Abitibi Metals (TSX: AMQ, FSE: FW0, WKN: A3EWQ3) has recently begun a new drill program on the B26 property in the Canadian province of Quebec. The fully funded Phase III program is set to include drilling with a total length of 20,000 meters. It pursues three important goals. The aim is to both expand the existing resource and qualitatively upgrade the mineralization by increasing the ore grade. Additionally, it is intended to more precisely determine the regional potential for further discoveries.
The drilling carried out in the previous exploration phases has identified, among other things, mineralization with 11.4% copper equivalent over a length of 10.6 meters. It is embedded in a 61.3-meter long section that is interspersed with an average of 2.5% copper equivalent. As the mineralization was discovered near the surface and contains a particularly high-grade mineralized section, Abitibi Metals is now focusing its ongoing drilling program on discovering more high-grade zones like this, to thus both increase the quality of the resource through a higher degree of mineralization and generally expand the resource.
Drilling has begun with one drill rig. However, there is the possibility of deploying a second drill rig on the property. Abitibi Metals is well-funded with $18.0 million USD to complete both the 20,000 meters of Phase III planned for the 2025 work program and an additional 20,000 to 25,000 meters in 2026. Both drilling campaigns are subsequently intended to feed into a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) and provide a first comprehensive evaluation and assessment of the possibilities of the B26 project.
A Transformative Step for Abitibi Metals is Approaching
Abitibi Metals’ overarching goal is to delineate an economically mineable deposit on the B26 project. The drilling that has now begun represents an important stage on the way there, as it has already succeeded in delineating a mineral resource based on previous drilling. It currently contains 11.3 million tons of ore with 2.13% copper equivalent in the indicated category and a further 7.2 million tons of rock with 2.21% copper equivalent in the inferred category.
Now, the main focus is understandably on efforts to expand this resource at the edges and at depth, while simultaneously being able to transfer parts of the inferred resource to the higher category of indicated resource. The key to this goal lies in the high-grade sections that were discovered in the second exploration phase of the project. Their grades go far beyond what was previously discovered in terms of mineralization at B26. If Abitibi Metals succeeds in achieving further successes of this quality in the drilling this year and next, the long-term goal of economic mining moves ever closer.
After a Brief Weather-Related Pause, Drilling Continues Year-Round
Currently, the first four drill holes are being sunk. They have a total length of 2,500 meters and aim for continuity of mineralization at depths of 300 to 500 meters within the interpreted high-grade mineralized lenses. Parallel to these activities, airborne and drill hole geophysical EM surveys are being conducted. Abitibi Metals will provide information about these in a separate press release shortly. These drilling and geophysical works are to be completed before the start of the thaw period. After that, work on the project will pause briefly due to weather conditions before drilling continues later in the year.
Where exactly the remaining 17,500 drill meters will be placed will be determined based on the success of these initial drilling results, the new geophysical data, and a complete geological re-evaluation and interpretation of the deposit. Abitibi Metals will therefore use the weather-related pause in drilling operations to evaluate the new drilling data and set the targets for subsequent drilling.
However, it is already clear that a focus of the additional 17,500 meters will be on step-out drilling. After all, the aim is to test the large-scale potential of the deposit for extensions. For invested shareholders, this means not only a continuous flow of news over the coming months but also, in case of success, a mineralization extent that grows larger from drill hole to drill hole.
