ and intervening tuffaceous sediments);
- Determining if the package of primary lithological units should be considered as an economic target as opposed to just the CBSZ; and
- Determining the extension of these three units past the Croteau Fault and how both the Croteau Fault and Croteau Deformation Zone may play a role in gold mineralization within this system.
To achieve these goals, the RC program will cover a rectangular area 600m by 1km (Figure 1) consisting of a 50 x 100m spaced grid of approximately 200 RC holes. Each hole will penetrate into the bedrock surface 1.5m. The lower basal till (overburden material lying directly over bedrock) and bedrock chips will be collected. The basal till will be processed for gold grains and geochemical analysis. The lithology and geochemistry of the bedrock chips will be determined.
The area to be drilled includes both the CBSZ and CNSZ and the intervening area of tuffaceous sediments. Also captured is the projected northeast extension of quartz porphyry dykes thought critical to high grade gold mineralization associated with the CBSZ mineral resource. In addition, sections of the Croteau Fault and Croteau Deformation Zone occur within the eastern side of the RC test area (Figure 1).
Within the area to be drilled are anomalous gold grain-in-till, (Figure 3), mobile metal ion (Figure 4) and soil gas hydrocarbon signatures (Figure 5). The size and intensity of these anomalous values will be tested from the results of this program, important in defining specific target areas within the system.
* Reference for Northern Superior's 640,000 ounce Inferred Gold Resource: "Drabble, Mark (B. App. Sci. (Geology), MAIG, MAusIMM); Glacken, Ian (BSc Hons (Geology), FAusIMM (CP), MIMMM, CEng; Kahan, Cervoj (B. App. Sci., MAIG, MAusIMM); Morgan, Rebecca (BSc Hons (Geology), GDip (Mining), MAIG, MAusIMM). October 12, 2015. Technical Report on the Croteau Est Gold Project, Québec September 2015, Mineral Resource Estimate."
Qualified Person
T.F. Morris (PhD, P.Geo., FGAC, ICD.D) is a Qualified Person ("QP") within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. Dr. Morris has reviewed, and approved information disclosed in this press release.
About Northern Superior Resources Inc.
The Croteau Est gold property is one of three key mineral properties 100% owned by Northern Superior. The Company's two other properties (TPK and Lac Surprise) also represent regional scale exploration opportunities (see Northern Superior Corporate Presentation, www.nsuperior.com).
Northern Superior is a reporting issuer in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Québec, and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SUP, and the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol NSUPF.
For Further Information
Please refer to Northern Superior news available on the Company's website (www.nsuperior.com) and on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or contact:
Thomas F. Morris PhD., P.Geo., FGAC , ICD.D
President and CEO
Tel: (705) 525 ?0992
Fax: (705) 525 ?7701
e?mail: info@nsuperior.com
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Press Release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. When used in this document, the words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to such risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the statements made, including those factors discussed in filings made by us with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties, such actual results of current exploration programs, the general risks associated with the mining industry, the price of gold and other metals, currency and interest rate fluctuations, increased competition and general economic and market factors, occur or should assumptions underlying the forward looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, or expected. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Figure 1. Location of the RC grid, defined by the red rectangle 600m north-south by 1km east-west. The drill area captures several key lithological and structural units including the CBSZ and CNSZ and intervening tuffaceous units plus quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes (QFP), the Croteau Fault and Deformation Zone. See text for details.
Figure 2. The CBSZ 43-101 compliant resource occurs at the intersection of the east to west oriented Croteau Bouchard Shear Zone and the northeast to southwest oriented Croteau Fault. There are at least 11 other such opportunities that occur on the Croteau Est property where east-west oriented shear zones are cross-cut by northeast to southwest faults. Gold showings at several of these intersections including Trench 101, Area # 5 and Croteau South emphasize this opportunity.
Figure 3. Gold grain-in-till anomalies derived from surface overburden sampling and basal tills sampled From RC programs. A basal till sample collected immediately down-ice from an exposed high grade shoot yielded 877 gold grains, 844 of which were pristine grains (96%) indicating very close proximity to source. The RC basal till associated with RC hole CRO15-186 yielded 244 gold grains, 172 of which were pristine (70%). This on its own is a very compelling target as the background value for gold grains in this area is close to 1.
Figure 4. Mobile metal ion gold signature (MMI: areas of red). Note the strong MMI anomaly associated with the CBSZ where the QFP dykes occur. This makes the large red MMI anomaly in the northwest part of the RC grid particularly compelling.
Figure 5. Soil gas hydrocarbon gold anomalies (SGH: areas of dark red). Interestingly, the CBSZ does not have a significantly large SGH signature. However, the RC grid contains several very large and strong SGH signatures.
SOURCE: Northern Superior Resources Inc.