Drills are twisting their way into the ground to follow up on two high-grade mineral discoveries near Flin Flon.
Callinex Mines announced last week its late-summer exploration program is underway with about 6,000 metres of drilling planned at the Pine Bay and Big Island projects.
“We are excited to return to the Flin Flon mining district to evaluate the potential size of our zinc and gold discovery at the Pine Bay Project,” Max Porterfield, president and CEO of Callinex, said in a news release.
Pine Bay made headlines in October 2016 after Callinex announced exceptionally strong zinc and gold grades from a drill hole at the property, located 16 km east of Flin Flon.
The discovery prompted wealth-management firm Sprott Private Wealth and an affiliate to sign a and an affiliate to sign a $5-million term sheet with Callinex, in part to fund further exploration at the site.
Outside observers viewed follow-up drill results released in January and April as disappointing, but in May Callinex said it had found a “significant” new volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) intersection at Pine Bay.
Callinex’s current exploration campaign will also
include its first drilling at the Big Island Project, located 10 km east of Flin Flon.
This drilling will focus on the near-surface Tara Lake Deposit, which Callinex calls “one of the highest-grade zinc-rich VMS discoveries ever made within the Flin Flon mining district.”
Work at Big Island will include confirmation drilling to obtain core samples along with subsequent lithogeochemical and geophysical testing to aid future exploration, the company said.
None of the existing geological data on Tara Lake meets today’s reporting standards, known as National Instrument 43-101. As such, Callinex said the reliability of that data is unknown.
But the company believes Tara Lake represents a compelling opportunity given the tenor of the mineralization and the geological and geophysical advancements that have been made since the deposit was last explored in 1991.
Callinex said it believes the western portion of the Big Island Project, which hosts Tara Lake, may contain a sequence of volcanic rocks similar to that which hosts the 777 mine and the now-defunct Flin Flon and Callinan mines.
Porterfield said Callinex plans to “aggressively advance” its assets near Flin Flon and in the Bathurst mining district of New Brunswick.
In June, the company hired a consulting firm to help form what it called “productive relationships” with investors, analysts, investment funds, financial institutions and other interested parties.
