All drill samples taken so far as part of the New Millennium 2025 program on the Drayton Black Lake project have now been sent by Heritage Mining (TSX.V: HML, FSE: Y66, WKN: A3DTM6) to the evaluating laboratory. This brings this phase of exploration to a swift and successful conclusion, while simultaneously, anticipation begins to build for the laboratory results expected in a few weeks.
The rising anticipation is justified, as two mineralized vein systems on Drayton Black Lake were examined for the first time with drilling, located in immediate proximity to the sites of the highest-grade soil samples on the project to date. These samples revealed gold contents of up to 2,330 g/t.
Against this backdrop, it was only a matter of time before Heritage Mining would explore this highly interesting part of the project with initial drilling. The boreholes sunk in recent weeks were positioned to investigate the layers beneath the trenches dug in previous years.
High Gold Grades of Up to 5.18 Ounces per Ton and Attractive By-products
Heritage Mining was able to confirm the extremely high gold grades of these findings with further ground investigations before the start of drilling. With the new drilling, the company hopes not only to confirm the high gold grades of the samples of up to 5.18 ounces or 4.8 ounces per ton.
The by-products discovered in the trenches are also very promising: silver (more than 1,000 g/t), copper (0.37%), molybdenum (up to 0.078%), lead (more than 1.0%), and zinc (0.68%). The trenches running along the surface have a length of 300 meters, thus indicating the significance of the anomaly discovered in the ground.
These expectations are supported by multi-element analyses carried out in the trenches during previous programs. They also indicate a positive correlation of gold with tellurium, silver, copper, lead, and zinc as by-products. The visual examination of the new drill cores points in the same direction, seeming very similar to the mineralization of Zone 3.
Heritage Mining Seizes Opportunity and Extends Drilling Program
Originally planned were 370 drilling meters across seven boreholes. However, this was quickly expanded to 556 meters across a total of nine boreholes after the opportunity arose to conduct additional drilling from a favorable mineralization section.
The drill cores delivered to the laboratory by the end of last week show multiple occurrences of variably mineralized shear zone material, local granitic/felsic intrusions, and massive to semi-massive quartz veins in seven of the nine drilled holes. These occurrences extend within the drill cores for a length of up to 51.40 meters.
The presence of chalcopyrite with pyrite in chlorite-carbonate alteration with patchy K-feldspar alteration in quartz veins and host rock is also reminiscent of some of the best gold-bearing sections in the nearby Zone 3 prospect area that were drilled in 2024.
Heritage’s systematic exploration approach has successfully intersected significant mineralized core lengths, representing an interesting turn compared to the historically observed high-grade but narrow veins at the surface. The mineralization also appears to be widening at depth, which is a very good sign considering that drilling has only been conducted to depths of up to 87 meters so far.
