The Golden Promise Gold Property is Great Atlantic’s most advanced, highest priority and largest (approx. 16,500 hectares) property. The Property is located within the central Newfoundland gold belt, near the town of Badger. Multiple gold bearing quartz veins/ quartz vein systems and zones of gold bearing quartz boulders are reported within the Property. One such quartz vein system is the Jaclyn Main Zone (JMZ). Great Atlantic reported a 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for the JMZ during December 2018 (119,900 oz. gold Inferred resource). Multiple 2017 Great Atlantic quartz samples from different regions of the Golden Promise Property exceeded 1 oz./ ton gold. Diamond drilling in 2019 tested a section of the JMZ, with high grade gold intersected in multiple holes, including core length intersections of:
- 35 g/t gold / 2.04 meters
- 80 g/t gold / 2.70 meters
- 07 g/t gold / 0.55 meters
- And 2.30 g/t gold / 25.25 meters)
Diamond drilling during 2020 targeted the Jaclyn North Zone and intersected gold bearing veins. The 2021 diamond drilling program is underway as of July 2021, targeting the JMZ and Jaclyn North Zone (JNZ).
Gold bearing quartz boulders were first reported at the Golden Promise Property in 2002. Multiple exploration programs have been conducted since, including approximately 24,500 meters of diamond drilling; historic (2008) and recent (2018) mineral resource estimates, and a historic (2010) bulk sample. Gold bearing quartz veins are reported in multiple regions of the Property, including five gold bearing quartz vein zones in the central region of the Golden Promise Property, referred to as the Jaclyn Zone (includes the JMZ and JNZ). Other reported gold bearing veins/ vein systems within the Golden Promise Property include the Linda/ Snow White and Gabbro Occurrence in the southern region; Otter Brook in the east region and Shawn’s Shot in the central region of the Property. Historic exploration for the Property is documented in the Newfoundland Labrador Department of Industry, Energy and Technology mineral assessment reports. Historic high-grade boulder samples are reported in the northern region of the Property with reported samples returning 335 g/t Au (Justin’s Hope boulder occurrence) and 80 g/t Au (Branden boulder occurrence).
A bulk sample from the JMZ was also extracted and processed in 2010, reported to be approx. 2200 tonnes with a 5.59 g/t Au head grade (source: Crosshair Exploration and Mining Corp. mineral assessment report).
Reported historic drill intersections (2002-2007) include (core length):
- GP02-13: 25.74 g/t Au over 1.55m;
- GP06-52: 93.71 g/t Au over 1.40m;
- GP06-65: 20.65 g/t Au over 1.60m;
- GP07-91: 43.83 g/t Au over 1.45m.
Great Atlantic confirmed high-grade gold in quartz boulders and a quartz vein in bedrock in 2017. Multiple quartz boulder samples in the northern region exceeded 100 g/t Au, including 200 g/t Au at the Branden Zone and 163.9, 208.5 and 332.6 g/t Au at the Jaclyn North Zone. A 0.32m chip sample across the Shawn’s Shot vein returned 48.2 g/t Au. The 2017 sampling was verified by a qualified person, who managed the program and verified sample data. The 2017 samples (and standard, blank, and duplicate samples) were assayed for gold at ALS Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia (fire assay – AA, screen metallic procedure also for some samples) and at Eastern Analytical in Springdale, Newfoundland (fire assay – AA or total pulp metallic fire assay). ALS Canada and Eastern Analytical are independent of Great Atlantic.
Great Atlantic reported a National Instrument 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Jaclyn Main Zone (JMZ) during late 2018 (News Release of December 6, 2018; and Sedar-filed National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Golden Promise Property, Central Newfoundland (revised), dated December 4, 2018 by Mr. Greg Z. Mosher (M.Sc. App., P.Geo.) and Mr. Larry Pilgrim (B.Sc., P.Geo.). The report stated a total inferred mineral resource of 357,000 tonnes at 10.4 g/t gold (uncapped) at a 1.1 g/t gold cutoff for the JMZ (119,900 oz. gold (uncapped). The Technical Report also summarizes historical work within the Golden Promise Property.
As reported in the December 4, 2018 National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Golden Promise Property, Central Newfoundland (revised), the JMZ was modelled as a single quartz vein that strikes east-west and dips steeply to the south. Modelled vein thickness was based on true thickness derived from quartz vein intercepts. The estimate is based on 220 assays that were composited to 135 one-meter long composites. A bulk density of 2.7 g/cm3 was used. Blocks in the model measured 15 meters east-west, 1-meter north-south and 10 meters vertically. The block model was not rotated. Grades were interpolated using inverse-distance squared (ID2) weighting and a search ellipse that measured 100 meters along strike, two meters across strike and 50 meters vertically. Grades were interpolated based on a minimum of two and a maximum of 10 composites with a maximum of one composite per hole so the grade of each block is based on at least two drill holes thereby demonstrating continuity of mineralization. For the capped mineral resource estimate, all assays that exceed 65 g/t gold were capped at 65 g/t gold. All resources were classified as Inferred because of the relatively wide spacing of drill holes through most of the zone.
Because part of the vein is near surface the resource estimate was constrained by a conceptual open pit to demonstrate reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction. Generic mining costs of US $2.50/ tonne and processing costs of US $25.00/ tonne were used together with a gold price of US$1,300/ounce. A conceptual pit slope of 45° was assumed with no allowance for mining loss or dilution. Based on the combined hypothetical mining and processing costs and the assumed price of gold, a pit-constrained cutoff grade of 0.6 g/t was adopted. For the underground portion of the resource a cutoff of 1.5 g/t was assumed. The cutoff grade for the total resource is the weighted average of the pit-constrained and underground cutoff grades.
The gold bearing veins at the Golden Promise Property are meta-sediment hosted and have been compared to other turbidite-hosted (or slate-belt) gold deposits throughout the world (Pilgrim and Giroux, 2008)
The Golden Promise Property is subject to two separate option agreements.
