TORONTO, Sept. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V: BMK) (“MacDonald Mines”, “MacDonald” or the “Company”) announces results from the first hole of its inaugural drilling program on the Scadding Deposit at its SPJ Property, 33 kilometres northeast of Sudbury, Ontario (Figure 1). Hole SM-2019-001 confirms that significant high-grade gold mineralization exists in the North Zone of the Scadding Deposit (Figure 2).

Highlights from hole SM-2019-001 include:

• 52.02 g/t gold over 12.3 metres, including 210.23 g/t gold over 3 metres,
• 5.73 g/t gold over 5.5 metres, including 17.17 g/t gold over 1.5 metres and;
• 11.12 g/t gold over 7.3 metres including 77.16 g/t gold over 1 metre.

             
Quentin Yarie, MacDonald’s President and CEO commented: “These results exceed our expectations. They highlight the Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold “(“IOCG”) potential of the Scadding Deposit and confirm that the deposit hosts significant and stacked zones of high-grade gold mineralization. These gold-rich zones also appear to be wider than suggested by historic drilling. Now that we have our exploration permit in hand, we’ll be able to advance our exploration activities and drilling on the property and further expand the footprint of the Scadding Deposit.”

Table 1. - Highlights of Assay Results

* Assays results presented over core length and are estimated to represent between 65 and 85% true width. Additional drilling is necessary to define the geometry of the intersected zones of gold mineralization.

Figure 1 is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3524e606-72de-44af-8ce2-b5ead1845c61

Figure 2 is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7f75da0a-7f40-49bd-a2d8-5f0bde5ffeb0

2019 Drilling Program
The objective of the current drill program at the Scadding Mine is to confirm and expand the high-grade gold zones of the Scadding Deposit. To target areas of high-grade gold mineralization, MacDonald Mines located, as precisely as possible, the historic holes drilled in the deposit by previous operators. MacDonald also chose drilling targets that could maximize the probability of intersecting multiple gold zones.

SM-19-001 intersected three (3) gold zones. Each is composed of iron-rich chlorite with variable disseminated sulfides and locally abundant specks of visible gold. The hole was planned near the historic holes CR-2, 79W44, TRM-10-10, CR-1 and JS-06 and assay results exceed the historical results reported in all of these nearby holes. The Company believes that drilling H-sized core, much larger in size than the BQ or the BTW core drilled by the previous operators, may account for the increased probability of intersecting zones of coarse-gold that is characteristic of the high-grade zones of the Scadding Deposit.

On-site Quality Assurance/Quality Control (“QA/QC”) Measures
Drill core samples were transported in security-sealed bags for analyses to Bureau Veritas. in Timmins, Ontario. Individual samples are labeled, placed in plastic sample bags and sealed. Groups of samples are then placed into durable rice bags and then shipped. The remaining coarse reject portions of the samples remain in storage if further work or verification is needed.

MacDonald has implemented a quality-control program to comply with best practices in the sampling and analysis of drill core. As part of its QA/QC program, MacDonald inserts external gold standards (low to high grade) and blanks every 20 samples in addition to random standards, blanks, and duplicates. All samples over 10 g/t gold or the samples with abundant visible gold are analysed by 1Kg screen metallic.

SPJ Property highlights

• 100% ownership
• Over 10,000 hectares in excellent mining jurisdiction and close to infrastructure
• Multi element IOCG
• Hosts the high-grade past producing Scadding Gold Mine
• Significant cobalt-copper, silver, nickel and rare earth showings outside of the Scadding Deposit footprint
• Optimize Group contracted to redevelop the Scadding Deposit

Historically, the Scadding Mine produced 914 kilograms of gold from 127,000 tonnes of mineralized material grading 7.2 g/t (OFR 5771). MacDonald’s reinterpretation of the geological model at the Scadding Deposit and larger SPJ property indicates that it could host a gold-rich Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold deposit and that significant gold structures may have been missed by previous operators’ drilling campaigns (2009-2011).

Qualified Person
Quentin Yarie, P Geo. is the qualified person responsible for preparing, supervising and approving the scientific and technical content of this news release.

About MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd.
MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. is a mineral exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario focused on gold exploration in Canada.  The Company recently acquired the high-grade past-producing and permitted Scadding Gold Mine and is focused on developing its large SPJ Project in Northern Ontario.

The Company's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "BMK".

To learn more about MacDonald Mines, please visit www.macdonaldmines.com 

For more information, please contact:

Quentin Yarie, President & CEO, (416) 364-4986, [email protected]

Or Mia Boiridy, Investor Relations, (416) 364-4986, [email protected]

This News Release contains forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may”, “should”, “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, “predicts”, “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

 

Figure 1.

 

2019 Drilling on the SPJ Property

Figure 2.

 

Location of SM-2019-001 relative to Scadding Mine