Formation Metals (CSE: FOMO, FSE: VF1, WKN: A3D492) is launching a new multi-stage drilling and exploration program in the near future on the N2 Gold Project in the Canadian province of Quebec. Its first phase includes drilling with a total length of 5,000 meters. In later phases, additional drilling with a total length of up to 15,000 meters will be added.
On the N2 Gold Project, Formation Metals currently has a historical resource of around 870,000 ounces. These are contained in 18 million tons of rock with an average grade of 1.4 g/t gold, totaling about 809,000 ounces of gold. These deposits were identified in the four deposits A, East, RJ-East and Central. Additionally, there are 243,000 tons of ore with a grade of 7.82 g/t gold in the RJ deposit, yielding another 61,000 ounces of gold.
Preparations for the first phase of the new drilling program, totaling 5,000 drilling meters, are largely complete. The program is fully funded and permits have been applied for at the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts. Once received, which could be in about 30 to 40 days, Formation Metals can begin further discovery drilling on the new and highly promising drill targets in zones A, RJ, and Central.
Historical Resource to be Massively Expanded
Formation Metals hopes that, if successful, the new drilling will expand the known mineralization along strike or at the edges of the zones identified so far. Infill drilling is also planned for the three target areas. These are to be carried out on those zones that have been identified as particularly interesting by previous work. These sub-areas of the three target zones currently enjoy high priority.
Among the four deposits, Zone A is currently the target area with the highest confirmed gold finds. Currently, the A Zone has a historical resource of 522,900 ounces of gold. This gold is contained in 10.7 million tons of ore with an average gold content of 1.52 g/t. It is advantageous that Formation Metals is dealing with a high-grade, contiguous, and near-surface deposit here.
So far, about 15,000 drill meters have been completed in 55 drill holes. Of these, 84% showed gold mineralization, with the best section showing 1.7 g/t gold over 35 meters. Along strike, the historical drilling is currently distributed over a length of 1.65 kilometers. An additional 3.1 kilometers are to be added as part of the new drilling program.
RJ Target Zone Hosts High-Grade Mineralization with up to 7.82 G/T Gold
Significantly smaller than the A Zone is the RJ target area. Here, historical drilling was able to delineate a resource of 61,100 ounces of gold. This is contained in 243,000 tons of rock with an average gold content of 7.82 g/t. Due to the high gold content, the RJ deposit is now a particularly attractive target area.
This was not the case in 2008 when Agnico Eagle conducted the last drilling program here at a gold price of about $800 per ounce. In the past, 20,875 meters were drilled in a total of 82 drill holes, with the best sections yielding 48 g/t over 0.5 meters and 16.5 g/t over 3.6 meters. The deposit has already been explored along strike for about 900 meters, and the new drilling program aims to investigate this length by an additional 4.75 kilometers and more.
Ambitious Plans, Excellent Prospects
Not every exploration company is capable of setting up and financing a program of this magnitude. In this respect, Formation Metals definitely plays in its own league. Accordingly, CEO Deepak Varshney and his team are delighted and confident these days. Against the background of historical data, the size of the project, and the general knowledge about the history and attractiveness of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, they are convinced that they will succeed in expanding the historical resources of the N2 project into a near-surface deposit with several million ounces.
In the first phase of the drilling program, Formation Metals will build on the findings of predecessors Agnico Eagle and Cypress. After that, it is expected that increasingly new insights will determine the direction in which the development of this interesting property will be continued.
At a gold price of 800 US dollars per troy ounce, N2 was not interesting enough for Agnico Eagle to continue the work. Today, however, with the gold price at 3,200 US dollars and more, it is four times higher than the prices back then. Deepak Varshney and Formation Metals therefore believe that the time is perfect to resume work on the project. If not now, when else would one want to uncover this treasure?
